'Our budget for athletics this year is dismal. We have been cut almost $100,000 in comparison to the 2018-2019 school year,'(H. Schmidt, personal communication, 2019). With this sort of pay for the athletic department, the sports teams at the school have suffered the consequences.
When I first came into my junior year, athletics was my normal. I couldn't even imagine our school without sports in it. We're Sport and Medical Sciences Academy; it's literally in the name. But that budget cut proves just how important the concession stand is. I noticed last year that our athletic director, Heidi Schmidt, was selling snacks out of her office. I never truly knew the value of the stand until I started working closely with her this year. She was able to save all of the high school sports with the use of the stand and from her own pockets, which is astounding because of how much we had lost in the span of 1 year. To some schools, that cut isn’t that big of a deal because of the constant stream of support from their booster clubs, parents, and school districts. Our school, however, has minimal support, so our athletic director carries all of the weight of the athletic department. Several talented athletes come through our school and hold a large place in the success of our teams. But, without the funds, it’s hard to expect any of our teams to do anything but the minimum. For example, many schools have their own gym with weight rooms and fitness centers in which athletes have unlimited access to. For us, though, the district owns our gym and workout centers, giving us only some time to actually get stronger and physically fit. We have to pay to use our gyms. It’s hard to not see how much our school is at a disadvantage compared to teams that we play. With that, those athletes who have the natural talent and are able to drive our athletic programs to the underdog status we have, the all-state banner is that much more important. We have to celebrate these students who were able to defy the overwhelming odds stacked against our athletic department as a whole.