Sports budget still needs adjustments

The winter sports season is over, but the sports budget remains short; this will cross over into the spring sports, where decisions will need to be made regarding cuts and other adjustments to the budget, Assistant Principal Jason Whiteman commented.

Winter sports include girls wrestling, girls basketball, girls soccer, boys wrestling, boys basketball, and boys soccer.

Continuing along with the fall sports, the winter sports players were also encouraged to pay for their sport, as the school no longer is receiving monetary help from the district to fund sports.

According to Sandy Stiving, CVHS financial coordinator, all the players on the sports teams contributed to help close the deficit.

Eight out of the 35 girls on the basketball team paid the school’s requested contribution, as well as six of the 37 boys on the basketball team.  As for girls soccer, 27 of 45 team members paid along with 24 of the 44 boys.  Of the seven girls on the wrestling team, four paid;  On the boys wrestling team 17 of 36 boys paid.

Girls and boys soccer, along with girls wrestling were the only sports to have received over 50 percent of the money that the players contributed.  In boys, wrestling about 43 percent of players paid what they needed to.

“The numbers that we have so far do not reflect the families that are making payments,” said Stiving.

There could be a chance that the shortfall will decrease when the families making payments is added into the equation.

“This is new to this community, we are better off than last year, but we’re still not there,” said Whiteman as he banged the table.

Whiteman is correct to be concerned about the sports budget situation, as he mentioned that “we are over $100,000 short.”

The Castro Valley community has given donations from families, money from fundraisers, and some CVHS students, but it has not met the amount that is needed to cover the sports deficit.

“It is very easy to become distracted in day-to-day events, but if we don’t look forward, to the future then it will affect us,” said Whiteman.

Whiteman concluded saying that for those freshmen, sophomores, and juniors at the school might not be able to count on the sports in future years.

As for spring sports season, there have already been meetings among coaches, spring sport parents, and athletes to discuss what action will be taken for the season.  For now, these sports are still taking donations and will continue to be open to any help they can receive.