Then turn to page B2 and look down there in the lower left corner. Located there is our bill of fare just full of various athletic contests. I guarantee you’ll find something there to fill that desire to get out on a nice spring day and catch a little athletic contest.
The players will like it, the coaches will appreciate it, and the schools might just pick up a little money to help their athletic budgets.
So far, North Carolina has held out on making students pay to play. There are 40 states that make students pay to participate, but not North Carolina — yet.
You might not be aware of this, but the area schools don’t get a lot of money from the school board to offer sports. Now, this is not meant to be right on the money, but suffice it to say that the schools get around $4,000 per school year for the athletic budget.
Right off the bat, $1,500 to $2,000 of that goes to the state for things like membership dues and catastrophic insurance costs. No complaint there — the North Carolina High School Athletic Association is a good organization and provides excellent support to the high schools in the state.
And the money that goes to the NCHSAA is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to a school’s athletic budget.
Here in Moore County there are three public high schools. They compete on different levels, with Pinecrest being a 4-A school, Union Pines a 3-A school and North Moore a 1-A school. The level a school competes on is determined by enrollment. Schools at the 4-A level have the most students, 3-A the next and so on.
So imagine that an athletic budget for an area school is $95,000. That really isn’t a lot when you consider that a school might offer its male and female students the chance to compete in 20 different sports. Multiply that by three and you see that a lot of money needs to be raised in the county to continue to offer this opportunity for students.
Let’s head back to the imaginary budget. That school probably raises about $65,000 in gate receipts, donations and season passes. That means the school must generate another $30,000 to meet the budget. In this area, the sports booster clubs at the schools are great at helping with meeting that shortfall. Booster clubs are mainly parents of the athletes and they go to great lengths to raise that money.
But there are only so many benefit golf tournaments a booster club can hold and so many boxes of popcorn they can sell.
That is why the attention was directed to the schedule located on page B2. It’s the people that don’t have children in the schools that are encouraged to look at the schedule.
No matter where you live there is probably a school within a short driving distance. Heck, there is even middle school games going on if you are located close to one of them.
Perhaps members of a Rotary Club, or Kiwanis, or a group of friends might decide to go to a game together. Take the lawn chairs and plan on spending a pleasant evening or afternoon being entertained by some of the most important residents of a community — its children.
Pick a game, pick a sport, pick a school. Just go ahead and make the effort to get out and catch a ball game.
One little tip (especially in the spring when weather is a factor): If you’re planning to go you might want to call the school first and make sure the event is being held. The employees are pretty friendly at the area schools and are good about letting you know what’s going on.
Belly up to that smorgasbord and get a heaping helping. You’ll be helping a lot of children and the area schools at the same time.
Chase can be reached at 693-2477 or hchase@thepilot.com
