Costs associated with sports can create barriers to some Garfield athletes’ success. While all sports require a $50 ASB activity fee, expensive high-quality equipment and club team memberships often add additional difficulties to improving as an athlete. Although fee waivers can reduce or eliminate certain expenses, disparities linger.
Training through a club team can be crucial to making the cut for Garfield’s volleyball team, according to former volleyball player Leah Kreyenhagen. If you don’t play for a club, “there is almost no way you can make [Garfield’s] team because club volleyball is what really prepares you to play in high school,” Kreyenhagen said. And the costs of club memberships are high. Kreyenhagen’s former volley team cost “about $1500 or $2000” per season.”
Senior Iris Too described some of the high costs of playing golf for Garfield. “You have to buy a three-set [of golf balls] which is like $12-15, or $40 for a whole box. And there’s golf clubs you need to constantly buy as you’re growing. Golf bag and golf shoes, which you need to replace every few years because they stop being waterproof. And Garfield only provides some of that,” Too said. But the costs do not end there. “Each time you want to go practice, you have to go to the nearest golf range and purchase a bucket. It’s $15 per bucket,” Too said.
If a student does not have the money to participate in athletics, “his skills are useless… He won’t go anywhere,” Garfield soccer player Arole Tamougui said. “At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know where to buy cleats or sporting equipment. My skills weren’t noticed by the other students because I didn’t have cleats. Two weeks after captain practice, I had my cleats given to me by a teacher. Then I got noticed by other students,” Tamougui said.
Activities Coordinator Ms. Tiffany defended Garfield’s activity fees by saying that paying for athletics is a “down payment for an experience… These fees contribute not just toward your sport, but the greater community.” Garfield uses money collected from sports to fund various athletics needs, like jerseys and buses. Still, “there’s not a lot to go around… The inequality lies in the fact that each person needs to pay to participate in a sport right now,” Ms. Tiffany said.
To waive some of these costs, Ms. Tiffany mentioned certain “channels and programs” Garfield can go through, such as the McKinney-Vento program which provides funds for students in shelters and transitional housing. “We don’t ever want fees to be an issue for students to participate,” Ms. Tiffany said.
Overall, sports are “not necessarily” pay to play, Kreyenhagen concluded. “Most people think you have to pay for bowling, but if you do it through school, it’s absolutely free.”
“I would encourage every student who’s ever been remotely interested in athletics or activities to get involved,” Ms. Tiffany advised. “Be a little brave. Try something new. Put yourself out there and trust me, the return is big.”
