High School teams going south in spring....

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Our high school team goes south for spring training/scrimmages every other year. The boosters raise money all year long that gets put in individual accounts. The coach only picks 12-13 girls to go (usually the varsity starters plus). Fundraising is optional - you can do as little or as much as you like. Girls can also opt out for financial or academic reasons. If for some reason a girl never gets to go on the trip, any moneys fundraised are returned to her at the senior banquet (or when she graduates) in the form of several gift cards and cash.

When the trip was presented to the school board for approval this year, the coach and booster president were blindsided by several parents complaining that the coach's selection of girls was based on favoritism and not athletic ability. They demanded that all the girls who made varsity and jv be taken on the trip. Coach usually takes anywhere from 22-26 girls for the season.

Anyway there was a short response/debate from the coach. The school boards' response was to shelve the trip until "internal conflicts" could be resolved.

Needless to say, battle lines are drawn and as it stands now there will be no spring trip.

My question is... does your school go on a spring trip? Who goes and how is it financed?

 

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I can't wait to hear the answers to this topic. I have always wondered how schools or more importantly "teams" kept any harmony after asking all the girls to help do fundraising without any idea who would actually get to go on any given trip. Our school district does not travel but I'm very aware of others with the same issues.

I know if I were a parent of a child that was being used to raise money for a spring trip and found us sitting on the curb when the bus left, I'd be screaming from the rafters that it wasn't fair. No way I'd help or encourage my daughter to work for 2 seasons for a trip without knowing we were on the travel list. This is beyond a talent issue. This would be more like a travel team holding a 2-year long fundraiser for a world series, then picking up players to go play and leaving others at home.

Somebody has been very lucky getting away with this plan. lol.

 

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You better make sure that you only go to states that boarder the state of ohio if you are from ohio. The wonderful Ohsaa stipulates that in one of it's rules.

 

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I think last year, when we went south for spring break, all girls participated in the fundraising understanding only varsity going. No one has issues with it. Boosters also raise the money.

Last year, we fund raised knowing that we will not be attending the trip. We didn't have an issue with it. The way I take it, it's just JV paying some of the dues. If the trips gets cancelled, so be it. Life isn't fair, and I think it's a perfect opportunity for the girls to learn that.

 

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I can see this both ways. We just moved into Ohio at the first of the year. The first thing I heard was about "the trip." You make V or JV and you go. Boosters must put in something, perhaps to cover cost of games, etc. We were on our own for travel, lodging, food (paying for it). They did fundraise, but frankly I'm not sure how it worked.

Bottom line for us, though, was that it was a HUGE plus, getting to go to FLA, coming out of a HS that did not travel. And I thought it was cool that they took both teams.

There was still plenty of time on the trip for the V to do private bonding. It would be logistically easier to take a smaller group, and you could focus more on just V. That would be the "we have to WIN" view. I think the "take everybody who makes a team" approach is used, at least here, as a way to build the entire program. Oh, and here, it is every two years, not every year.

On out of state travel: you can travel anywhere you want, once a year, as long as it does not take away from school time (spring break).

 

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I know if I were a parent of a child that was being used to raise money for a spring trip and found us sitting on the curb when the bus left, I'd be screaming from the rafters that it wasn't fair. No way I'd help or encourage my daughter to work for 2 seasons for a trip without knowing we were on the travel list. This is beyond a talent issue.

But High School is pulling talent from 4 different years, and the coaches are looking for those that are working in the off season and improving. Fair isnt part of the High School experience, it's a privilege to play not a right. You earn your time.
All school teams have fundraising events...this goes for all the kids whether they get playing time or not. So how would a trip fundraiser be any different?

 

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No one is forced to fundraise. Any money made by fundraising is kept in individual player accounts. If your child goes on the trip, money from her account is used to cover all/part of the expenses. If you choose not to fundraise and your child is selected, you cut the check in full.

"Somebody has been very lucky getting away with this plan. lol. "

Actually most of the more competitive schools in the area select teams to go. There are a few that take the whole team. If you only play 2 games (down south) a day plus some field practice, it's hard to get playing time for 20+ girls. Also in PA (not sure about Ohio), high school teams are only allowed to play so many games per season including playoffs. So the 6 games they play down south must come off the "regular" schedule of pre-season scrimmages and non-conference games.

 

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Northmont goes to Florida every year in the spring with both teams. It is only possible with fund raising. Northmont has a solid fundraising plan each year to make this happen. It is a fantastic trip for the girls they love it and they really get to bond with all of the players and coaching staff.

 

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You better make sure that you only go to states that boarder the state of ohio if you are from ohio. The wonderful Ohsaa stipulates that in one of it's rules.

This is only a rule if your school classes are in session. If you are on Spring Break you can go further than the boundary states:

Additionally, a softball team may travel out of state one
time per sport per interscholastic season to compete in states or provinces in Canada that
are not contiguous to Ohio provided there is no loss of school time.

 

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Our HS Varsity is going to Florida over spring break for some scrimmages. This was an annual trip until two years ago when MN governing High School body ( MSHSL ) made a ruling that teams could not travel further than 400 miles. That ban lasted 2 years with the first year allowing grandfathered trips (trips planned and fundraised for previous to the ban). They rescinded the ban this year.

The coach identified 13 kids out of which 9 were on the section roster at year end previous and the rest were on JV and other sub varsity teams. So basically her best guess on who will make Varsity this spring of the kids who played High school the year before. Of note 6 of the best 8th graders and one 7th grader played HS ball last year and two of those ended up on the section roster so she looks pretty wide for talent. Those 13 were approached about Florida and only one declined (returning senior who wasn't likely to start decided to become team manager).

Kids were told they were going to Florida but not to assume that meant you were guaranteed to make Varsity. Obviously it's likely most will, but it's good that she's left it open that if other kids progress and perform that they will still have a chance to make Varsity. We planned fundraising events for the trip specificly and for the program in general. We have raised about 8K for the trip (fundraising done solely by the players and parents going) and about 6K for the general fund (fundraising done by all players from previous year at all levels).

We have fall captains practice with about 25 kids and after about 6 practices we chose one more player to add to the Florida trip and to our winter dome captains league play.

Final price tag will be $1200 per kid for the trip about half of which will get paid for by fundraising. What's nice is we are pretty much done with fundraising prior to the start of the season so there won't be any distraction during the season. The one remaining fundraiser is selling Poinsetta's for Christmas which is a long standing tradition for the team. We may also have the girls work concessions, etc at a winter basketball tourney, we did that once already and yielded $2,100 from a one day tourney.

 

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softballmomriz22,

With all due respect, I'm very aware of the things you stated in your post. I understand fundraising just as well as I understand politics in a school district. Booster clubs are great but in most cases, booster clubs exist to support a particular dept. in the district. The Quarterback Club probably will not help raise money to send the Girls' Softball program south for spring break. I won't even touch the can of worms about the ratio of actual workers to members of each booster club. In this post, it was explained later that each player was fundraising on an individual basis and the money was kept to offset the expenses they personally would be responsible for and they could work at it as hard as they wanted or not at all. The money is used IF the girl is selected to go on the trip.

What happens IF she IS NOT selected? Does she forfeit the money into a general fund? I do not believe she would be allowed to keep it.

OFC'ers;

My problem with the original post questioned the use of the money when and if a player helped raise money for a TEAM fund and she found out she wasn't selected to travel south. She quite easily could have played for a season and expected to make the team for a second season, then told she'll still be playing but was not selected to be on the vacation squad. In this scenario the family would have worked to fund the team effort, yet she would have been left out on purpose. I can see how some might consider this favoritism over talent, especially the parents of the kid left behind.

Fundraising goes on all the time as you stated and I know life lessons are learned daily in the school environment but what message is sent from this concept? Can you honestly tell me that you would sell candy bars for 2 years for your daring daughter's softball team and simply say "oh well" when told thanks but you're not selected to go with the rest of the girls? Are you going to sell candy bars for the next 2 years in hopes she'll get selected to go her senior year? After all, she'll be a senior and we all know seniors are supposed to start varsity. Oops, I’m sorry for opening that can of worms.

If you’ve been around as long as I have, you’ll find out that few ever work for nothing. I may be that exception as I am a member of multiple clubs, work regularly, and I have no kids in school at all.

Bottom line is; politics can ruin a school experience and the thought of a dream team of aggressive parents willing to work fundraisers without expecting anything in return is truly a piece of heaven. In the world I’m from, a child or family asked to fundraise for a Fla. Trip would expect to be included on the guest list. I appologize if this post is off topic but I mean no harm with it.

 

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I can see this both ways. We just moved into Ohio at the first of the year. The first thing I heard was about "the trip." You make V or JV and you go. Boosters must put in something, perhaps to cover cost of games, etc. We were on our own for travel, lodging, food (paying for it). They did fundraise, but frankly I'm not sure how it worked.

Bottom line for us, though, was that it was a HUGE plus, getting to go to FLA, coming out of a HS that did not travel. And I thought it was cool that they took both teams.

There was still plenty of time on the trip for the V to do private bonding. It would be logistically easier to take a smaller group, and you could focus more on just V. That would be the "we have to WIN" view. I think the "take everybody who makes a team" approach is used, at least here, as a way to build the entire program. Oh, and here, it is every two years, not every year.

On out of state travel: you can travel anywhere you want, once a year, as long as it does not take away from school time (spring break).

The fundraising is individual, going into individual accounts. The girls/families sold different things, all on a voluntary basis with the proceeds going into that girl's account. Group fundraisers like gift wrapping at Macy's or working a marathon was divided into the accounts of the ones that worked the event by the shifts they worked.

 

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Our high school is going on a spring trip this season and has in the past. We have always taken both JV & Varsity. We started fundraising in the summer for the trip. How we handle it is that we have some fundraising go into the girls individual accounts for the trip and some fundraising goes into the general fund. We specify which fundraising is for which account.

It is totally left up to the parents/player if or how much they want to fundraise to offset the price of the trip. Any balance must be paid out of pocket. If a girl is not able to make the trip or does not make the team any money that was raised through fundraising is put into the general softball fund but any money that the parents put in out-of-pocket is returned to them.

We also include the cost of meals into the price for each player.

I think it is only fair to take both JV & Varsity to prevent any team animosity before the season even starts.

 

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I think it is only fair to take both JV & Varsity to prevent any team animosity before the season even starts.

I just don't think this should be a concern. As long as the kids on JV know that if they play great they might move up and know that eventually if they are good enough to make Varsity the next year they will get their turn to go on the trip it shouldn't be an issue.

Making Varsity should be something to strive for and a trip can be the icing on the cake that should help encourage a kid do what it takes in the offseason to not be on the bubble.

 

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Our high school team has went on many trips over the years. Some travel has included both Varsity and JV and some has just been Varsity. The reason sometimes that it is just the varsity is because the Varsity Baseball team and the Varsity softball team go together on a trip. The girls do their fundraising as a team and all money goes into 1 account. There have been people that have gotten upset that when a trip just includes Varsity, but sometimes there is no option of getting games for the JV on some trips. It would be foolish to take the JV and just have them sit there for a few days and do nothing but practice and waste some of the fundraiser money. The Varsity coach is always up front with everybody involved and what will be happening with the trips. For the most part everything has went smooth with all the girls. They know that if they don't go on the trip this year there is a very good shot they will next year.
Just my two cents.

 

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I think it is only fair to take both JV & Varsity to prevent any team animosity before the season even starts.

That won't prepare them for life after school. The world doesn't work that way. Why not take the whole school to prevent any animosity by the ones that didn't make either team? Why not put all the girls that try out on the varsity team to prevent any animosity? Unless the tournament is set up to include JV games then it doesn't make sense to send them. jmho

 

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I think alot of the problem(s) are miscommunication. I guess my daughter's team is kind of lucky. Their hs coach is dedicated year round. He insists that girls on the team or interested in the team play fall ball (unless they are in marching band or another sport), but he also coaches the fall ball rec team. He starts conditioning for the team in January and makes the gym available to the pitchers twice a week in the fall and winter. He's the assistant coach for a travel team too.

We go on a spring trip every year. Usually to SC. We have optional fundraising into individual accounts. The coach only takes 13-14 girls. Usually freshman girls are excluded, but there have been exceptions to that rule. The coach picks the trip team in November based on the previous season and fall ball. He doesn't garauntee playing time. I can't remember in the past three years that the team has ever had more than 6 games scheduled. It would be impossible to take the JV and Varsity and have all of them get a decent amount of playing time.

The way I see it, if you want to go on the trip - play in the off season and improve your skills. Play for the coach at fall ball and show him that you've been working. I agree with mustohiofastpitch - kumbaya ball doesn't teach real life.

 

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The way that Northmont does it is very fair, IMO. No one is guaranteed anything as far as making the team. If you choose to fundraise you can, but there is X amount of dollars that you must raise if you do make the team.

We do fundraisers a few times a year, from a sub sale, to a spaghetti supper before a basketball game, to selling candy bars. If you sell a bunch of subs, you get so many dollars per sub in your account. Same goes with spaghetti supper tickets and candys bars. There are other things they do, like a hit-a-thon, but these are the major fundraisers they do.

If you choose to sell all these, and make money but do not make the team, that money goes into the general fund for softball. ALL parents and players are made aware of the risk of not making the team, so there is no surprise when teams are picked about what happens to "their" money.

Before the trip, players are told their remaining balance and it must be paid before they go.

Northmont takes both varsity and JV teams down on a charter bus, and it stays in a hotel in Fort Walton Beach. NO SCHOOL TAX MONEY IS USED TO SUPPORT THE TRIP. All money used is provided by fundraising.

It is a GREAT trip and, like S3UROUT states, it is a great team building time for the coaches and girls.