Pay to play - High School Rip Off??

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I talked to a girl last night who played JV softball this season. Had to pay the "pay to play" amount, plus some extra money for food for before all the games. Her JV team played 6 games?!! $150 for pay to play + $40 for pre game meals...all up front. $190 for 6 games...

Is it just me or does that seem like an absolute rip off?? Pay to play costs the same for JV or Varsity, and I am just thinking if this is my kid and my money I am in the AD's office looking for at least a partial refund.

What do you guys think??

 

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No refunds on "pay to participate" As far as meals before games, where are the parents? Our parents do two meals per season. Can be simple as chicken salad sandwiches a cookie and a drink, or pasta, fruit, drink and a snack.

150 isnt too bad compared to some and more of what's to come....

 

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HAHA!! How about this...my suzy didn't play as many innings (or at all) how much do I get back?

 

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If my math is right......

Pay to Participate....

$150 per player for 6 games * 12 man roster = $1800 for the team.

$1800/ 6 games = $300 per team/per game
$300 / 12 man roster = $25 per kid/per game

Food....
$40 per player * 12 man roster = $480 per team for food.
$480 / 6 game days = $80 per day on food.
$80 / 12 man roster = $6.67 per player/per game in food.

Total per game/per kid = $31.67

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Travel Ball....

$400 tournament / 4 game guarantee = $100 per game/per team.
$100 / 12 man roster = $8.33 per game/per kid + food.

 

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OK OFC'ers, we are heading to Washington to fix the budget issues!

 

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Hilliard, I am just saying, I am guessing no one thought it would be 6 games?? I think I would be a little riled up!!

 

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What would peee me off is the pre-game meal cr@p. Kids can pack a meal or snack and sit together to eat.

My DD played s@ccer in HS and they would have a pregame meal every Saturday at one girls house (take turns). Game could be at 4:00 but we would have to take her somewhere at 10:00 for the meal and then pick her up an hour latter and then take her to game latter. Screws up the whole day. Coach just wanted a free meal. I told her she can't play this year but she won't let it go, wants to play. I HATE s@ccer!

 

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What would peee me off is the pre-game meal cr@p. Kids can pack a meal or snack and sit together to eat.

My DD played s@ccer in HS and they would have a pregame meal every Saturday at one girls house (take turns). Game could be at 4:00 but we would have to take her somewhere at 10:00 for the meal and then pick her up an hour latter and then take her to game latter. Screws up the whole day. Coach just wanted a free meal. I told her she can't play this year but she won't let it go, wants to play. I HATE s@ccer!

Musty, I thought it was Lacr0sse ? My sympathies on the s@ccer thing. :lmao:

I agree that the meals are a joke, that what parents are for. :lmao:

Also, don't most JV teams seem to get shorted on the amount of games ?

 

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Jay,
If your figures are right, it would be better just to ditch high school ball and play tournament ball year round. I am all for that.

 

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I think pay for play in school is a rip off anyway. There is no way it should cost that much. What else are they funding with this? There is no way it costs that much for gas, uniforms etc for just 6 games!

 

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Go to a school board meeting and ask to see the expenses for the softball program.

 

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Every school accounts for their athletic programs a little bit differently. But the things that have to get factored in somewhere in everyone's budget, are uniforms, equipment (game balls), field maintenance (even if done by volunteers there are still supply costs), umpires, transportation, coaches. I will gladly grant you that only getting 6 games makes for an unproductive season, however, not all of those costs go away because games are not played. Living in a school district where Pay to Participate is likely to reach $600 next year, I might suggest that $150 does not seem too bad. (and for the record I will no longer have kids in school, but I expect that price to do a great deal of damage to our programs)

 

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Amber,

Good HS Ball teams help good HS Ball Players get into college. Just playing HS Ball is not enough, unfortunately. You have to play at a certain level as a team and as an individual.

Don't get me wrong. I love HS Ball and I think playing HS Ball is a great opportunity for the girls. I think it helps build bonds, school spirit, improves grades, creates a social support network, allows self-expression, etc, etc.

Cost wise, I never had to deal with this stuff growing up. It was all just free. Now we didnt have turf fields, pitching machines, new uniforms all the time, etc. I cant even begin to go into how screwed up the education finance issues are that we have in Ohio.

But here is another set of numbers for you. Based on my other numbers of $1800 for the team.

Field Fees: $50 per game = $300
Umpires: $40 per ump per game = $80 per game = $420 (assuming all home games @ 2 umps/game)
Insurance: $100 per season (a little high, but who cares, we have $1800)

Total revenue for the season = $1800
Total expenses for the season = $820
Total profit based on those #s = $980

Now, there can be all sorts of stuff thrown in there as well. Maybe the whole team got new uniforms, or helmets. Maybe they are putting money back to get a pitching machine, who knows....There are a lot of things that can adjust those numbers.

Food for thought.

 

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Don't like pay to play for school sports!!!! We pay enough taxes

 

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I cannot imagine anyone paying more than $100-150 for a pay-to-play high school sport if there is a club option. We likely wouldn't have a softball team at our school if it cost more than that.

 

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I've been watching this post and others like it for some time now. I've put off posting because my DD is a freshman and really didn't know what HS ball was all about.
I can say now that the season is over, I wouldn't pay a dime to play HS ball if it came to that at our school. I get that there are some really good programs out there, but ours is not one of them. The coaching was almost an after-thought, and when games were cancelled because of rain, practices were not held indoors most of the time. There was very little instruction.
I don't have sour grapes. She played varsity every inning and every at bat. She did good as far as I can tell, but wouldn't really know as I have never seen any stats, if they were even recorded. I have a feeling that if they were, they are wrong because the ones that were reported to the local papers were always wrong.
So in short my opinion is that pay to participate would be ok if your DD got something out of it. If the schools program is good with good coaches, then you'd have to weigh the costs to benefits, or vice versa. If the program is bad and the DD doesn't mind, spend the money on more hitting and pitching lessons or whatever.