When you were a kid, do you remember those times you were shopping with your parents? At Target, or Walmart, and you would see something you wanted. Maybe it was a toy, some Lego, or a drone but the second its price tag came into sight you knew those hopes and dreams of one day having it were over, some other kid would get it from someone with a wallet just a little deeper. That is a dilemma faced by some of Ridgeview’s sports teams, the feeling of being underfunded and forgotten. The question itself stands on a second dilemma, should Ridgeviews smaller more niche sports receive funding, even when they are not bringing in the same amount of money as a sport like football? Yes, I think they should. It is hardly fair for these sports to be left to the wayside, just because they’re not as popular.
A highschool should pride itself on the opportunities it giving to its students, not just academically. However, if you are going into a smaller sport you can almost expect to feel like that opportunity is not as golden as something like football. Your gear is older, absent, and overlooked. A great example is how Ridgeview’s tennis courts lack lights, making practices far shorter in the winter as the sun sets, or how wrestlers do not even have real punching bags. It becomes hard to not feel neglected or forgotten, sitting in the shadow of larger and more popular sports teams. Should not these sports receive some form of tune up?
However, are these smaller sports really bringing in the money to justify an argument for better funding? Should that even be a problem for them? The students playing the sport don’t choose if they get an active snack-bar or if they’ll be selling tickets or not. There seem to be few active ways for them to bring money with the school’s genuine blessing. Ridgeview should pride itself on the opportunities it gives to its students, it should make genuine attempts to not diminish those opportunities. Our school partakes in plenty of events, buys venues, and funds field trips. Some of this funding could be directed and put into the our sports department for a better long term benefit of these sports, raising up the status of those small sports out of the shadow, giving students the opportunities to play whichever sports they please.
However, If you are in a sport that feels under-represented and overlooked when it comes to money, be the one to shine your own spotlight on yourself. Car-washes, snacks, and marking out spots on food-sale day. Do not wait for a handout from the school’s sports department, and go out there and raise that money for ourselves.
The sport you play does deserve better opportunities, funding, and treatment but it should also be recognized that that change might not come. It especially wont come if the students in those shorts are not pressuring the school to give them funding, or going out to make that money themselves. Students should be allowed to donate to their sports, it should be easier for them to set up school sponsored car washes or snack bars. If these sports aren’t going to get a hand out, then give them the tools to make that money themselves.
