Paying to play: Local teams look for answers to tight budgets

Editor’s note: Last week, Current Publishing examined how tight budgets have affected local high school sports programs as a whole. This week, Current Publishing talks to coaches in the area to see how these cuts are impacting individual teams.

WESTBROOK – It’s tough to find anybody who hasn’t been impacted by the economic downturn. It has been a generation since America has slipped into a slump this pronounced, and the effects are being felt everywhere. Thus, it should come as no surprise that, amidst massive statewide budget cuts, high school sports programs are suffering.

The situation is especially tough in Westbrook where, due to an overall $3.7 million shortfall in the school budget, the athletic department is facing some major proposed cuts for 2011-2012, including the elimination of all middle school athletics and activities, high school freshman teams and varsity ice hockey, a cut of approximately $200,000 from the 2010-2011 budget.

The Westbrook School Committee is still reviewing the budget, and in a recent interview Westbrook Athletic Director Todd Sampson said that implementing a pay-to-play system in Westbrook is something that is being seriously considered to help close the athletic budget gap.

While expensive sports like ice hockey, where ice rental can cost upward of $225 per hour, are tougher to fit into a shrinking budget, some other sports are feeling the pinch a bit less.

“We have not (had to make any cuts) baseball-wise,” said Mike Rutherford, the head baseball coach at Westbrook High School. “(Our athletic director) doesn’t give me a budget. Every year, I basically just ask for what I need, and he has never said no.”

As for a pay-to-play system coming to Westbrook, Rutherford said he could understand the rationale for wanting to put such a system in place.

“I can understand the perspective of the schools,” he said. “These kids are used to pay-to-play, they pay-to-play for little league, junior legion, senior legion and so on. So the town and the school’s perspective is, ‘Why can’t they do that in high school sports?’ I see why it is getting traction.”

But not every team is as fortunate as the Westbrook baseball team. Sometimes dramatic steps are taken to save money, and entire teams disappear as a result. Recently, Biddeford eliminated its freshman softball coaching position and – with it – the freshman team itself.

“Obviously, when you cut a program, there are fewer kids involved in the sport,” said Biddeford Softball Head Coach Leon Paquin. “We had enough kids come out to have three teams, but with only two teams we could only keep so many. Between the economy and taxes, this is just the way things are right now in this country.”

Rutherford added that he doesn’t like to see freshman teams eliminated. He said those teams provide a chance for younger athletes to get playing time and develop their skills, and if those teams are eliminated, quite often it leaves some kids without a place to play.

“I know that the basketball and football teams (in Westbrook) have very good freshman programs, and we had 19 or 20 kids turn out for our freshman baseball team,” he said. “If you cut that team, you’re going to have to cut 20 kids, 20 good kids. Each town owes it to those kids to have a place for them to play. We try not to cut anybody.”

Budget shortfalls ultimately leave the boosters, parents and students directly responsible for keeping their teams afloat. When the schools cannot provide the necessary money, a team’s choices often fall between making cuts or attempting to pick up the slack. The former option being unacceptable to most, programs attack the latter, attempting to kick their fundraising up a notch. The problem? The businesses and families that generally serve as the primary pools of funding have run dry.

“We’ve been using the same old things: bingo and bottle drives,” said South Portland Head Baseball Coach Mike Owens. “We also have silent auctions. We have a good group of parents and community working towards this effort, and throughout the calendar year they go around and ask businesses to donate. In the past, those businesses have generally been able to give a little more each year, but lately they have been scraping by just to give us what they have been in the past, if they can even do that.”

“(Things getting worse) is definitely in the back of my mind,” Owens continued. “Athletics and extracurricular activities are always going to be one of the first things to go. I am not sure how far things can slide before you have to cut programs altogether.”

Some sports seem to have harder times than others. Lacrosse, for example, is a relatively new addition to Maine high school sports. Many teams started off as club teams that were funded wholly through the efforts of boosters. Thus, those teams have stronger booster programs in place.

“Boosters have always played a really significant role in fundraising for lacrosse,” said Judy Martin, Bonny Eagle’s girls lacrosse head coach. “When we started out, we were entirely funded by the boosters, and then the school picked up the coaching, travel, and officials’ expenses and so on and so forth. We’re used to it.”

In contrast, other more established sports like baseball, softball and football, which are all still supported in part by boosters, are unaccustomed to the idea of handling all the fundraising necessary to play.

In Westbrook, Rutherford said the boosters do provide some things to the program, but the aid provided is smaller than in other programs. “At Westbrook, the baseball boosters (are not responsible for that much of the budget),” he said. “The money they raise is generally used to put on the banquet and provide some pullovers to the kids or things of that nature. Last year we bought them some shorts, things like that. At Portland, the boosters spend a lot more money, but at Westbrook they’ve never had to buy actual baseball supplies.”

One other issue with teams being forced to increase their level of fundraising is the frequency that businesses and individuals are approached for donations.

“(Our fundraising situation) changes every year,” Paquin said. “There are just so many sports that try to go out and fundraise, that you have people and businesses that see the same kids come by two or three times a year. It’s tough to go and ask kids to approach the same people again and again. With the economy down, businesses are able to give less and less, because they aren’t in great shape either. But we continue to work hard at it, and we are surviving.”

Where does that leave the future of Maine high school sports? That really depends on who you talk to. Some coaches are far more optimistic than others, although all are agreed that for the time being, a decided amount of belt-tightening is in order.

“The good news is that as far as things like fundraisers are concerned, I don’t think it’s definitely continuing to trend down,” Owens added. “Businesses have mostly been able to give what they have in the past.”

While the overall picture is certainly murky, Rutherford said that he thinks things will improve and until then, he hopes that the schools and municipalities don’t lose sight of the importance of school sports, even in tough economic times.

“I am hopeful (about the future),” he said. “During a budget shortage, the first thing they generally talk about is cutting sports and extracurricular activities. But they usually find the money. The thing is, if you’re not going to have tax increases, then you have to look for places to make cuts, and sports is usually one of the first places you hear them talking about. I just can’t imagine kids who want to play coming home right after school because they were told they can’t participate.”

Sports Editor Mike Higgins contributed to this report.