Despite a cut of $100,000 from the school’s athletic budget,
which was handed down in February as part of a $1.8 million
districtwide shortfall, sports at San Benito High School have
remained about as close to normal as possible this year. But
however minor the cuts have been to the department’s budget this
year, next year’s cuts will be much more noticeable, much more
significant.
HOLLISTER
Despite a cut of $100,000 from the school’s athletic budget, which was handed down in February as part of a $1.8 million districtwide shortfall, sports at San Benito High School have remained about as close to normal as possible this year.
But however minor the cuts have been to the department’s budget this year, next year’s cuts will be much more noticeable, much more significant.
“As of today, right now, we are not going to have freshmen sports (next year),” San Benito High Athletic Director Tod Thatcher said Wednesday night, moments after he delivered that same message to a packed high school auditorium of winter sports coaches, athletes and their parents, while also breaking down the alarming financial details of the previous year.
“We are gonna cut freshmen sports next year,” he said during the meeting, “and that is a shame.”
Trying to cut through some of the rumors floating around town, Thatcher spoke openly of the department’s dire financial situation at the Winter Season’s Player/Parent Meeting, discussing just how those cuts will influence SBHS athletics next fall.
Across-the-board cuts to the freshmen program is expected to be the biggest blow, while Thatcher said some smaller junior varsity sports may be cut as well.
“The freshmen will be competing with the sophomores next year,” Thatcher later added, noting that the winter season alone includes four freshmen programs, including boys and girls basketball, wrestling and cheerleading.
The announcement wasn’t exactly news for some, although it did make it more official to those in attendance. However, for the majority of parents who were in attendance at Wednesday night’s meeting, their children already play a winter sport at the high school, making cuts to the freshmen level a bit of an indirect reduction.
It’s those parents who have eighth-graders and seventh-graders who will truly be affected.
“The kids who are coming next are gonna have less and less opportunity,” Thatcher said. “That is the reality of our program.”
Yesenia Rivera, whose daughter is a freshman on the SBHS cheerleading squad, raised her hand when Thatcher asked those parents in attendance whether they had freshmen student-athletes. She kept her hand raised when Thatcher asked parents if they have younger children who have yet to go through the high school.
“When he asked if I had any children at home, my concern was how it affected me,” said Rivera, who’s an owner of Eight Ball Bail Bonds. “Right now, it’s not affecting me or my freshman. But I do want to help.
“What if (my younger children) want to play sports?”
Rivera has two younger boys, 4 and 9 years old — still several years away from entering high school as freshmen. She said Eight Ball Bail Bonds has donated to the athletic department in the past, but she wants to see if more can be done.
“Am I gonna be able to help out enough so that my boys are able to be part of the athletic programs?” Rivera asked.
With the question marks surrounding freshman sports at SBHS and even middle school sports — the Hollister School District recently announced to suspend all after-school athletics beginning in January until the current budget situation improves — many parents and officials are asking the same question. Although it’s one that is left without an answer, at least with the current state of the economy.
Rivera said cutting freshmen sports, like when forecasters predicted an economic downturn, won’t be fully realized until it actually happens.
“I don’t think it’s real (right now),” she said.
One parent asked how much it will cost to save freshmen sports, although Thatcher said the answer isn’t exactly a hard figure. Freshmen sports equal approximately $35,000 of the $100,000 cut, but simply raising $35,000 won’t necessarily rejuvenate the freshmen program another year.
“We’re not funding what we have at 100 percent right now. We have to get back to that first,” Thatcher said.
“I hate to be negative,” he added. “But this is the reality.”
On the surface, prep sports at the high school this year are reflective of what they’ve always been in the past, but the department is operating on a budget reduction of more than $30,000.
Thatcher broke down the revenue and expenditures of the 2009-10 school year, which, in the end, positioned the budget more than $51,000 in the red. But a $40,000 donation from the Baler Backers Athletic Organization in August, which was generated after two years worth of fundraising efforts, coupled with the $30,000 in reductions, have allowed the school to operate somewhat close to normal for this year.
“We’re gonna make it because of Baler Backers. We’re gonna make it because of Team Baler. We’re gonna make it this year,” Thatcher said. “But next year, it’s a deeper hole.”
Some of this year’s reductions, like new uniforms and equipment upgrades, cannot continue to be bypassed year after year, Thatcher said. Meanwhile, the school is not paying for state meets either, meaning sophomore Vanessa Estrada will need to self-fund her trip to Fresno’s Woodward Park this Saturday to compete in the CIF State Cross Country Championships.
“We’re gonna go into next year with a huge hole, and we need to cut,” Thatcher said.
Based on last year’s figures, this year’s figures aren’t making the future look any more brighter. The department made $58,992.08 last fall on ticket sales alone, the biggest source of revenue of any season. But this year, that number is down more than $6,500.
Meanwhile, fundraising efforts by the Baler Backers have been consistent, raising roughly $20,000 of the $100,000, Thatcher said. But that’s only one-fifth of what is needed, with already one-third of the school year complete.
Those fundraising efforts have been in full swing since the budget cuts were announced, though, and Thatcher reiterated some of those efforts, like Baler Backers, Team Baler and the school’s Quality of Life program through Nob Hill Foods.
“We’re chipping away,” Thatcher said. “It’s wearing everyone down, but we’re chipping away.”
How you can help
— Join the Baler Backers Athletic Organization, a 501 (c)3 nonprofit, by going to: haybalerathletics.com
— Donate to Team Baler: Balers Supporting Baler Athletes, where community members can donate directly to the school’s athletic program. For more information, go to: www.sbhsd.k12.ca.us/athletics
— Pick up a Quality of Life card, which can then be used at any Raley’s, Bel Air or Nob Hill Foods, with a percentage of each dollar spent going directly back into the school’s athletic fund. For more information, go to: www.sbhsd.k12.ca.us/athletics
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