Economy affecting athletics

BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME:

The impact of the energy crisis and inflation has had a trickle down effect into high school athletics across the country. Compounded with school budget cuts many athletic departments have found their school funding yanked from their coffers. Several have had to drop sports, fire coaches and institute the dreaded “pay to play” policy where families have to pay a set amount of money to that particular athletic program before the season starts to be able to play on the team. Others have been directed to check into private funding.
Students at a high school in Alameda, California recently staged a massive walkout of classes to protest budget cuts in athletics that involved dropping several sports and in the classroom.
How will all this affect your favorite school and team? Only time will tell.

TOUCHING THEM ALL:

A 7 a.m. email the other morning had me glad I wasn’t wearing mascara at such an early hour. My stepson, Kyle, sent me a link to an online video at ESPN titled “Touching Them All.” I know my heartstrings were touched and I know all the bases got touched. The story is a true representation of what can happen when the coaches and the players hold the true meaning of sports in their hearts and minds.
If you are a computer person, please go to the ESPN website, click on video, and then type in “Touching them all” into the search. Grab a hankie and watch the five minute video.

A PUMP FOR UMPS:

In college, like most broke students, I was in need of some extra cash so I signed up to officiate intramural basketball. I refereed a lot of games for a little spending money. But better than the cash was the insight and appreciation for the job that I developed that allowed me to keep my mouth mostly shut during two decades of coaching. It was while doing the job that I developed an appreciation for a tough job with very little appreciation and an abundance of criticism.
The FHSAA is appealing for officials in all sports at the website www.becomeanofficial.org. They list the following benefits to joining the black and white striped shirtwearing judges.
• Make Extra Money on the Side
• Become Physically Fit
• Give Back to the Community
• Make New Friends and Develop Camaraderie
• Learn More About the Sports You Love

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” –Henry David Thoreau