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Highlands Today

PAY to Play Sports

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: November 23, 2007

Imagine a time when all sports and extracurricular activities have been eliminated altogether. Kids across Highlands County are sitting after school with ball in hand, but no place to play.

With budget concerns hitting nearly every school system in the country, many sports programs are being cut or an increasing trend has emerged — pay-to-play sports.

The shrinking education budgets in this country have festered this new wave of subsidy, without the total dismissal of sports and other programs that were once a free privilege to the masses, but now has many students across the country on the outside of the stadium looking in.

"I would never agree to a system like that for our schools," said newly elected Avon Park city councilman Al Hinson. "[Pay-to-play] would ween certain kids out, and that goes against the grain of what high school sports is all about.

"I mean, half the kids wouldn't be able to play sports like football."

Fees that students pay in schools in places like Boston, Seattle, Cincinnati and Detroit, to participate in sports and other programs like Spanish Club and National Honor Society vary and range from $50 to $650 with many school districts offering family caps so not to hinder participation.

That growing trend has been spreading across the country in recent years and Florida hasn't been immune.

Pasco County instituted sports participation fees for middle- and high-school students in 2003, with schools such as Gulf High School in New Port Richey charging students $60 for the first sport and $50 for each subsequent sport.

Some schools offer financial assistance from booster clubs and other organizations, but that may put undo pressure on the kids and their parents just to represent their school on the court or in the field.

"I really think it would kill the athletic programs here in Highlands County," said AP boys basketball head coach Luther Clemons. "Before we make these kids pay for sports programs, we should eliminate the coaches supplement and just give the coaches a tax write-off — anything but passing the buck onto the kids.

"I have a hard time envisioning a system that does that, but you never know."

Avon Park football coach Earnest Perkins was speechless when asked about the idea of pay-to-play sports being a thing of the future in Highlands County.

"It would literally devastate this community," the AP skipper said. "Most of these kids have to scrimp and save to get physicals and the equipment we make them buy anyway.

"We need to keep kids in sporting programs and keep them on fields of play and not send them out onto the streets. What would they learn from that?"

In recent studies, smaller sports, such as track, cross-country and golf seem to be hit the hardest by the fees, but participation rates in schools with fees have dropped across the board.

A July 2004 USA Today article stated that the nationwide average for a school's athletic budget is less than 1 to 2 percent of the total budget, yet that has been a convenient place for school boards to make their necessary cuts.

With increased costs for education, could sports in Highlands County be the next to be an added expense to the growing population?

"Highlands County has so many people supporting our sports programs," Highlands Independent Bank president John Shoop said. "There is the Diamond Club in Avon Park and the Firemen in Sebring that help to lower the costs that the sports programs incur."

Shoop, who is the former president of the Sebring Firemen, Inc, was in agreement that the community on a whole would suffer if kids were selectively ousted from sports programs if they were made to pay fees.

"We have kids that can't pay the $30-$50 fees for Dixie baseball," Shoop said. "Scholarships are given out to needy kids so they won't be denied an opportunity to play. That kind of program would have to be in place [scholarships] if we ever traveled down that road."

With strong community backing, Highlands County hasn't had to face such strife that could hinder the academic or athletic growth, as more and more families move into the area. But a watchful eye should always be mindful of what the future holds and take care to protect what has been a privilege for many kids in this community to wear their team colors.

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