Nashua went through it a few years back. Now Manchester follows in their footprints, but without the big donation that came in to cover fees for the first year.
The Manchester School District passed a budget including extracurricular user fees for the city’s schools. Pay-to-play has spread to the queen city like a disease among behives. You can read the full story about it here.
I don’t see anything wrong with the idea of pay-to-play if it’s implemented fairly throughout the Manchester school system, and to all activities that require funding. As a parent of an AAU player, we’re used to paying thousands of dollars each year for baseball training, lessons, and tournament fees for the NH Grizzlies baseball club. I understand the costs involved in fielding these high school teams.
I question how fees will be determined for families with multiple children in activities, or a child playing multiple sports. And what about the students who’s families are unemployed, or living in subsidized housing? If those players play for free, or a reduced charge, where will the money come from to pay their fees? Manchester Memorial High School has many athletes that fall into that category.
Fundraisers are a fair and easy way to generate revenue to run these programs. Some of the Memorial teams already require players to fundraise. My son sold hundreds of dollars in Crusader Cards for the baseball team. The football team also runs fundraisers already. It’s a way for all the players to contribute to the team.
Remember the days of watching those Patriots games on your television, or with a small battery powered tv. The reception was as snowy with static as the weather on the field. You wrapped aluminum foil around the tips of the rabbit ears antenna and pointed them in different directions to pick up enough signal to see the outlines of the players.
As if a shot or two of steroids didn’t work for certain New York Yankees players, to boost their homerun tally, AccuWeather.com says the dimensions of the new Yankee Stadium, not wind factors, are responsible for a surge in homeruns hit by the Yankees, according to an AP report in the Concord Monitor.
Recreational youth sports leagues are an essential part of any town, no matter the population. They are not only the feeder programs for junior high and high school teams, but also play a key role in the healthiness of the town’s youngest generation.
I wasn’t there when team manager, A.J. Jackson injured his ankle walking up a set of stairs in flip flops. But, I can say it wasn’t his fault for not moving fast enough when my son, Brandon ripped a foul ball down the third base line, hitting A.J.’s ankle in the same spot. Double-Ouch!
It’s the standard high five - five fingers and your palm, to another hand. There’s a cracking sound, or maybe just silence. You missed! Or, maybe they forgot to put their hand up. You tap them on the head instead, and the next thing you know, you’re going to court.
That’s what happened in this story [...]
If you enjoy watching baseball, and you’re looking for something to do Saturday, May 30, 2009, stop over at Londonderry High School for the start of the junior varsity baseball tournament. This is the only jv post-season tournament in the state.
-Bob Hammerstrom
So, just how to you tell your kids you’re out of a job, can’t make the car payment or you need to dip into their college funds to cover the mortgage? Those would be tough to swallow for children of any age.
1) Go to the dump. Sounds exciting ha? Don’t want the aroma from the refuse cans to spoil the taste of my barbeque.
2) Mow the lawn. Another thrilling adventure, but something that’s gotta get done.
3) Grill out on the patio. Yum, yum!
4) Get a burning permit. No, not needed for my grill, but will be [...]
Welcome to Raising Athletes, a blog for families involved in sports. I'm Bob Hammerstrom, a staff photographer and multimedia producer at The Telegraph in Nashua, N.H. I'm a parent of an athlete involved in AAU and high school sports. You can contact me at: bhammerstrom@
nashuatelegraph.com. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments as well.
