With the school year just around the corner, athletics are gearing up again in St. Johns County. This year, with the addition of Creekside and Ponte Vedra High Schools, there will be some new competition on the fields.
Athletics have always been a major part of the high school experience and the new schools will be no exception. Contrary to popular belief, however, the school board does not fund athletic programs in schools.
Because the St. Johns County school district is committed to spending its resources on academic programs, booster clubs are formed by parents of players and the monies they raise are used to fund the various different sports.
According to Otto Gruhn, chair of the Ponte Vedra High School Sharks Booster Club, while booster clubs support the district’s mission to focus on education, the lack of funding for athletic programs places both financial and operational burdens on student athletes and their families.
Gruhn said that, in order to avoid diverting funds from academics, the district relies on the support of the booster organizations for both funding and manpower.
“We agree with the district policy of funding academics and having the parents fund athletics,” said Gruhn. “Learning to read and write is why [the students] are there. Everything else comes second.”
Emory Ellis, president of the Ponte Vedra Sharks football boosters, noted that the majority of the incoming students are coming from Nease.
“They are expecting a first-class program and we want to give it to them,” he said.
Virginia Simpson, a member of the Ponte Vedra Sharks booster club, said she believes that many people in the community are not aware that the school district provides only a small amount of start-up money for athletic programs.
Gruhn said the district would be likely to provide funds to cover the basic uniforms for the teams. The bulk of the cost of football alone—including transportation, referee fees, field prep (including logos and paint), food, broadcasting and Web site expenses— falls to the booster club.
The Booster Club estimates that it costs more than $800 to outfit each football player. Ellis and Gruhn said that, based on the money that booster clubs have raised at other schools, the Ponte Vedra Sharks athletic boosters have large shoes to fill. Ellis said it takes that kind of money to run a program.
Gruhn said this first year the club has to buy things that won’t always be an issue, such as weight room equipment and video editing software for the coaches. In future years, costs will include refurbishing equipment and uniforms as they suffer from wear and tear.
The main source of income for these booster clubs comes from membership. Football boosters, for example, sell season tickets to the games with different levels of membership costing different amounts.
The money collected from these season ticket sales goes into a club fund which is then spent at the direction of the school’s athletic director.
According to Gruhn, there is generally one main athletic booster club for each school and the various sports teams each have their own liaisons and treasurers, who coordinate with the booster club.
“For us to be competitive we really need to boost up the booster club,” said Simpson. “I hope we will have more residents of Ponte Vedra (inside and outside the high school) involved with the programs. I am sure there are more community members who, if they know the needs, will step up and help the kids of Ponte Vedra High School.”
Gruhn said the booster club is asked to provide the most basic needs, such as field paint, to sophisticated needs such as coaching software and equipment for weight rooms. He said there are a lot of people, even ones who are involved with the athletic programs, who have no idea how much the booster club provides for these programs.
“I think there are good numbers of people who are involved who have no idea [of how little the district contributes],” he said. “We want to educate [the community] in a positive way.”
According to Gene Baker, athletic director at Ponte Vedra High, the athletic department is not worried about the boosters not raising the money.
“If the booster club didn’t exist, we would still survive,” said Baker. “Because they are so effective, we aren’t going to survive, we are going to thrive.”
Staff writer Sara Kaufman can be reached at 285-8831, extension 26
