Dear Next President,

My generation has had the concept that you must do sports to stay in shape and to stay out of trouble, but more and more kids are forced out of the sports they love because money is an issue. Students are encouraged to support their school by attending events but must pay $5 for every game. High school sponsored sports have had to resort to an excessive amount of fundraisers and overpriced gate entry prices just to have the ability to play sports. $5 entry fees, Back to back fundraisers year round or pay money to play sports is the only way our athletic department has money.

A good friend of mine had to quit the sport she loved because she could not afford to pay the necessary amount of money to play. Coaches always say “if money is an issue, notify me” but what high schooler wants to go admit to someone they want to impress they can’t afford to play. Kids are forced out of sports every day because of cost. High school sports are supposed to be free so more and more kids can play. For some kids, this will be their last sports experience for the rest of their lives but are denied because of the high cost to play. As a student athlete sports are my saving grace. Sports have given me the opportunity to meet people, help me grow as a leader, and also create great friendships with those in different grades.

During your term as President, I believe you should spend more money on high school athletic departments. Currently the Athletic department in my high school is based solely on ticket sales and selling advertisements. Our athletic department cannot always provide new equipment when we need it. Our football team is our schools main focus because of the safety issue and the chance of being fined for unconditioned helmets or lack of padding. As a result of the main focus being on football, the female teams do not have enough locker rooms, the softball and baseball teams have helmets falling apart and the volleyball team has to rig up our net to make it legal for games. So as you serve as our President please consider high school athletic department funding. Who knows? One of the athletes who currently cannot afford to play may be the USA’s next star Olympic athlete but we won’t know until the athletic departments receive more money.

Please consider funding something that can keep kids out of trouble over things that cause chaos

Yours truly,

Hannah