West Potomac Athletics is home to over 20 sports that students can pick from and play. Each team gives West Po athletes a chance to be a part of a team, a competitive environment, and gives student athletes an opportunity to try something new. High school sports help student athletes find community, friends, and provide an escape from any pressing matter in the athletes life Each sport represents our school on their uniform, the blue/white/silver being a staple of our school found at each game. However, some sports are excluded from one very important part of sports, funding.
On the West Potomac athletic website, two sections explore sports at West po: athletics and “athletic clubs.” These athletic clubs are rifle, dance, and crew. Now, you might be wondering what an athletic club is. What is the difference between athletic clubs and athletic teams? Both sports titles “club” and “athletics” both represent West Po at competitions and win and lose as Wolverines. Due to this unique title of club and how FCPS, West Po, and the Wolverine Athletic Booster Club (WABC) categorizes them, it excludes these sports from the booster club’s funding.
WABC sponsors sports by raising funds through events like the Christmas tree sale, winter concession at sports, passes to home games, and donations. Although these events are extremely successful, the fundraisers are selective. Due to the lack of funding for crew, dance, and rifle, these teams are disadvantaged in terms of having to compete against other schools that may be better funded.
“It’s a disadvantage to us; I mean, it’s kind of unfortunate because we have to pay hundreds of dollars, and other sports might not,” sophomore dancer Jackie Henwood explained.
Athletic funding from the booster club provides basic team needs and safety equipment. Each team is allotted a specific budget from the athletic office and the booster club; anything over the budget must be covered individually through fundraising. Unfortunately, not all sports are allotted the same amount of money. It’s unclear how decisions to fund particular sports at a certain level are determined.
According to the West Potomac Crew website, “All our funds are raised through athlete fees, fundraisers and donations.”
The crew team does fundraisers like marathons and tag days to try and raise money to pay for expenses that naturally come from sports, like competition dues, upkeep, facilities, etc. Booster clubs for each sport make the team run; they do what the Wolverine athletic boosters should do for all sports. All sports should be affordable for students to play and participate in no matter their financial situation. Because of the funding situation, the amount of dues for rowing makes it harder for some families to let their children participate.
“I’ve definitely seen people stop doing crew because of the cost; I have to think about it before coming back each winter,” rower Bella Greene, junior, explained.
But crew is a niche sport, not on the roster for every school, and costs well over $1,000 for each athlete, according to West Potomac Crew budgeting. It is bound to be treated differently than lower-cost sports like track and field, but no funding from the school is a drastic disadvantage compared to other schools where rowing is funded like at Alexandria City High School.
Unfortunately, it can be seen in the lack of a proper boathouse or new equipment, which sets up the rowers for a lack of success. It may even cause people to change into neighboring club teams.
“I’ve known teammates who have switched to Thompson Boat Club or others because of the funding. It’s discouraging,” sophomore Esther Curtis Rower said.
West Potomac Dance supports and dances at football and basketball games. They provide halftime entertainment and make football Friday nights much better. They also rely on donations and sponsors from companies such as Just Dance, Unwined, and the Shoe Hive.
“I guess what I mean is dance is a huge part of West Potomac football and basketball culture, and not to make that completely accessible to everyone is unfair,” Henwood explained.
As spring crew begins, winter rifle and dance wrap up, and the need for funding becomes more visible to athletes, parents, and others alike. The need for funding for these sports is equal to any sports financing given by the boosters. It’s unfair to pick and choose which sports to fund, not whoever the person, sport, or organization is. The need will not go away until money or funding is provided for these sports, and an equal fund of money will go to each sport, regardless of the expense, size, or success.
