The CHS girls and boys soccer teams don't get the same amount of budget money from the school because the boys have more players than the girls. Or is there a different reason?
Principal Millaci admits that sports budgets are sometimes different, but he indicates there is a reason for the difference.
“(The budget) wouldn't be the same amount since it's based on participation. Honestly, in some sports, the equipment costs more than others. Some sports have more players than others, so we try to be as equitable as possible, understanding that some sports are more costly than others for a variety of reasons, but we try to be as equal as we can,” said Millaci.
For instance, football would be one of the sports with expensive equipment, and that's why they would probably get a lot more money than other sports. So you could probably understand why the girls and boys soccer budgets are different.
“I don’t think the budgets are different but I will tell you this, for the girls we do a lot of fundraising,” says girls soccer coach Melody Moody.
Coach Moody obviously doesn't think the budgets are different, but she also doesn't know what our principal knows.
Former CHS girls soccer player and alumna Molly McDonald also weighed in.
“Ok, so I think it was my junior or senior year we had like old hand-me-down uniforms. The JV girls had volleyball uniforms and the boys got all the good soccer stuff,” says McDonald.
McDonald thinks the budgets are different and that the girls got the old, dusty, crusty uniforms one year, and the boys got the actual soccer uniforms, while girls were forced to play in oversized volleyball uniforms. Imagine how stressful it could be to keep those big shorts on during a game.
“Well okay, so the boys have more players and whatnot and the girls have less obviously and I feel like the administration puts more effort into boys' sports other than the girls,” said McDonald.
Seems like the boys get more budget money for valid reasons like more players and more teams, but putting more effort into the boys sports other than the girls is not okay.
“See I feel like they care, but like for me, for my year, there were a lot of us that wanted to go on and play for college like a few of the boys wanted to, I wanted to, and I didn't really get any help with that, you know what I'm saying?” McDonald adds.
She went on to say that the boys who wanted to play soccer in college got a lot more exposure and help from our AD and coaches but she did not get that same attention.
Photo: Melinda Rahall