Sports

Everyone has to pay to compete for a spot on athletic teams in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools this year.

FILE PHOTO

Starting next month, participants in athletic programs in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools must pay before suiting up. Middle school athletes must pay $50 per sport; the high school fee is $100.

On June 22, the school board approved a participation fee for middle school and high schools sports to offset budget cuts. Middle school students must pay $50 and high school students $100 for each sport. Low-income students, such as those who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, are eligible for waivers.

The Carolina Panthers donated $15,000 to the “Keep Sport in Middle School” campaign and the NFL Players Association also pledged money to the program.

“We would charge a fee or walk away [and lose] sports for middle schools; 32 schools, 13 sports,” CMS Athletic Director Vicki Hamilton said. “[Also] you would only pay this after you’ve made the team and the name is on the official roster.”  

CMS officials researched participation fee policies and other similar programs in North Carolina and around the country before crafting the policy.

“We saw some things we liked,” Hamilton said. “We saw some things we didn’t like.”  

Middle school sports, which don’t have the revenue-producing draw of high school programs, were in danger of elimination until the school board opted for pay to play. Under this scenario, the programs have a revenue stream that will help them survive.

‘There is an economic shortfall and in order to keep from shutting down sports for middle school there had to be a decision made,” says Raphael Yeary, a CMS teacher and middle school coach.

Middle schools sports do hold some importance.”

“Middle school sports give the foundation and fundamentals of how to do the sport correctly,” Yeary said. “We as coaches work hard to teach them the proper way of doing things to keeping grades up, keeping their body in shape, how to do drills properly and preparing them to play on the next level, [they] also give the students an outlet [and] with keeping them academically eligible to play sports.”

LaShonda Hart, whose son Shaquille is a junior at West Mecklenburg, says: “If it is true that the $100 will be the factor of whether or not middle school sports will continue to exist then I think, middle school sports should be reconsidered. There are several little league teams in the Charlotte area that would like to have the middle school students participating on their teams.”

Shaquille Hart said athletics in school is an asset to preparing students for academics and adulthood.

“Middle school and high school sports are great, they are preparing you for college and they give you scholarships at the high school level,” he said.

Pali Sikisi, a junior at Rocky River High, said: “A team is a family; all of the positive things that it provides should not be reconsidered by parents just because of a fee. Also, just because they might not go to college with it, it’s still important. It’s still an extracurricular activity that keeps [participants] doing something positive rather than leaning toward gangs or other negative things.”

Collecting fees may help preserve middle school sports, but Hart worries it has the potential to adversely affect multi-sport athletes, who can’t afford the fee, especially in high school.
“[Because I play] football, wrestling and track, I am going to be in the position to pay a lot,” he said. “I feel like they should have done it per semester or $100 to play all sports.”

Said Yeary: “There are some who won’t be able to pay due to economic status, and CMS did say they will be able to help those who might be unable to pay. I hope the effect of this doesn’t hurt students who wish to play sports, but we will have to wait and see because nobody can predict the future.”

Yeary contends there is a plus to the fee requirement: families will see extracurricular activities as an investment to be taken seriously.

“I would hope that since students’ parents have to pay that they will take making the team and staying on the team very serious and not do something that will get them thrown off which would be money thrown down the drain,” he said. “It may teach maturity and responsibility to the students and help all parents to be vested.”

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