NEWS FEED

Athletes shouldn’t have to pay to play

Written by Michael Turlington, Sports Editor

Professional athletes get paid to play sports, college athletes get scholarships to play sports and now high school athletes have to pay to play sports.

Because of budget cuts from both the state and county, the Henderson County Board of Education recently decided that each athlete has to pay $20 to participate on a sports team. This money goes toward transportation costs for travel to away games.

Our school system is in a tough time financially, but does that mean that our athletes should have to pay?

To begin with, will the price for playing go up with inflation? Many students have friends or relatives that have to pay hundreds of dollars to play sports at their schools. I doubt that most of these schools began with a huge fee. Some of them might have even started by only charging $20.

Is there any guarantee that our athletes will not have to pay excessive amounts in the future? Will the transportation fee be removed in the future when it is not needed any more?

Finally, people pay to join club  and travel teams. When high school athletes are asked to pay for sports, the team atmosphere changes. No longer do the best students make the team; the ones who can afford it do.

On a personal level, high school students pay enough for sports by representing our school. They pay enough by working and sweating for their team when they could be doing homework or earning money at a part-time job.

It is not right to penalize the best athletes in our school by making them pay.

It is one thing to ask a professional player to take a salary cut; it is another thing to ask a high school athlete to pay for gas to get to games.

Funding has been cut and this affects our sports programs. The school cannot be expected to pay every expense, but I know Henderson County can find a better way to pay for gas than to have our athletes bear the brunt of the expenses.