As the Paly football team walked into their game against Mountain View Friday night, the lights reflecting off of their custom Nike jerseys. Their $440 helmets squeaky clean. To outfit just one football player, the average cost is $1,200 per player each season. That includes shoulder-pads, girdles, knee pads, mouthguards, game and practice jerseys, and of course, the helmet. To fund a team of 50 players, it takes a significant amount of money. For the football team, they do enough funding and fundraising to pay for the cost of their equipment.

The same cannot be said for other sports.

For the badminton team, athletes walk into their games with outdated equipment, and old jerseys. They have limited gear and supply from a lack of funding. A majority of players have to buy and maintain their own rackets because the school does not provide high quality rackets. The average racquet costs between $30-$50, and the overall price per player is $260. With 120 athletes, this should be a simple task, however badminton continues to lack significant amounts of funding, and overall is not a very successful in winning games as a team.

Many parents and students alike ask the question of, “Where does the money that we’re donating go?” and “how is it helping our athletes?” The process of finding that answer starts at the Annual Athletics Meetings.

On August 22, 2024, Paly Athletics had its Annual Fall Athletics Meeting, where athletes’ parents meet with coaches to discuss donating to their athletes’ sports. But where does the money actually go? Parents and players are told that their funding goes “towards the team”, yet this is an oversimplified explanation for a process that is both complicated and integral to every Paly sports team.

Athletic Director Jennifer Crane oversees the allocation of money in the athletic department.

The dollar amount each team requests from their athletes varies, yet in general is often not enough to adequately fund the sport. At first glance it seems that athletes have to pay a lot of money for their sports, though in reality many sports don’t break even financially, and rarely make any profit.

“As a Paly athletics program, you’re part of Paly athletics, and in order to function as such, this is your participation,” Crane said. “If we didn’t have that (money) then we wouldn’t be able to participate in athletics.”

Each program uses the funds differently; some programs spend all the money on varsity athletes and none on Junior Varsity athletes, while others separate the money by dividing it between sub-teams. Coach Brandon Byer of the Palo Alto High School JV Basketball team describes the different ways in which funds are allocated in Paly basketball.

“Funds for the Varsity, JV, and Freshman teams are accumulated into a pool of funds for our whole program use,” Byer said. “And yet, there are specific amounts of money that each team can access. For example, for each of our program’s ‘End of Year Banquets’ each of our teams can access specific dollars to fund those celebrations.”

While all of the programs fall under the Athletic Department’s budget, the reality is that the coaches manage most of the money, and it’s up to their discretion as to how they use it. The athletic department’s job is to manage overall spending and make sure that coaches do not exceed the amount in their budget.

If a coach overspends, then the program faces harsh consequences. For example, two years ago, the former softball coach spent significantly more money than was budgeted for the team. As a result, the coach was fired, and his actions caused the team $1000 worth of debt, hindering their ability to pay for new equipment until the debts are repaid. According to Sunday Ahn, a junior in the softball program, the team continues to feel the impacts of the coach’s decision even today.

“I would say it’s definitely been worse in past years,” Ahn said. “There have been some changes since we got new coaches, but it overall feels like there is a lot less funding and recognition in comparison to other programs.”

The boy’s baseball program, on the contrary, has a seemingly endless fund of money; players receive customized bags, jerseys, hats, sweatshirts, t-shirts, and much more. According to baseball player Carter Bader, the team has plenty of money.

“Every year there’s a pamphlet that families fill out for merchandise that we want,” Bader said. “We got new balls last year because balls are pretty expensive, so that’s where a majority of the money went too. We do get new hats and things like that [every] year”

The disparity between Varsity and Junior Varsity equipment is evident for tennis player Ethan Kleiner.

“Varsity gets a lot more funding and supplies than jv,” Kleiner said. “Varsity gets a van to go to games, along with better balls, snacks, and court priority.”

If these disparities continue in the future, the JV and freshman teams will produce less successful athletes. Although JV players are less skilled, they lay the foundation for future varsity teams. If Paly wants these programs to be successful, then JV and Varsity athletes must receive the same quality of equipment, that way players on JV can develop into varsity athletes in the future.

However, there are other methods for fundraising, like working at ASB’s Stanford Parking, and fundraising on your own. The cheer team is a great example of this, as they hold multiple fundraisers every year. One of their annual fundraisers is the candy bar fundraiser. For cheerleader Abbie Karel, she finds fundraising really enjoyable, and a great way to raise money.

“We do a lot of things, from selling candy bars, to Little Vikes where we practice with some of the middle schoolers, and do a performance with them,” Karel said. “We also do things like Christmas tree land where we sell winter drinks, and Christmas themed goodies, and it helps us fund our competitions and things like that.”

It’s important to understand the overall significance of the donations to these sports programs, as without them, they would face significant issues. At Paly, some sports teams do face these challenges, and these athletes as a result get negatively impacted. The equipment that these athletes receive affect how they feel about their sport, and it can be disheartening to see their team not having enough funding to pay for balls, while other teams have merch and team backpacks. For Fallon Porter, that influenced her decision when choosing water polo.

“I joined Water Polo because it had better equipment and overall it looked like a better program,” Porter said. “That’s why I chose it over other things like volleyball.”

For student athletes that are part of unfunded programs, they don’t try as hard. When they see their peers in popular sports receiving new uniforms, advanced coaching, and state-of-the-art facilities, it can lead to feelings of neglect and inequality. This disparity can diminish students’ motivation to participate and succeed in their chosen sports, which can have lasting effects on their overall school experience. Venkatesh Bharadwaj, a junior on the varsity badminton team is upset by the lack of funding.

“I transferred from Gunn to Paly because of the good wrestling equipment and facilities,” junior Atticus Ayres said.

Playing in CCS, Paly faces many talented and well funded programs, such as Bellarmine and Menlo. Lack of funding can be the difference between winning or losing against any of these teams. Declining results against local competition can hurt Paly’s athletic reputation as a whole. This decline can lead to fewer opportunities for athletes to shine. In addition to this, less students will be inclined to join athletic programs if they are already performing poorly. With strong financial backing, Paly athletes can compete to their fullest and represent the school well.

Subpar equipment can not only affect performance, but it can also affect safety. In sports like football, a majority of the equipment is used for safety rather than performance enhancement. With concerns for youth head injuries, football helmets are at the core of player safety. Currently, some JV players are limited to older and less advanced helmets (nicknamed buckets) because Paly doesn’t have enough modern helmets ( Riddell Speedflexes).

“In my freshman year I had a bucket, because they ran out of Speedflexes,” junior Aryav Singh said. “They told me it was just as safe, but I felt like it provided less protection compared to a Speedflex.”

It is one thing for equipment to limit performance, but it is crucial for equipment to ensure player safety.

At the end of the day, sports funding can have a great impact on not only player’s performances, but also on the development of players overtime. Having top notch equipment and facilities can be the deciding factor that allows some Paly athletes to play at the elite level. If donations are not properly spent, teams will not have enough support to succeed. When people spend significant amounts of money on their sports, it is essential for them to know it is directly affecting their sports. Money spent properly can shape the athletic future of Paly athletes.