North Kingstown is home to twenty-seven different sports teams, and each of these teams requires thousands of dollars to keep them going. During the winter, hockey, gymnastics, and swimming are all in the financial crunch to fundraise the money necessary to pay their bills and keep their team.

Winter sports can be expensive.  In the case of these three sports, they need to rent out the space to have their practices and games or meets because NKHS is unable to offer them the facilities.  These teams also have to pay for their uniforms and do not have the money to get buses to travel to and from meets and practices, which are off campus.

The players have a history of turning to creativity when it comes to fundraising.  Junior Allie Lindo is a girls hockey player from North Kingstown. “We have a raffle pasta dinner at Bonnet Shores Beach Club and that is the main fundraiser,” said Lindo. “People on the team sell tickets to the dinner and have a certain amount (10) they each need to sell. They also have to individually buy an item to be raffled off.”

The other teams host similar fundraisers, and rely heavily on the support of the community.  This money comes out of the pockets of the parents when they don’t make enough.  The parents attend and contribute to the fundraisers, most of the time buying raffle tickets which end up going back to paying for their own child.

In some cases, such as gymnastics, the facility they practice and have meets in helps them to cover the expenses.  The gymnastics team practices at Aim High Academy and they give the team a discount so they are able to rent gym space.

Junior Victoria Derousi of the gymnastics team said, “Our team members pay for our warm up jackets, leggings, and state meets. We do not have busing to practice at Aim High [Academy] or to competitions.  Parents contribute with providing rides as well as our two currently licensed drivers on the team, who also have to pay for the gas to get there.”

Most of the expenses required are covered by the school if it funds it, and this results in a high bill.

Parents also dedicate a lot of time to the cause, organizing the fundraising and making sure all the players get to practice.  Jodi Murphy is one of these parents, and has two sons on the hockey team. “In order to keep the North Hockey program alive, parents had to come together to help fundraise. For the past few years we have run a golf tournament and silent auction which has generated a good deal of money to help pay for things like ice time,” Murphy said.  “Going forward, I do believe the school department has decided to incorporate the funding for hockey back into the school budget.”

The task of successfully raising the money to keep a high school sports team going should never be underestimated.  Athletes and parents have had to work hard to keep their beloved programs alive.  The only missing components are the students of NKHS.  These teams would all appreciate the support of their fellow classmates, which is the only thing missing from these fundraisers.  The teams that are fortunate enough to have their team funded by the school should be able to chip in a few dollars to the cause.

“I would like to see an equal distribution of town-wide funds among all sports teams,” said Derousi.  “More school support towards some of the less popular sports would increase public desire to show up to fundraisers and help teams meet fundraising goals.”