How do our teams pay for that?
Cabrini sports teams, like most college teams, often travel for tournaments and spring break practice, sometimes at great distance.
The men’s basketball team has traveled to California. The softball team ventured to Florida just to practice. Cabrini athletic uniforms and equipment always appear to be of the highest quality.
The question that arises here is where the money comes from to pay for these trips and new uniforms. Leslie Danehy, the Cabrini athletic director, explained how each team is funded.
Danehy is given separate lines from Cabrini to allocate money for different expenses. “I have an official’s line, a travel line, meals, supplies, capital, and part-time coach salaries,” Danehy said. This covers most of the bills that need to be paid.
Some teams such as men’s lacrosse receive a larger budget. Men’s lacrosse requires more money because they have a larger number of players and more expensive equipment. The uniforms, for the most part, are paid for by the college. The lacrosse team takes up the most money, but they also are given the most from alumni.
John Dzik, head coach of the men’s basketball team, said, “Men’s basketball and both men’s and women’s lacrosse teams generate the most money from alumni.”
However, the money given from the athletic department does not cover the trips taken by some of the teams. Extended trips incur costs, which the college can’t completely cover.
“All extended trips or spring break trips our teams take, are partially funded by Cabrini’s budget. Then the team fundraises the rest,” Danehy said. Cabrini covers 40 percent of the costs for trips. This leaves the rest of the bill to be paid by fundraising.
Cabrini alumni play an essential role in donating money to their former or favorite team. “I love to see my old school traveling the country and claiming victories. It gives me a sense of pride,” Patrick Devers, Cabrini graduate and soccer fan, said.
There are many different fundraising tactics that Cabrini teams use to gain support. For instance, Golf tournaments are commonly planned to provide big money.
“Selling AVON products, t-shirts, and holding camps for children are a big help,” Danehy said. With all these different techniques, you would think getting the money would be easy. However, fundraising can still be difficult.
If a team still can’t seem to raise the money needed, it has to come out of the players’ pockets. For example, the men’s basketball players had to pay $350 of their own money for a trip to California.
Bill Leahy, a senior basketball player, had to raise this money last season. “I just got a few people to play in a golf outing, which was pretty easy. Anyone that didn’t raise the money got it billed to their account,” Leahy said.
The players did not object. For the fun they get out of these trips, they felt it was well worth the work put into fundraising.
Posted to the web by Ryan Norris
