Must soccer players pay to work out?

Question: A recent communication seems to be implying that if you want to play soccer for B-P, you need to pay to work out. As a taxpayer and proud of the facilities we have, I find it questionable that we need Alpin Haus to supplement our players training. Will not sending my son there jeopardize his chances to play soccer?

Answer: The short answer to your question is no, boys who are interested in playing soccer for B-P do NOT have to pay to work out at Alpin Haus or anywhere else in our area. All of our student-athletes have access to a top-notch workout facility at the high school. I apologize if my email was misinterpreted.

I believe what you're referring to is an opportunity from B-P alum Bryan Baia, who is a personal trainer at Alpin Haus, that I shared via email with soccer families. Some families choose to pay for personal training sessions for their student-athletes at Alpin Haus, the Y, or other area fitness facilities. This is completely optional and not necessary to secure a place on a B-P team.

I apologize for any confusion my email might have caused.
- answered by Brian Henry, boys varsity soccer coach and HS science teacher

Athletics news online

Question: I have noticed that there is really no information on the athletics website besides an old posting from the booster club. Shouldn't there be information posted there about how our teams are doing? I do see where you can link to their respective websites, but why can't the school post information? Sometimes it is very difficult to find out who won games and who played well, etc. These are things our school and community should be proud of and, looking at the website, we aren't doing enough to show it. I did link to the sports schedules and the results posted there were from 2009. I am disappointed about this. I wrote about this once before about a year ago and I thought that with the appointment of a new AD things would change. However, it has not. I find it difficult to believe someone couldn't post something or at least link to news articles. Not all of us have Facebook and Twitter.

Answer: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. As you pointed out, I'm new to the athletics director job and am still learning, so I appreciate your patience during our transition year.

Please note that, in the last three years, Broadalbin-Perth has gone from having a full-time athletics director, to a half-time AD, and now, in the current arrangement, I'm performing the job of AD on top of my teaching responsibilities as the high school band director. However, the AD job hasn't changed much since it was a full-time position: I'm still responsible for coordinating schedules, hiring officials, training coaches, and ensuring the safety and success of our student-athletes.

Weekend Pink Out

Question: The Patriot Pink Out is such a fantastic event. It gets bigger and bigger every year. The B-P soccer program, school district, and community should be very proud of these efforts. Is it possible to hold this event on a weekend in the future? There were many families who had to pry their children away from the festivities for homework and bedtime.  They would have loved to stay to hear the amazing Refrigerators, but it just got to be too late. Please consider this for next year.

Answer: I agree -- a Saturday night game would be ideal, but this year we ran into some scheduling conflicts. Both our opponent and the band had to be available and neither were for the weekend. However, we will try again next year.

Thank you for the continued support!

- answered by Brian Henry, HS science teacher and varsity boys soccer coach

Fundraising for JV sports

Question: At the time of this question, we are quickly approaching the Aug. 1 deadline for raising funds to reinstate our fall JV sports program. I've heard we're short of our goal and are frantically trying to organize last-minute fundraisers. Community members, athletes and parents have all been asked for their contributions and support in the effort. Have the faculty, staff, administration, BPTA, etc., been approached or through their own initiative made any contributions to the efforts? If not, is there a legal reason why? Also, if the efforts are unsuccessful, what happens to the funds that have been raised?

Answer: Thankfully, our booster club was successful in raising the money needed to fund fall JV sports, and we're well on our way to funding winter and spring JV sports. Many of our coaches--at all levels, modified, JV and varsity--have been closely involved in the fundraising efforts.

Although our faculty, staff and administration have not been directly approached about contributing to the fundraising effort, many of them have anyway. A majority of B-P employees live in the community, and our faculty and staff regularly donate to community causes--from holiday gift drives to emergency relief efforts to fundraisers for various charitable causes.

- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, Superintendent of Schools

Results of athletic events

Question: Is there a way for the Athletics Director to post the results of athletic events? I have been on other schools' websites and they seem to keep everyone up to date on all of the programs, listing the final scores for team activities and the top individual efforts for each team, not only for varsity level but for JV and modified as well. This seems like it would be great for the community to be able to keep up with the school, as well as the students themselves. Everyone loves to see their name "in lights," right? I'm sure a system could be devised that would let the coaches submit the scores and top athletes, as I'm sure the AD doesn't attend all of the events and therefore may not know the outcomes. Just something to think about. As a parent, I think it would be nice for my children to see themselves as important if they did well or something to aspire to if they need improving.

Answer: Thank you for the suggestion. We've updated our athletics webpage on www.bpcsd.org to include upcoming events and recent results. The coaches have received training on how to enter results and it is their responsibility to enter results after each contest.
- answered by Adam Barnhart, Athletics Director

Charging students for admission to athletic events

Question: Please explain the reasoning behind the board's decision to not charge students admission for athletic events. With the district crying poverty and blaming the taxpayers for the youth commission and other organizations now having to pay a fee to use the facilities one would think the district would want to raise any funds it can. Also, is there not a cost to hold these athletic events, i.e. lighting, paying the coaches, paying the teachers to sell tickets? Even if the district charged $1 for students it would be something. So, with the board deciding to decline this opportunity to make a little extra money, they shouldn't be telling the taxpayers, "They did it to themselves." Also, if they are not going to charge students, how about having the teachers volunteer to sell tickets instead of being paid?

Answer: This decision was the result of a cost/benefit analysis.

The position put forward in your question is one that was put forward in our conversation when we set the price for sporting events. The total amount earned by ticket prices for all sporting events last year was approximately $16,000. It's true that a portion of this revenue will be lost by allowing students to attend at no cost. At least one board member said approximately the same thing you said in your question: We say we need money but eliminate a revenue source, and that's a contradiction.

Do we need timekeepers at sporting events?

Question: Time Keepers at sporting events, from the BOE meeting minutes dated October 18, 2010, they are paid approximately $4,200. Would it be a good idea to consider redirecting the Booster Club and PTO’s objectives, maybe instead of time consuming fund raising events they would consider participating in a different manner, at times, to help our school – PTO and Booster Club members acting as time keepers at games? Saving money is the same as making money.

Answer: The BOE doesn't manage the Booster Club but we can pass the suggestion on. Scoreboard operators are required to have certain qualifications in order to participate in Section II sports. The proposed spending plan makes reductions in the area of score book keeping of approximately $1,800. The distinction is between those operating the scoreboard and those who "keep the book" for the teams.
-answered by Ed Szumowski, Board of Education Vice President

Should the Freshman and JV basketball teams merge?

Question: In the spirit of cutting costs prior to cutting large offerings at our school, I believe many would agree that we would rather have an athletics program, where the Freshman basketball team is merged with our JV Basketball team, this is typical for many schools, and it would have its challenges but it would still be better than eliminating athletics all together.

Answer: Merging sports programs with other schools where possible is being considered. Elimination of low participation sports is being considered. We will also take this recommendation into consideration. The response from the community has been very strong surrounding sports and extra-curricular activities. These programs will be kept if we can find any way to afford them.
-answered by Ed Szumowski, Board of Education Vice President

Merger with Galway?

Question: It seems as though the ground work is being put in place to start preparing BP residents for a merger between Galway and Broadalbin schools.

Answer: During the extra-curricular activities round-table discussions one of the questions about preserving sports had to do with merging programs with nearby schools that have similar needs. One such school could be Galway. This does not mean that the district is proposing a merger of the schools. Such a proposal is not impossible but this discussion was about distributing the cost of sports between two school’s programs rather than eliminating the programs.
-answered by Ed Szumowski, Board of Education Vice President

Using the turf to raise money

Question: Would the district consider hosting non-athletic events on the turf for a profit?

Answer: Absolutely. The district is willing to look outside the box for any opportunity to responsibly earn additional revenue for our schools.
-answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Class size vs. athletics

Question: I was wondering how anyone would vote for sports over class size. I do believe that sports give students a chance to improve themselves, but in the younger grades the children's parents are expected to pay fees and get sports equiptment for their children and transport them if playing on travel teams. They should do that in high school as well and leave class size in the elementary grades alone. Increasing class size is why I moved my family from Amsterdam to Broadalbin. They were increasing class size and I didn't want that for my son. My feeling is that if you want to increase class size, then do it in the older high school grades. So my question right now is why were class sizes increased rather than cutting sports? I know that I will be voting down the budget just because you are increasing class size no matter what.

Answer: The night that members of the Board of Education adopted the proposed budget, they looked at four different options. All four of these options included the elimination of the seven staff positions that are reflected in the proposed budget. The other three options that the board rejected included additional staff cuts, and two options called for the elimination of the district's athletics program. So, of the four budget drafts that board members considered, the budget they adopted is the least severe when it comes to budget cuts.

Baseball scoreboard

Question: How come the baseball team's scoreboard does not work?

Answer: As of May 12, the baseball scoreboard does work. However, it's not always used. It's the decision of the team's coach whether or not they want to operate the scoreboard during any given game.
- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Abuse of Patriot Field

Comment: I was at the high school field yesterday and was apalled to see how the turf was being treated by the track people -- dragging hurdles across the turf (not lifting, dragging), throwing shot puts across the field, and watching them dig into the turf. There was gum stuck all over the track itself and there was garbage everywhere. That field was very expensive and should be shown a lot more respect than it is. Also at the meet the day before, people had dogs on the field and no one told them to take the dogs off the field. Someone should speak to everyone again about respecting the field and equipment.

Budget Area 5: Athletics & Extracurricular Activities

During the final Community Roundtable, which took place on Monday, March 8, participants discussed each area of the school budget and made recommendations to the Board of Education regarding which programs and services could be cut and which should be maintained. In order to keep the conversation going, we invite readers to post their thoughts on the following question that was presented to participants at the Community Roundtable. (Click here to read a PDF document that outlines the steps taken so far in the budget development process.)

During the fifth Community Roundtable in February, participants discussed topics related to athletics and extracurricular activities. Some of the participants’ most common recommendations were:

• Extracurricular activities are an important part of a well-rounded education.
• The numerous benefits of extracurricular activities are well worth the 1.25% of the school budget they cost.
• Students who participate in athletics and clubs develop character traits that are not as easily taught and developed in the classroom.
• If you cut clubs and sports, attendance will drop, the tardy rate will go way up, discipline referrals will increase, and test scores and academics will be hurt.
• Cutting clubs would affect more kids than cutting a teacher.

Athletics & Extracurriculars Roundtable: Athletics

The Community Roundtable on athletics and extracurricular activities that was held on Monday, Feb. 8, included lively discussion on a variety of topics. In order to keep the conversation going, we invite readers to post their thoughts on the following question that was presented to participants at the Community Roundtable. Click here to read notes on what was discussed at the Community Roundtable.

At Broadalbin-Perth, approximately 744 students participate in 15 interscholastic athletic programs. Beginning in middle school, students have the opportunity to play on modified teams where they develop skills and learn sportsmanship. As they get older, students can participate on junior varsity and varsity teams.

Athletics & Extracurriculars Roundtable: Value of Extracurriculars

The Community Roundtable on athletics and extracurricular activities that was held on Monday, Feb. 8, included lively discussion on a variety of topics. In order to keep the conversation going, we invite readers to post their thoughts on the following question that was presented to participants at the Community Roundtable. Click here to read notes on what was discussed at the Community Roundtable.

Broadalbin-Perth offers 32 clubs across its four schools and 15 sports programs with teams at the modified, junior varsity and varsity levels. Much of the research into the value of extracurricular activities, such as the ones offered at B-P, suggests that they have positive effects on students who participate.

Pre-game fan warning

Question: Why does Adam Barnhart single out Broadalbin-Perth fans and warn them before the game has even started? I think that is out of line. Meanwhile, he does nothing when the Johnstown fans single out each of our players.

Answer: Let me begin by saying that we encourage all students, parents and community members to attend our athletic events and support our student-athletes in a respectful and sporting-like manner.

Adam Barnhart is our athletics director, and he is 100% accountable to the district superintendent for the conduct and action of fans -- both students and adults -- at all athletic events at Broadalbin-Perth. Because Mr. Barnhart attends all of our home games, he has probably noticed patterns with certain Broadalbin-Perth fans who may tend to become unruly, use foul language or make inappropriate actions against the visiting team or referees -- especially during games where emotions are running hot. Before the boys basketball game against Johnstown (Broadalbin-Perth's biggest rival), Mr. Barnhart clearly believed that a proactive warning was necessary in order to try to maintain a respectful and enjoyable game atmosphere for all fans.

Cheerleaders at away games

Question: Can you please tell me why the cheerleaders do not cheer at away games? I have heard a lot of rumors, like there is no money for a bus and the girls don't want to.

Answer: The cheerleaders do cheer at away games. There are a select handful of away games that we do not send our cheerleaders to -- mostly the games that are farthest away. One reason we do not send the cheerleaders to all away games is because of money.

But the primary reason we do not send our cheerleaders to all away games is because of our competitive cheerleading squad. The competitive squad, which is a fiscally self-sustaining program, is made up of a select number of cheerleaders from the regular squad. The time commitment for the cheerleaders who are on both squads is high, so we have had to cut down on the number of away games we sent them to. When the cheerleaders do not travel to away games, they are often at the school practicing.

JV players moving up

Question: Is it customary to move a group of JV players up to varsity for sectionals then, after a few weeks, move them back down again as the varsity team advances? Is this fair to those kids? If you could only bring one or two of them, didn't you know that in the beginning? Were they brough up solely to use for scrimmaging? Is this a good way to build up a team?

Answer: Broadalbin-Perth has always kept the best interests of the program in mind when making decisions about individual teams. JV players are sometimes brought up to the varsity team for a variety of reasons, for instance, needing additional players at playoff time or to replace players who are injured or ill.

At Broadalbin-Perth, it's been a tradition to bring up some JV players to the varsity team if the varsity team makes it to the sectional playoffs. This is done with the mindset that, while the JV players may not play in a game, they will have a valuable oppotunity to participate and be part of a sectional team. And there are times when a JV player who has been brought up to a varsity team can provide valuable play on the field during games.
- answered by Stephen Tomlinson, District Superintendent

Boys soccer

Question: This is not a question but a comment. It is sad to see, with the boys varsity soccer team making it this far, that there was no effort in having a bus or two available for people to go to the game. Even if you charged a small fee for it, people would have paid it. There is nothing acknowledging them on the home page, the high school page, or even the time or directions on the sports schedule on the district Web site. I had to go to Johnstown's Web site to find it. You always say it's about the children, then you should applaud these boys for making it this far!

Answer: Prior to last night's game, we did have information about the game, including directions, on the district Web site under Athletics. As far as posting a congratulatory message on the Web site, we didn't do that before the sectional championship game because the team hadn't won anything yet and we didn't want to jinx things! Now that they have won the game, we have a congratulatory message on the district home page and athletics home page.