While NC sports has seen a handful of successes, other schools around the city continuously excel. The main reason is the money available to each institution.
Public schools in high-income areas and private schools tend to advertise their athletic programs as having more benefits because of the equipment and facilities.
These efforts attract students from all over to join their teams, leaving lower-income areas where athletes originally reside with fewer players.
The trend starts from an early age. Private Catholic grade schools participate in the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), which allows students to have opportunities to play sports like basketball, football, soccer and volleyball.
“A fair amount of student-athletes participate in the local CYO programs,” Cathedral Athletic Director Rick Streiff said. “I would say this is a positive experience for our athletes.”
In public schools, organized sports are not offered until middle school.
“I believe that Panther youth sports are very good with training our athletes, but I do think that it would keep our athletes in the district with sports offered at earlier ages,” Athletic Director Andy Elkins said.
There are also places like Genesis Sports Performance, a gym where student-athletes and adults train outside organized sports. The issue with training institutions like this is the cost; kids in lower-income families struggle to find extra opportunities because they can not afford them.
Higher-income schools tend to dominate athletics, attracting skilled athletes.
“We have a demographic that is paying tuition to attend,” Streiff said, “By that nature, you have families who are motivated to do well, and consequently, athletics is significant to the school.”
In private school systems, parents and donors pay for everything. While public schools receive money from the state, they are still impacted by the financial status of their surrounding neighborhoods.
“The district all pays for the coaches, transportation and security, but ticket sales pay for everything else like equipment and jerseys,” Elkins said.
Taxes fund public schools, but the money is used mainly for education, leaving sports to rely on donations and fundraisers.
“I think that students should always come before the money, but if there is no funding, it is almost impossible to give the students everything they need,” Elkins said. “There are families that can provide that for their kids, but in our district, a big population can not afford those kinds of things.”
Private schools spend their funding on many aspects of the school – education and sports. While sponsorships are involved in public schools, they do not have as much access to financing from the parental side.
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