Should schools stop making their students pay a huge amount for a sport they want to play?

According to student-athletes at Pentucket, their feelings vary. This is due to the fact that some athletes don’t have any issues with finding the money to pay the price for sports.  Whereas others don’t have that privilege. 

The majority of students felt that they should not be paying a huge amount of money for sports because:

• Some can not afford it
• It can deny certain students the opportunity to play sports 
• It can push students away from sports
• It can make them feel left out

Schools should limit the cost to play sports. If schools limit the cost of playing a sport, a student who loves to play with all their heart and dedication would not have to pay a huge amount. Pentucket sophomore James Cordaro said that, “to a certain extent, to cover fees, schools should consider bringing the price to not such an outlandish amount to the point that they are paying $1000 to play.”

Schools should only charge a reasonable price to play sports. Pentucket freshman, Jackson Miller, said that “schools should only charge the  price needed to supply equipment.” While equipment is very expensive, most athletes have their own personal equipment.  Schools should change the amount of money it costs to play sports, but at the same time keep it stable. They should only have students pay for what they need.

When asked if students should pay hundreds of dollars to play sports, Pentucket sophomore Jaslyn De Los Santos says, “No. Because doing that is like taking an opportunity from a student.” Students lose multiple opportunities because, if athletes do not have the money to pay the fee, they can not play that sport. In turn denying them the opportunity to play the sport they love. 

Does money affect students’ ability to play sports?

Money affects students’ ability to play sports, because the price it costs to play certain sports is ridiculous. For example, to play hockey at Pentucket it costs $850 for both males and females to play. The cheapest of any sport at Pentucket is track which is $200. However, that is still a huge amount of money for some people. Pentucket Junior Leigha Cignetti said, “The amount of money that you have to pay to play sports at Pentucket definitely turns students away from playing sports.” This is very true because some people are not as fortunate as other families get to be. 

Conclusion…

In my opinion, not paying for sports is a good idea. But, since students pay to play the sport they want, they might as well make it a reasonable amount of money. Students should only be obligated to pay a set amount of money to play whatever sport they want. No student should be denied the opportunity to play a high school sport because they can’t afford to pay the fee.