2024 Parent Volunteer Requirements
As a community non-profit youth organization our goal is to keep our registration cost down as much as possible, so that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in youth sports. In order to keep our cost down and manageable we as a board must generate additional revenue, primary through food and merchandise sales to help pay for other expenses that are not covered with the initial player registration fee.
The athlete registration fees only cover the uniform, league insurance, referee fees, trainer fees, player certification fees, and for any initial park permits and operational expenses. We as an organization must make up the additional money for the required game day field costs and the park lights costs. Both of these are a requirement to have a successful season and are very expensive due to electricity cost as well as the school districts pricing structure.
In the past it was implied that everyone should help volunteer and we have had plenty of participation and assistance from our families. However, the past couple years the help has been very limited, and our board has been over burden with this responsibility which is not sustainable for the long-term success of the organization.
For the 2024 season every family is expected to help volunteer and help share this burden of responsibility in order to have a successful season. We do understand that some families may not be able to volunteer for various reasons, so we are providing a $50 cash buy out if you do not wish or are unable to volunteer for any reason. We had this option setup during the registration checkout process for the fall season to volunteer as a parent, which is an agreement that you as a family will help as needed with our operations during the season. However, there were some technical difficulties, so we now offer this non-volunteer fee as a $50 cash buyout for any family that cannot or who does not wish to help the league during the season. THIS DOES NOT EXCLUDE FAMLIES FROM TEAM FUNDRAISING, but only LEAGUE volunteering responsibilities.
We are attempting this for the 2024 season in hopes that families will step up and help us provide a positive environment for our youth and help close that financial gap we face as an organization every year. The alternative is to raise our initial registration rates by over $150 to make up that financial requirement. There are not many youth football organization left in the South Bay, so please help us keep the Aztecs around for the next generation of families.
We encourage everyone to call and email the school district and ask why is the rental rates for a high school turf field is two to three times more expensive than other districts? Why does the Sweetwater Union High School district rental cost for the use of a turf field to a local kid’s non-profit organization cost close to $4,000 for 12 hours on a Saturday? Why is the cost so much even though the field is already paid for by community tax dollars? These are the things that are outside our organizations control and drive the cost up for youth sports participation and as a community we need to push back and demand answers or the result will be that we are priced out as an organization.
Remember there is never any change without your voice being heard in the community. Please contact the district and demand answers!
https://superintendent.sweetwaterschools.org/
https://facilities.sweetwaterschools.org/
I hope this makes things a little clearer as to why your participation and time as a volunteer is super critical to our organization and our athletes'success.
As always if there are any questions, please feel free to speak with us or email [email protected].