Shopping local supports athletes

Every so often I’m asked how it works where we go from writing our stories to publishing them on paper. Without boring you with all the meticulous details, I’ll just sum it up with “it takes a village.”

I’m always fascinated with how a task that may seem so simple to outsiders is actually quite complicated if you factor in all the work and amount of people it takes to accomplish it.

Using my job as an example. Technically the sports department is a one-man crew in the office, but I’m not the only one who contributes. During the season, there are coaches and managers who send me stats, pictures and any other information I need to then distribute it out to the consumer so that anybody who wants to know what’s going on can do so. If you open up a newspaper and look at the sports section around the fall, sure you’ll see a lot of “By José Torres” but on a good day you’ll see “Contributed photo by” or “From Coach’s Report.” It takes a lot of us to get this job done.

Now that’s just distribution of information. Imagine how much work it takes to actually play the game.

A few weeks ago, I attended a Gonzales Athletic Booster Club meeting, mostly out of curiosity. I’ve always understood that they are the main reason why the district can send kids to away games, feed them, equip them with proper gear, etc. But what I didn’t understand is just how much money it costs to send the volleyball team to a tournament or the golf team to the state tournament.

Without getting lost in the money, trust me when I say it’s a lot.

So exactly how do the boosters pay for all of this? They hold fundraisers and sell merchandise. There are other ways such as donations and of course their all sports souvenir program (which by the way, deadline is July 12 for any business or parent who wants to put an ad in. Just contact the GHS Field House for more information at 830-672-6641).

I want to focus more on the merchandise aspect of supporting the boosters. There’s an argument that I generally agree with that shopping local helps the community in more ways than one. You know where your money goes and how it could potentially support another local resident.

The same can be applied to athletics.

I’m a sports fan. You may have seen me roam around in that wonderful midnight green jersey (go Eagles). So I understand the need to not only show your colors but represent the school/team through clothing. Why not take it a step forward by literally supporting the team through purchasing merchandise through the school or boosters?

The money they raise directly impacts the players on the field.

As I’ve said up top, there’s a lot that goes to making sure an athlete not only has equipment to get on the field, but also the proper gear to succeed. We can talk about the intangibles such as will, heart, pride, dedication, etc., but there’s no denying that it’s an uphill battle for kids if they aren’t properly prepared for a game, and that includes the gear they’re wearing.

I wrote a column a few years back on game attendance and home-field advantage. The premise was that home-field advantage is very much a real thing in high school sports, so why not do our part in affecting the game in our favor by turning that home-field advantage up a notch.

The same can be said about the equipment used by these athletes. That phrase “look good, feel good” is spot on. If you’re out there in a shoddy jersey, you’re not going to feel good.

To be clear, I believe all the athletic programs I cover do a wonderful job of this. But, just like anything in life, there can always be improvements. That’s why it’s important for those who want to support to do just that.

I can write 2000 more words about booster clubs and how smaller towns like the ones in Gonzales County benefit greater with support from their communities. But I’ll leave you with this. Up top I said it takes a village. Why not be a part of that village?