More Than A Game:
Arthur and friends are seniors at Elwood City. When the athletic program and potentially school are at risk of permanent shutdown, how will they survive?
R&R Rated T: Drama/Hurt/Friendship
Author's Note: First time writing a story here. I'm making a continuation of the story "The Rough Side of Elwood". Credit to Nastra1991 for the original idea. All characters from Arthur belong to Marc Brown.
Prelude: PTA Meeting (February 28, 2003)
The Elwood City Board of Education is having an emergency meeting to talk about the future of the athletic programs. Elwood City is not in the best neighborhood, and the economy took a very sudden downturn. This affected not just the elementary schools, but the high schools as well. Most students transferred out of the area into private schools and other area suburban schools. The Board President is coming up to the microphone to speak on the state of the schools.
Mr. Donald Sam takes the microphone and addresses the crowd.
"Can I have everyone's attention please?" The crowd of eighty quiets immediately. Mr. Sam begins to speak.
"Due to the amount of violence, unfortunately, we have had to cancel several sporting events in the area, including two of our boys' and girls' district championship games. The fans of the opposing teams do not feel safe in the area, even with an increased police force. I know that some of you are concerned with your safety and your children's safety when attending events."
"Yeah, no shit!" One of the parents yells out!
"People, please settle down." Sam speaks softly. "This brings me to my next point. Because of the dangerous area, not only have several events been cancelled or shortened, but our funding has been cut."
A hush falls over the crowd. What Mr. Sam was about to say next was only going to add fuel to the bad news fire. Elwood City offered football, soccer, and volleyball in the fall, basketball and wrestling in the spring, and baseball, softball, and track and field in the spring. It wasn't like the sports were unsuccessful, as the football team had won the city championship in 1996 and 1998 before the skilled players transferred to other schools, as did the coaches, and some of the managers, leaving the team with 23 players and two coaches. The team had won one game since 2001.
The soccer teams were below average, and the volleyball team went to the district final in 1999 before losing a 5-set heartbreaker to Clinton High School. The men's basketball team went to the regional final this year, despite the district title game being moved THREE times due to violence in the stands. The women's team made it to the regional title as well.
As far as the Track and Field teams, they won states in 2000 and 2001 and consistently placed well in districts. The baseball and softball teams were the ones that suffered the most, partly because equipment costs were high, and the school instituted pay-for-play fee of $75. There was talk of shutting down both teams, but somehow, they managed to field 9 or 10 players a year, but those players were not very good. Some of those players would not even make a JV or freshman squad at a suburban school. There had been rumors about cutting the athletic programs, even rumors about shuttering the whole school altogether, but those were just that, rumors. Was Mr. Sam serious this time?
"Because of the loss of our funding from state, we have had to cut the following sports: Football,
softball and baseball. The reason being is because of the state that our facilities are in. We had to take the lights out of our field a few years ago because of the violence that occured in the stands and sometimes on the field, and the lack of interest in the program."
"Why can't we just recruit kids from other schools?" asked one concerned parent. "All the other kids were recruited from those proper white schools that took away our talent."
"The thing is, we're not allowed to recruit because we're a public school." said Mr. Sam.
"That's a bunch of crap. Just like the white man, taking away what the black man has worked so hard to gain." said the angry parent, muttering.
"I mean sure, we've had a rough go of it lately, but we did have a senior day, and we have kids that love the game of football. Why take that opportunity away from them?" asked a female whose son was a sophomore on the football team.
"It's simply due to the funding. Even if we had boosters to raise money for the program, we wouldn't have enough kids. And the equipment fees are too high to sustain." answered Mr. Sam.
"Now," continued Mr. Sam, "on to the next sports. We unfortunately have to cut the softball team due to lack of interest over the years."
Nobody really had a reaction because the team was not very good at all. They were losing games 30-0 ROUTINELY. They only had nine players last year and had to cancel the season because two players were suspended due to academic ineligibility. But when Mr. Sam announced baseball would be cut, all hell broke loose. Baseball was one of the sports that fans actually went to, mostly because they had nothing better to do.
"The baseball team is getting cut because of a lack of interest, the cost of equipment, such as gloves,
bats, helmets, and transportation costs. Our team was only able to play 14 games, and 11 of those games were very far out in the suburbs. Even the teams close by did not want to come to our park and play us.
We did get paid for our travel, but that's about it. We can't have a surviving baseball team with only 9 players."
"That's all we need! All it takes is nine players to make a team." shouted another parent.
"You would think that would be enough, but compare this to other schools. Most varsity squads have upwards of 15, 20, and 25 players on their roster. Others have that many on their JV and Freshman teams as well. We only had 15 players go out for the team alone. And 12 of them made the team, but only six were in good academic standing. We had to forfeit three games due to lack of players. And there just isn't a lot of interest. The money needs to go into academics. If we can't get off the ground academically, then we will have to close the school."
"Oh hell no!" shouted someone else.
"This news does not come on a pleasant note. I would like to thank everyone for attending today's meeting.
Let's try to make the most of the time we have here. Have a great day." Mr. Sam steps down and walks away from the table.
And that was it. The school was already in dire need for funding, and cutting sports, which kept the good kids, and even some of the bad kids out of trouble, was not going to help matters.
To be continued...