Staying in play

But young athletes taking to the fields this week have a whole new set of concerns: Do I have enough money to pay the user fee, for one? Am I better off working a job or paying $300 or $400 to play a sport, only to find I’m sitting on the bench?

It’s all due to pressure on high school athletic programs squeezed by shrinking school budgets, a direct result of what some are calling the Great Recession. And that recession, of course, has made raising funds for the programs that much more difficult.

The heat the programs endured last year has been ramped up yet again, especially in communities where attempted overrides of the Proposition 2 1/2 tax limit were shot down.

Take Hull, for instance. Its high school, one of five nonvocational public high schools south of Boston that did not have athletic user fees last year, has now imposed hefty fees for the coming school year. Even with that, the very existence of sports programs remains up in the air, dependent on the success of private fund-raising efforts. The predicament springs from voters’ rejection of a $1.6 million override in May.

It’s much the same in Abington. Coming off one of the most successful athletic seasons in its history, the high school there raised fees dramatically and pushed responsibility for junior varsity and some freshman sports onto the school’s booster club. The reason was the same as Hull’s: Voters rejected an override, in this case for $1.7 million, late last month.

A Globe survey of high school athletic programs south of Boston has found:

■ Where once athletic programs were financed entirely from school budgets, most now draw their funding from a variety of sources.

■ Booster clubs, which once paid for banquets and jackets, are increasingly playing a critical role in funding programs, at a time when it’s never been harder to raise money.

■ Schools that have been able to avoid fees attribute much of the success of their sports programs to precisely that factor. Students don’t have to make a financial commitment, and aren’t hesitant about playing more than one sport.

Hull High athletic director James Quatromoni was a student at the school when sports were cut 20 years ago after a series of failed overrides, and he recently faced the same situation when the Hull School Committee voted to cut the entire athletic budget, save for his $32,500 salary.

As a result, Hull imposed athletic fees for the first time, starting at $200 for the first sport and capped at $975 per family.

Athletes and parents have been frantically raising money this summer, and on Aug. 20 Quatromoni said that the combination of user fees, $35,000 in donations, and projected gate receipts would allow the school to field a team in all fall sports, but that schedules would be cut by about 20 percent to save money.

“We will still be able to fulfill our South Shore League obligations,’’ he said. “There will be no new equipment or uniforms. Now we have to get to work to save winter sports.’’

Abington High School is coming off a superb athletic year in which the Green Wave captured South Shore League titles in football, basketball, and baseball, and a state title in baseball.

The reward for student-athletes? Tripling the cost of playing three sports at the school, from $150 to $450.

Coming off what he called a “hectic, very busy, but rewarding year,’’ Michael Del Grosso, the school’s athletic director, said the last thing he wanted to do was raise athletic fees.

But the defeat of the override and cuts to his budget left him with little room to maneuver.

“We did do a survey of area schools, and we’re not the highest,’’ he said. “But there’s no doubt it does have an impact on participation.’’

For the last school year, the school charged each student-athlete $150 no matter how many sports he or she played. The new fee is $150 per sport. The new sports budget also eliminated funding for freshman and junior varsity sports. The Abington High Booster Club has committed to covering the costs of the JV program, and the fall season for freshman athletics.

Administrators at two area schools still without athletic fees say their absence has been a boon.

Mike McGrath, Randolph High’s athletic director, said the rescinding of his school’s fee last year, along with the restoration of JV sports at the school, played a big role in participation on several teams, and team performance as well.

“We’re very fortunate not to have user fees,’’ he said. “It has made our programs more enticing to students.’’

Foxborough High athletic director Craig Najarian said his school, the smallest in the Hockomock League with fewer than 900 students, might not be competitive with tough opponents if athletic fees prevented students from participating.

“I am thankful,’’ he said. “I think it’s obvious it allows us to have depth in our sports teams. We need to have our kids playing more than one sport.’’

There are two other nonvocational high schools south of Boston with no athletic user fees: Mansfield and Brockton. In Mansfield, the School Committee this past spring considered imposing athletic fees at Mansfield High, but the proposal was tabled, sparing athletes for at least another year. In Brockton, 64 percent of the high school students are from low-income households, and school officials have never really considered any type of athletic fee.

Vocational and technical schools traditionally have not imposed athletic fees. Officials at the schools have said that students often must buy their own uniforms and equipment, and they have chosen not to add fees to that burden.

Booster clubs and other outside fund-raising groups are playing increasingly important roles not only in Hull and Abington, but also in towns such as Milton, where a $50,000 gap in the athletic budget last winter threatened to derail Milton High’s spring sports program.

A group of parents organized to sell corporate banners in the school’s Copeland Field House. That effort and other fund-raisers designed to aid not only athletics, but also clubs and activities, allowed the schools to carry over a $37,000 balance to this year’s budget.

“Last year, out of something bad, something wonderful happened at the high school,’’ said Milton schools superintendent Mary Gormley. “When it came to raising funds, parents, teachers, and children created an unbelievable ‘can do’ spirit.’’

A look at Milton High’s athletic budget of roughly $609,000 for the upcoming school year shows multiple income streams. Besides last year’s $37,000 balance, there’s $226,069 from the school budget; a projected $234,250 from user fees; $39,000 from gate receipts; $43,000 projected from a series of fund-raising events; and $25,000 from the sale of banners at outdoor athletic sites.

But not every town can muster up money so readily. Kathleen Sullivan, president of the Hull Boosters Club, said the success that the town had 20 years ago raising money for sports programs at Hull High after they were cut is difficult to replicate in the current economic climate. “I don’t think there’s ever been a tougher time to raise money.’’

Desperate times call for desperate measures: Sullivan’s group held a “Meadow Muffin’’ fund-raiser Aug. 22, in which participants guessed just where on 2,500 squares marked out on the football field a cow might leave her mark. Not exactly a highbrow pursuit, but a long procession of such events helped save fall sports.

With winter sports now on the line, Sullivan and other Hull parents say they will press on, for a very good reason.

“After all the cuts that have taken place in the classroom and with the loss of all the clubs and activities, I can’t bear to see those disappointed faces again,’’ said Sullivan, whose daughter is a junior cheerleader. “I’m just hoping enough people step up so that we can keep these programs going.’’

Rich Fahey can be reached at faheywrite@yahoo.com.