GoBears02 wrote:
Okay, seriously are we at this again? I can't say that I know what the budget is this year, but I know in years past the cheerleaders received about $12,000. After purchasing uniforms for the new kids (about $2,000), shoes for the new kids ($800) cold-gear for the new kids ($1500) a few t-shirts for each of them ($800) and this is all just guess-timates... you have about $6,900.
To travel to away games you have to get one of the UCA vans which is about $1/mile meaning a trip to Springfield and back is about $400 you feed the 10 people attending two times and the trip costs about $550. And that is the short trip. A longer trip means more money for the van(s) plus hotel rooms, plus more meals. That $6,900 has to last all through football and basketball season, not to mention that they also often purchase spirit items to do give-aways for special events, etc. And if the coach wants to do anything special for them, say an end of the year dinner, this comes out of that budget....
And they have, in years past, raised about $15,000/year doing their own fundraisers so that they can attend the national cheer competition. SFA and others on their level that attend don't have to fundraise-it is built into their schedule...
So before everyone jumps on the cheerleaders (I mean seriously) think about how hard they work and how little they actually get out of it. Maybe they should not expect to get a lot out of it, but they do deserve the respect of the fans.
Maybe they should petition to get some of this stuff included in the athletic budget if other schools do it?