Reynolds Wrestling vs. The Budget: A Look into Sports Favoritism

By Megan Krumpak

Growing up, I never thought too much of money. It was always just there: mom had it, businesses had it, and schools had it. The first time I heard anything about budget cuts and wages was when I was in elementary school, when a large portion of my district’s teachers went on strike. I live in a small, rural development called Reynolds Heights, which houses the Reynolds School District. It was built on top of an old army base named, you guessed it, Camp Reynolds. It housed millions of soldiers and trained them before they went off to Europe to fight in World War II, housing around 800 prisoners of war during its heyday¹. The establishment of a military base in the area only strengthened its conservative, traditional tendencies during a time of increasing nationalism. In turn, this also increased the area’s love of sports. Where I live, most people are fiercely loyal to their sports teams. Pittsburgh’s teams are a predictable favorite in the area, even though there are outliers like my dad who love the Tennessee Titans. In my school, high school sports were also area favorites, but one towered over all the others: wrestling.

Reynolds’ wrestling program is one of the best in the state, no doubt about it. 89.7% of the team’s matches since 1960 have been wins, with 20 state champions and 28 individual titles between them². Our community prides itself on our wrestlers because they’re arguably one of the best in the area. However, some of that pride can go a bit too far. Budget cuts in our school effect almost every program, with the exception of the wrestling program. While the wrestling team gets to go to different tournaments in places like Vegas and Hershey, the band cannot afford to replace their instruments or repair them, and sometimes they can’t even go to some of the away games because their transportation costs are too high³. Academic decathlon has to fundraise for everything and buy their own supplies. Wrestling gets priority funding while other activities fall by the wayside. I can remember seeing posters of some of the wrestling “stars” in every classroom with all the matches and tournaments listed. No one liked seeing the posters every day. The ironic thing is that those posters were made by the shop classes, using money allocated to that department to further fund the most well-off sport in the school.

My school is fortunate enough that we do not have too many programs cut outright, but other schools are. These kinds of budget cuts affect other schools in even worse ways, such as arts programs being cut left and right in an effort to save money and allocate it to the classrooms. Other schools have to cut sports programs as well in a desperate effort to save money. When you take away these programs and opportunities to learn things other than academic subjects, kids suffer. They don’t have outlets to express themselves or channel their emotions and socialize. In every way, these budget cuts are detrimental to the development of young children’s minds. Even our school libraries are suffering. Librarians are being laid off and are replaced with paraprofessionals or added to rotation to allow prep time for teachers⁴. Students that use those libraries miss out on having a professional help them in any search they would have, whether it be for a school project or finding a book for leisure reading. I can remember having time set aside each week to go to the library and check out or renew books. It was honestly the foundation of my education at that point, and it instilled in me a lifelong sense of learning. I cannot imagine being in elementary school today and not having the same experience. Not having librarians available hinders a child’s ability to explore the world of literature, and it can severely impact their ability to learn and grow as individuals. I am very lucky to have attended a school district where these cuts had not affected such important programs as severely as other districts. However, it makes me so angry to know that there are children in America today that are being deprived of these opportunities to explore themselves and build lasting relationships.

At least in my school district these situations aren’t so dire, even with the favoritism shown towards the wrestling team and other sports. I have many wonderful memories of my high school days, including my first rendezvous with the stage. There, I met one of my best friends, Madison, who still attends Reynolds. I asked her a few things about the programs she’s in and how budget cuts affected her activities. As a part of the marching band, theatre department, academic decathlon, and more, she has seen the effects of cuts and favoritism. The band goes without so the wrestling team can line their coffers. But the sense of family and the bond these clubs share cannot be broken. I asked how the band had changed, for better or for worse, she said “Sound wise – yes, because we have different instrumentation now. But closeness – no, because we are all still a family no matter who it is.” That is the spirit that we should have in the face of these cuts. These organizations can be like second, third, fourth, and so on families to each other, and no amount of cuts can damage that. The emotional value of these clubs and organizations outweighs the monetary value. As Edwards stated in her article, “staying focused on what can be done is easier with a positive attitude⁵.” Even though programs and budgets are being slashed left and right in the educational system, it is no reason to become disenchanted with it. These organizations create opportunities and reasons to remember the schools they are a part of. To relate it back to Reynolds, the school can be summed up in the following phrases from a current student: “Great education, great people, family, pretty lit, great band, and great wrestlers⁶.” These phrases stick into one’s memory, and prompt one to remember the good things as well as some bad things about the school. However, all places come with good and bad pieces of history. It’s part of what keeps those memories of the place alive.

Notes

Williams, Art. “Camp History.” Camp Reynolds Project. http://www.campreynolds.com/history_page.htm. Accessed 6 Nov 2018.
Williams, Art. “Season Records – 1960 to Present.” Reynolds Wrestling. Accessed 6 Nov 2018. http://www.reynoldswrestling.com/reynolds-links/3-w/athletics-wrestling-2.htm. Accessed 6 Nov 2018.
Shine, Madison. Personal interview. 30 Oct 2018.
Edwards, Buffy. “Can-Do Spirit: Facing the Challenges of Budget Cuts.” American Library Association. ERIC. http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/archive/v40no3. Accessed 6 Nov 2018.
Edwards.
Shine.