Whitney Girls' Basketball sets up GoFundMe for 2022-23 season

Running a high school sports program doesn't come cheap as teams spend thousands of dollars on costs such as tournament fees, lodging, transportation, equipment, banquets and other expenses. Sydney Gatson, head coach of the Whitney High girls' basketball team, recently set up a GoFundMe to help recoup some of the money already spent and to cover the season's remaining costs. "It costs anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 to run a high school program each season," Gatson said. "We do our best to cut costs where we can but it's important for us to provide the best experience possible for our players. Fundraising is always tough so we appreciate any help!" The remaining costs for the 2022-23 season include senior night, team meals, assistant coaching stipends, a new ball cage and other training equipment, along with the end-of-season banquet. Some of the biggest expenses are tournaments. Tournaments can cost between $4,000 to $4,500, with entry fees at $400 to $550, hotels, rental cars, meals and gas. That is the price tag the Lady Wildcats have for this week's West Coast Jamboree in the Bay Area. "We had to pull out of our San Diego tournament we were hoping to return to this season," Gatson said. "The price tag adding in plane tickets was too much to ask of families. We do our best to fundraise specifically for these overnight tournaments to try to charge the families as little as possible. Unfortunately the cost is too high to cover with program funds completely." Another important tool the Wildcats plan to have funds go toward is a video editor with the addition of stats on HUDL. HUDL helps provide athletes and coaches the ability to watch back film from games, which can help teams improve their play. "HUDL is such an important tool for our varsity team," Gatson said. "We upload our games, HUDL stats the game within 24 to 36 hours, and we're able to upload those results to MaxPreps. HUDL stores all of our games in an easy to access the app and website that all our coaches and players have access to. HUDL also tags every play of each game so that our film sessions are incredibly efficient. We can look at a specific stat and filter it to view per team or per player. HUDL costs $1,450 per year." As of press time,, the Lady Wildcats have raised $915 with a goal of $8,000. If you are interested in donating, the link to the GoFundMe page is https://www.gofundme.com/f/whitney-high-girls-basketball-fundraiser.