Placer sits 11 snowboarders due to lack of funds

On Sunday, Placer snowboard coach Mark Faulkner had finally lost enough sleep over the stress he faced and sat down to write an email he hoped he would never have to send: Some Placer snowboarders wouldn't make the remaining three races because of costs."To be honest with you, I'm waking up at 1 o'clock in the morning to not being able to go back to bed," Faulkner said. "This should not be a stressful gig for me – for really any coach. You're out on snow, you're with kids doing what they love to do, you're enjoying it. It should be fun and it just lost its fun looking at those numbers. How do you tell people after a decade of doing it one way now I have to do it a different way?" Faulkner has managed the snowboarding team for 11 years and always found a way to make one of the smallest sports offered at Placer work. But pay-to-play looks to be the death knell to the team as it is currently known.Team short $3,600The email sent to parents outlined every expense the team would face for the rest of the season, which as of Sunday was three more team races and the state championships. The team was short $3,600 between race and bus fees to transport all 27 racers to the various mountain ski resorts. Faulkner determined that to get through the season only 14 racers and two gatekeepers would be allowed to travel on race days, leaving 11 more stuck at school instead of the slopes.Because of the recent pay-to-play ruling, which confirmed that it was unlawful to require parents to pay fees for their children to participate in school-sponsored athletics, Placer is no longer able to enforce parents paying fees of $400-$900 for alpine sports – or any sport. Now, the school can ask for that money but must find ways to make ends meet for the athletes that can't afford the fees. Athletes left off the busCissy Smith is one parent who paid nearly $800 at the beginning of the season so her son Brenden Smith could train at Boreal, Placer's home training center, and a few other mountain resorts.Brenden Smith, a freshman snowboarder on the junior varsity team, was one of the racers left off the bus Monday morning when the team was scheduled to race at Northstar."I was a little bit angry, a lot angry, I have to say," Cissy Smith said. "But I'm not going to blame parents because they can't afford it. I think what we need to do is to get the community involved."Smith said her family came up with the money despite her husband being on disability from a car accident. Snowboarding is the only sport her son participates in.The cuts mainly affected the lower classmen, freshman and sophomores, who aren't on the varsity team.Faulkner is in a similar situation. His son, Julian Faulkner, stars as a senior racer on the Placer ski team and he has to pay the same fees for him to participate. The ski team, though, hasn't faced the same budget shortfall.Placer has two more races remaining, one at Boreal and another at Sugar Bowl. Faulkner said two parents stepped in Monday morning to contribute enough money to cover the $405 gate fee at Boreal but the team is still short about $800 to send all 27 racers to the season finale at Sugar Bowl."If (Placer football coach) Joey Montoya had to pay $52 for every one of his football players to step onto the football field you wouldn't see 60 kids stepping onto the football field," Faulkner said. "That's what alpine sports is. Unfortunately, the donations didn't come in for whatever reason, we did some fundraisers and had some parents step up, but it's not there."Participants have to pay an additional $150 if they qualify for the state championship at Northstar March 5-8 but Faulkner said no matter what the team would find a way to cover those funds.Fundraisers only covered so muchTo cut costs this season, Placer shared a bus with Colfax and Del Oro. Faulkner said transportation costs will be looked at again in August and the team could resort to depending on parents and coaches to get kids up to the resorts. Parents have already started to look toward next season and how to cover the costs. Judy Sage, who helps with fundraisers in other sports and is a parent of one of the freshman snowboarders, said she would look at different fundraising opportunities.Placer held a ski swap in conjunction with Colfax and Del Oro at the beginning of the season to raise money and held a fundraiser at Frontside Caf? with help from Academy Snowboards. The team has also earned money by working dances at the school.All of that extra work still hasn't quite covered the bills this year and next year Placer could find itself in the same boat."I try not to carry any money over because that's the kids' money they've donated and worked for this year, it should go to this year," Faulkner said. "So the balance carrying over will just be a couple dollars and we'll start from scratch again."