Olivia Prickett is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Liberty High School for AZPreps365.com

At Liberty High School, booster clubs play a crucial role in giving athletes the full experience by providing them with everything they need to compete at a high level. 

From financial support to donations of their time, the parents involved in Liberty’s booster clubs go above and beyond to ensure every athlete reaches their full potential and has a memorable experience.

A booster club is a group of parents with an athlete who participates in a school sport. The main goal of booster clubs is to advocate for a specific program within the school’s athletic department, working diligently with sponsors and community members to raise money to meet the program's needs. 

Each booster club works with the head coaches of their respective sport’s program to fulfill their greatest needs, fitting the vision of what athletes want with their time at Liberty High School while also keeping the coaches accountable for the ambitious goals they may have. 

“The parents get with the head coaches in the booster club meetings and they ask the coach, ‘Hey, what are your greatest needs and what can we help you with?’” Liberty Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Eric Gardner said. “So, booster clubs play the most vital role on our campus.” 

A different amount of fundraising is required for each sport based on a budget and how many athletes are a part of the program. For example, Liberty’s football program, one of the best in Arizona, has a higher budget than Liberty’s baseball program due to the amount of athletes in each sport. 

“Football has our own booster club and it is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. [The budget] is approximately $150,000 a year,” James Lombardi, the President of the Football Booster Club said. “We’re dealing with somewhere in the neighborhood of 230 kids in the program, so it’s one of the largest programs in the state.”

From designing and ordering new jerseys and equipment every one to two years, renovating facilities and covering out-of-state travel costs, the booster clubs bring every high school athlete’s dreams to life no matter what level they play at. 

Although a majority of the finances and attention gravitate towards the varsity level in any sport, the junior varsity and freshman levels still receive a great deal of support and reap the benefits of things such as new facilities and equipment. 

This past summer, Liberty’s baseball booster club raised a whopping $17,000 to upgrade technology in the batting cages. Head Baseball Coach Christopher Raymond continuously expresses his gratefulness for the club’s efforts because without them, attaining those desires would be extremely difficult. 

On top of the expenses for a facility upgrade, enough money is raised to order new jerseys every year and just to make it special with a personal touch, the senior class gets to choose the design. 

“The project will be started in the summer and then we will order it mid-fall and then the students will receive those for the start of the year,” Raymond said. “It’s my way to have our senior class feel a connection to this program because they get to design a uniform for their senior year.” 

Without all of the effort from the baseball program’s booster club, affording the new jerseys every year would not be possible. 

“I’ve been blessed here to have not only quality people but also people who understand the necessity of fundraising more than anything else,” Raymond said. “Also just being in athletics for over 20 years at the high school level, you understand the value and importance of those things.”

Truly living up to Liberty’s athletic department motto, “Where Tradition Never Graduates,” each sport’s booster club continues to leave a lasting impact on each student-athlete and their coaching staff, providing them with the most memorable high school experience. They have even given back and raised money for external programs such as the American Heart Association and Hope Community Services through the fundraisers they put together.