Carmen Liberto is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Chaparral High School for AZPreps365.com

Chaparral High School’s swim team girls and boys have won 13 state championships. 

The only thing it’s missing is its own pool. 

The Firebirds most days during the season travel a couple of miles off campus to Cactus Park Aquatic and Fitness Center in Scottsdale for its practice or home meets. 

The team is required to pay for its lane space, time it spends at the facility and for its transportation. 

Head coach Russell Krzyzanowski said the cost for its practice and lane time is around $2,000 for just one season. 

The kids on the team pay for some of it at the beginning of the season, and the booster club provides the rest from its fundraising. 

“It actually comes from the kids,” Krzyzanowski said. “We charge our kids a specific amount for the whole season, and that is basically what we have to understand what it takes to fully operate during a season.”

Stephanie Mindlin, the president of the booster club for the Chaparral swim team, said that each athlete contributes $150 at the beginning of the season, and that goes directly into the Scottsdale Unified School District funds for the high schools in the district. 

Krzyzanowski said high school kids don’t think about the cost of their sport because their focus is on the sport itself. 

There are around 65 to 75 kids on the team each season, and they all must be accounted for in practice and the buses when traveling. 

Transportation can be difficult to find due to the shortage of school bus drivers in Arizona, Krzyzanowski said.

When they have trouble finding a school bus, there is the option of a charter bus arrangement. 

However, a charter bus can range between $800 to $2,000 for one occasion.
“It’s a lot of money expense on transportation,” Krzyzanowski said. “A lot of charter buses are also being used by swim and dive programs across the state, so it’s just a massive amount.” 

That money gets put into one big pot and is divided into all the sports to cover the basic pay for the coaches, swim caps, transportation for away meets  and the lane rental charges, Mindlin said.

Anything else the team needs to pay for Mindlin said. The rest comes from their booster fee and fundraising. 

The team booster fee right now is $250 per student-athlete. 

“We really rely mostly on the booster fee and then sometimes we do have families that will step up and give big sponsorships,” Mindlin said.  

The Athletic Director Jack Bagley said that since swim is so self sustaining they don’t require a lot. 

Bagley said as a part of its agreement in renting the pool time at Cactus Park, Chaparral gives the city league basketball teams use of its gymnasium. 

 Mindlin also said the booster club tries to keep at least $5,000 in its booster fund at the end of their season in case it needs to have a more lean season without any sponsorships. 

In times of needing to cut back, Mindlin said the team has had to forgo having extra pieces of gear. 

Instead of getting two shirts, they have sometimes had to give each athlete only one shirt.