Sports are a large part of school life, providing many experiences and opportunities for students. To make a sports program work, the school provides a certain amount of money for equipment, uniforms, and coaching staff. Individual teams also fundraise to earn money for their programs.

“I kind of leave it up to the head coaches of the sports. They can choose which fundraiser will work for them. We’ve had quite the variety,” Athletic Director Joe Stellmacher said.

The money fundraised can go towards many different things for the teams. Some use it for things like uniforms or equipment.

“This year, we used the money from our activity account to buy replacement bottoms for track; they get rough after a while, and the glue of stickers comes off onto the uniforms and never comes off,” Co-Head track Coach Matt Willett said.

Unlike others, softball uses some of its fundraising profits for different things, like team bonding.

“We do use our money for equipment or to cover extra charges for uniforms, but it also covers things like our team bonding. Last year we went glow-in-the-dark mini-golfing, and this year we were able to go to a college softball game,” softball Head Coach Kimberly Gensel said.

Activity accounts are fully accessible for the head coaches to withdraw money, but there is a process that goes into it, as secretary Laura Sobieski has to make sure everything is in order and being tracked correctly. 

“I manage all the activity accounts, and once a fundraiser is approved by administration, I send invoices and make sure the money is safely transferred. When a coach decides it’s time to make a withdrawal, they have to fill out a form basically saying how much is taken out and why,” Sobieski said.

Fundraising has definitely become more needed over the years, especially since the loss of the referendum in 2024, causing the athletic department to cut 10% of its budget.

“Budgets are tight, that’s not just at Berlin High School, that’s around the state with school funding, whether it’s the athletic department or music and other clubs in the school. Everyone has to do a bit of fundraising to meet their club goal,” Stellmacher said.

Fundraising takes a lot of time and effort for coaches, especially to motivate their team to sell as much as possible, so they have enough money to have a good season. 

“I’m very appreciative of the coaches who put in the extra time and effort for their teams to provide for their players,” Stellmacher said.