Piling into a car with your team members to get to an away game is a pain experienced by most Shorewood athletes. While this is more common for some teams than others, the roar of complaints comes from almost every sports player.

With the most common thought process being that certain teams are favored over others, in truth, the answer is far from that.

Since funding in the district is already so low due to debt, the money that Shorewood does get for its athletics goes towards other things deemed more important.

“Meridian Park, all the screens on the fences, it’s been 15-20 years, and they’re all fraying. That money goes to help support teams to make playing fields safe,” Athletic Director Joann Fukuma said.

Fukuma has been working hard to help sports teams get all that they need, even with the limited money that goes towards sports.

But, Fukuma explained, even though there is funding given to athletics, it’s put towards buying sports equipment such as balls for the athletics department.

This is a drastic change compared to what they used to cost before COVID, which was a much more reasonable $100-$150.

So, in order to save money, the district decided that any sports games north of Everett would get buses given to them by the district.

“Sometimes the perception looks like, ‘why do certain teams get buses?’ It’s basically because of region and what the district will pay for.” Fukuma said.

This means that some teams are more likely to get buses since they have more games within that region. Meanwhile, other teams, such as tennis and golf, which play more games south of Everett, will not get buses.

This has made players believe that some sports teams get favored over others. But, in truth, the reality of who gets buses and who doesn’t boils down to where the game is being played.

If a team wants a bus, but the game is not north of Everett, then they must pay for it out of their ASB account. This does not happen often, and when it does, it is usually done with discretion from the coaches.

Another reason that a team might get buses is that the district is willing to pay for buses when teams go to regionals and playoffs.

Thanks to the district, sports teams are at least able to be provided with buses, depending on the circumstances, instead of having no buses at all for games.

With this reality not changing anytime in the near future, Fukuma is grateful to all of the upperclassmen and parents who have stepped up to drive all of the athletes who are unable to drive themselves.

“Because the community and our families and seniors and juniors do a good job of supporting, then we get to keep going,” Fukuma said.