Most junior college athletics program must deal with the reality of budget constraints.
For years, Pima College athletic department officials and athletes have been quietly working behind the scenes to balance the scales.
Since at least 2015, Pima's various teams have been hosting online fundraisers and seeking help from family, friends and community members.
This year, the Aztecs are looking to raise nearly $130,000 in funding. The money raised goes toward each team's budget and coversย uniforms, travel costs, entry fees and equipment.
In the past two weeks, teams with active fundraisers have netted nearly $30,000 in donations.
The women's soccer team raised more than $8,000, blowing its $5,000 goal out of the water. The men's soccer team also exceeded its $5,000 goal by a little more than 10%, and the Aztecs' volleyball team raised more than $4,500.
The golf team's campaign, which ended earlier this month, topped $10,000 in donations. Pima's men's basketball team hit its $15,000 goal during a campaign that ran in March. And earlier this month, the Aztecs' baseball team exceeded its $30,000 goal by more than $3,000.ย
The track and field/cross country team has already netted nearly $29,500 of its $30,000 goal; its campaign ends next week.
The softball team's fundraiser has raised $8,120 towards its $10,000 goal, with the campaign also wrapping up Friday.
The fundraisers can be found by searching for the sport's 2021 fundraiser on Facebook and other social media platforms.
The women's basketball team crushed their $10,000 goal, raising $15,350 by the end of the campaign.
"We pride ourselves in being a team with great character, as well as being successful on the court," women's basketball coach Todd Holthaus said in his team's campaign. "The only way we can keep our program at a high caliber is with your support."
The only teams that haven't set up campaigns are men's and women's tennis, which is played in the spring.
Holthaus said he's been fundraising for his team for the last six or seven years, but the ability to send requests out via email is "kind of the new wave."
And it works.
"Kids basically email their family and friends, and those are people who always want to support their dreams and hopes," Holthaus said. "It's nice because they're not selling door-to-door, and the basketball players aren't asking the same people as the baseball players. Everyone's got their own niche."
Holthaus said the fundraising has taken on a life of its own within athletics.
"In the last few years it's almost become a competition within the athletic department coaches," Holthaus said. "Baseball set the record one year, then track wants to beat them."
Because some teams are larger than others, it's important to look at the amount per player versus the overall amount raised.
"The whole athletic department benefits," he said. "I want to provide my kids with the best possible experience that Pima can give them. We want them to say, 'Pima treated us like a Division I, NCAA school.'"ย
That means doing the little things, like paying for books. Small details that add to their experience, versus what competitors may have to offer, Holthaus said.
"It all helps the kids," he said. "Everyone's on that same mindset. We want to have Pima be the best memory of their college careers."
And if the fundraisers aren't successful?
"I refuse to cut corners," Holthaus said. "And Pima is great about not cutting us off that way. Pima hasn't cut corners on us, and we're pretty fortunate that way, but the more we can do fundraising-wise, the less we have to stress about that."
Holthaus said Pima athletic director Jim Monaco "doesn't want to bend" on the number of high quality sports it offers students, and in fact is looking to add sports to its program.
Pima might have the right idea when it comes to expanding its sports offerings, as a handful of NCAA Division I schools are planning to do the same thing.
In March, ESPN reported that Fairleigh Dickinson โ a small, private, Division I university in New Jersey โ would be sponsoring a men's volleyball team in the 2021-22 academic year. The school also plans to add a women's lacrosse team the following year, making it one of only six Division I schools that had announced plans to increase the number of sports offerings since the start of the pandemic, ESPN said.
Between the cancellation of the NCAA's men's basketball tournament in March 2020 and March 2021, 35 Division I schools announced plans to downsize, eliminate or indefinitely suspend a total of 115 programs, ESPN reported, with 22 of those teams have since been reinstated thanks to alumni funding or legal pressure.
While FDU also suffered during the pandemic, it sees expansion as the way to its future.ย
For Pima, attracting more athletes to new and different sports means continuing to provide the same first-class experience they do their current athletes.
โI believe that in any program fundraising is always difficult, but in a community college program like Pima it becomes even more difficult. A huge part of the team comes from low-resource families, which makes it difficult for them to help us out,โ said Pima runner Yaxiri Ortiz. โBut that is when the power of community comes in. Friends of our athletes, teachers, past coaches, they are the people who are truly making the difference within our fundraising programs.โ
Ortiz, a freshman who competes in theย 800-meter, 4x800 relay and 4x400 relay events, says her team has already begun to feel like family. Sheโs also had the support of her family and friends when it comes to raising funds for her upcoming season.
โIt takes a village, but almost anyone is willing to help out if it means sending our athletes to quality races, where there is more opportunity for them to get recruited to a higher division program,โ Ortiz said. โI am excited to see what is ahead for us as a cross country team and a track and field team. We have a lot of individual goals as well as team goals, that we are eager to accomplish. And I think we have a huge shot at a regional championship and possibly even a national title.โ
