The evolution of social media has changed the way people communicate with each other.
The way the Marysville Pilchuck volleyball team has chosen to raise money for the fall season is one of those changes.
The Tomahawks decided to abandon the more conventional forms of generating money — car washes, discount cards, etc. — and have moved their efforts online to a website called GoFundMe.com.
“We decided that (online fund-raising) would probably be the best way that we could get the word out and spread it over social media,” Tomahawks co-captain Alisha Purdom said.
The team has set a goal of raising $6,000 before the fall season. The funds will be used to upgrade jerseys and equipment — upgrades team members say are long overdue.
All of the sports teams at Marysville Pilchuck receive money from the school’s ASB, but for teams with needs that exceed their allotments, fund-raising is a necessity.
For the upcoming season, the volleyball team will receive $2,300, but after paying tournament entry fees and travel costs, head coach Brittany Fitzmaurice said there won’t be much money left over.
“It was pretty obvious that we needed more funds …” she said. “Doing it electronically seemed like the simplest way to get all of the girls connected, especially in the offseason. I suggested it, but the girls have been really good about getting the word out and letting it spread.”
It’s been difficult for the volleyball team to organize fund-raisers because of the recent coaching turnover. Fitzmaurice, who took over as interim coach a year ago, was the team’s third head coach in as many seasons. She applied for the permanent job during the offseason and was officially hired within the past month. Her first order of business was addressing the team’s needs.
“The first thing for me was fund-raising and getting new equipment in there,” Fitzmaurice said. “The jerseys the girls are wearing have been there since I went to high school. The bags have been there since the early 2000s. There is just a lot of old equipment that needs to be replaced. … We just want to get the funds in there and get some new stuff to help the girls train a little bit more competitively.”
Fitzmaurice, who played volleyball at Marysville Pilchuck, graduated in 2009.
In some cases, numbers are beginning to wear off the jerseys and some players had to resort to using tape to make digits. On top of that, several jerseys have disappeared over the years, which creates some limitations come playoff time. Teams are allowed to suit 15 players in the postseason, but the Tomahawks didn’t have 15 matching jerseys. Since all of the jerseys had to be the same color, Fitzmaurice was limited in how many players she could suit up. All of the varsity players had jerseys, but Fitzmaurice had hoped to bring up three or four players from the junior varsity.
Practices are made more difficult, especially when the varsity, JV and “C” teams all practice together, because ball racks are falling apart and there aren’t enough balls to go around. Coaches also like to illustrate practice plans on a white board, but that is falling apart, too.
“It’s really hard to run an effective practice when we spend so much time trying to get all the equipment to actually work on the court,” co-captain Courtney Fitzmaurice said. “It’s really hard to run an effective practice when you’re trying to find a ball to use or you are spending 15 or 20 minutes trying to put up a net that isn’t going up right or when the ball cart is falling apart.”
Purdom and Courtney Fitzmaurice noted that the fund-raising efforts are for all three volleyball teams, not just the varsity.
“We put high priority on getting new equipment for all three teams because we know that if we want them to help us raise the money, that we need to make sure that we prioritize and really benefit all three of our teams,” Courtney Fitzmaurice said.
As of Monday, the Tomahawks had raised $1,480 in nearly three weeks. The team plans to keep the fund-raiser active until interest dies down, then the Tomahawks will begin the process of budgeting how to spend the money.
Courtney Fitzmaurice said she hopes the team reaches its goal of $6,000, but if it doesn’t, the girls won’t be disappointed.
“Even if we don’t come close to our goal, I know we’ll still be extremely happy with the outcome,” Fitzmaurice said. “One of the main factors in that is just kind of getting the word out. If we don’t reach our goal, we’ll just take advantage of what we do get and we’ll still be extremely happy with that.”
In the long term — after the team’s immediate needs are addressed — Coach Fitzmaurice would like to see her team’s fund-raising be more community oriented.
“They need the light shed on the program,” she said. “Once they get that and they have the proper equipment, I would really like to see them out and about trying to do things and working for support, not just throwing it out on social media.
“I would really like to see them doing more things, but in the crossfire right now, we’re in such dire need of so many things it makes it difficult in such a short time frame.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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