fuel costs adding up in mayflower league for old high schools

HIGH SCHOOLS: Fuel costs adding up in Mayflower League for Old ... - SouthCoastToday.com
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Mary Anne Walker never turns down a crown.

Especially on the way home from certain Old Colony boys soccer games.

"There's a Burger King near Bridgewater on Route 24 that we stop at a lot. They have these cardboard crowns and the kids like to wear them on the bus," said Walker, who has coached the Cougars the last 13 seasons and is in her second season coaching softball at the school. "It's just kids being kids and it's hilarious. They always give me one to wear and we laugh all the way home."

Traveling in the Mayflower League is serious business, though.

School buses run on diesel fuel, which is selling for as much as $4.59 a gallon in some parts of the state according to massachusettsgasprices.com, and the league's 17 athletic directors aren't laughing.

In fact, unless fuel costs come down, and that's a big if the way things are going, Westport athletic director Gail Sylvia said she might have to eliminate two non-conference games across the board for all of her teams in the fall.

Transportation costs are putting a strain on sports budgets throughout the league, which includes Old Colony and Westport, and it doesn't help that many road trips the teams make can take more than an hour each way.

The meandering league stretches west to Fall River, east to Cape Cod and north to Canton, Franklin and Walpole.

The longest round-trips for Westport and Old Colony involve driving to the Cape.

Specifically to Chatham High School (150 miles for Westport and 118 for Old Colony) and Cape Cod Tech in Harwich (132 for the Wildcats and 104 for the Cougars).

Round trips to South Shore Voke in Hanover (120 miles for Westport), Tri-County in Franklin and Norfolk Aggie in Walpole (104 miles for Westport and 84 for Old Colony to both schools) and Blue Hills in Canton (88 miles for Westport, 72 for Old Colony) also add up quickly.

By comparison, the South Coast Conference ranges from Seekonk out to Bourne (a 108-mile round trip), with Case, Dighton-Rehoboth, GNB Voc-Tech, Fairhaven, Apponequet, Old Rochester and Wareham in between facing shorter trips.

Dartmouth travels to Attleboro, Barnstable (a 106-mile round trip), Bridgewater-Raynham and Taunton in the Old Colony League, and Bishop Stang makes relatively short trips to Bishop Connolly in Fall River, Bishop Feehan in Attleboro, Coyle-Cassidy in Taunton and Somerset for Eastern Athletic Conference matchups.

"School buses aren't the most comfortable things to ride in and having to make two trips to the Cape in the same week is the worst. We try not to do that too much, because it can take a toll on the kids," said Glenn Lincoln, who's in his 20th season coaching the baseball team and also coaches girls basketball and girls volleyball at the school. "They've already gotten up early to go to school, they've been to classes and they have to be full of energy and ready to go for a sporting event after making a long trip on a cramped bus."

Sylvia has already used up the $17,000 she had in her budget for transportation that's provided by Tremblay's Bus Co. That money was gone by Feb. 1 and Sylvia is now using funds from an Athletic Revolving Account that's made up of user fees ($150 per season per athlete), grants from businesses and donations.

"We're operating with bare bones," said Sylvia. "We have enough money to get us to the end of the school year, but we only have a $500 cushion. We're keeping our fingers crossed that nothing unexpected comes up."

Wal-Mart has donated $1,500 in grants that were available to Westport parents working for the company and another $500 was received from the Exxon Alliance.

Westport athletes raised $1,300 selling candy bars at the Dartmouth Wal-Mart and the store graciously added $1,000 to the total.

The school raised another $2,500 from the proceeds of a Mr. Westport pageant held this past Friday and Sylvia said that money will be used to buy a long-needed new volleyball net and support system.

"We're lucky that we have a lot of people who are dedicated to the sports programs at Westport High School," said Sylvia. "We get checks from parents, teachers and alumni who don't want to be recognized. They just want to do what they can to help out and it's much appreciated."

Trips to the Cape for Westport games against Chatham and Cape Cod Tech cost in the area of $500 to $550, compared to $200 for matchups against schools like Bishop Connolly and Diman, which are in Fall River.

A trip to Norfolk Aggie in Walpole runs about $450 and Sylvia said the school spent about $900 for a pair of bus trips the baseball team made to Rockland High School and Holbrook High School last year en route to reaching the Division 4 South Sectional final.

Budgets may be headaches for administrators like Sylvia and Old Colony athletic director Matt Trahan, but the hard work they put in scheduling games is appreciated by athletes like Westport junior Kate Farias.

"I'm happy to be getting a chance to play. I really don't mind the bus rides. The longer ones are the most fun. We sing in the back of the bus and we all take out our iPods and listen to music," said Farias, who plays basketball and field hockey. "You get a chance to talk with your teammates and get to know them better. We always stop for something to eat on the way home and the rides fly by after you win a big game. It's a lot longer ride after a tough loss, but being with your teammates makes it easier."

At Old Colony, which has a transportation contract with Reliable Bus Lines Inc., Trahan said the sheer size of the Mayflower League makes it tough for member schools to keep up with the rising costs of diesel fuel.

"The conference is really spread out and we're in a bit of a budget crunch on a whole, so everybody has to pull their belt tight. We try to stay as close to home as we can when it comes to sporting events, but that's just not possible all the time," said Trahan. "We're part of a conference and there's no getting around the fact that our teams have to travel. We spend what we budget for transportation, but we've been lucky that our athletic budget has remained fairly stable the last couple of years."

Trahan said one of his main concerns is making sure that all of Old Colony's teams get the same consideration. Early dismissal, which can eliminate a whole period of class time on games days, is also a factor.

"The biggest challenge for me is spacing out the travel and not making the kids take too many trips in any given week," said Trahan. "We also try to keep them in the classroom as long as possible, because they have to be leave shcool early for the longer trips they have to make and we're aware of that."

Bus rides can get monotonous in a hurry, but people react to and adjust to them in different ways.

"I like to sleep on the way up. I use my sweatshirt for a pillow and nobody is allowed to speak to me except in a dire emergency," said Walker. "There's no way to avoid bus rides, so you have to make the best of them. I've never found a kid who disliked them. Kids are resilient and they always find a way to entertain themselves."

Ryan Rodrigues, a senior at Old Colony, said that playing baseball can make for some long days, but it's all worth it.

"Everybody can't come to you. You have to hit the road and that's part of being on a team. You have to get up early and you get home a little later, but you do it because you like playing. I like the bus rides, because you get a chance to relax and get your mind ready for the game," said Rodrigues. "Some of the guys do homework on the bus, but most take the time to unwind, settle down and get themselves ready to play. You can feel the intensity build the closer you get to your destination."

Kim Rego, who's in her fifth year as head coach of the Westport softball team, said she uses the bus rides her squad makes to get an idea how her players are feeling.

"They give me an opportunity to see where the kids are mentally and get them focused on the task at hand," said Rego, a member of the Westport Athletic Hall of Fame as an athlete. "We use the time to get ready to play and make sure that everybody's on the same page. It's always a fun ride home when you win, but it's the exact opposite when you lose. After a tough game, you just want to get home as quick as possible."

Bus rides and road trips will always be a part of high school sports. The big question is how much of an impact will they have in the future.

"Rising fuel costs are something we're all going to have to deal with," said Sylvia. "There are no money trees in anybody's backyard."

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