It takes an enormous amount of money to fund all the sports teams at Woodgrove High School. And yet, even with the recent eradication of the athletic fee for student-athletes, more improvements are being made to Woodgrove sports than ever before. This is all thanks to the Woodgrove Wolverines Athletics Boosters Club (WWABC), a non-profit organization whose purpose is to fundraise and constantly improve the Woodgrove sports experience.

     Headed by President Brandy Payne, the club is a small organization of dedicated volunteers who take on a huge workload. The Boosters have a multitude of strategies and events to fundraise, but some of their largest events are the annual golf tournament, mulch sale, and corporate sponsors. The golf tournament is hosted at Stoneleigh Golf & Country Club in the fall and earns money through corporate sponsors as well as by selling tickets to play. The mulch sale takes place in March and is a massive operation where students, parents, and coaches alike team up to deliver over 5,000 bags of mulch around the community. While, typically, the mulch sale is the larger earner of the two events, this year the golf tournament nearly doubled the mulch sale’s profits. The golf tournament raised around 20,000 dollars for the club, while the mulch sale brought in around 11,000.

     While the combined 30,000 dollars that are raised by these events seem like more than enough to sponsor high school sports for a year, this is but a fraction of the money needed. There are far more expenses than many students realize. Last year, the WWABC spent nearly 20,000 dollars on state rings for athletes alone. The Boosters Club also makes sure to emphasize spending on improvement to campus as well. Payne explained, “One of our goals is to improve the overall look of the campus. That’s big for everybody. If the campus looks good, then the athletes are going to feel good about their home.” These improvements have come in the form of a new scoreboard, windscreens, banners, and massive football tunnel. Money is also distributed directly to teams to spend at their discretion. Team funding is based off of roster size, as teams get 10 dollars per player. This funding helps teams to address the specific needs of their team. Senior lacrosse player Tyler Brege emphasized, “I’d say it [the WWABC] has helped lacrosse with new helmets to keep the players safe and also chest protectors, sometimes, for kids that don’t have the money to buy that gear, so they can enjoy playing the sport.” In the future, the WWABC plans to continue raising money to make improvements to the campus for the good of all sports and community.