Girls soccer players were told last week that they must prep their winter wardrobes to include sanction-only practice shorts. Here is an excerpt from the coach’s message to players and parents: “… all players must wear gray shorts for training or you will not train, you will be sent home and risk playing in your competitive matches. … These are the mandatory training shorts … Puma only. Not Nike, not Lululemon, not Adidas. You can either order them [for] $24.99 plus shipping or [pay] the boosters $20. …”
That’s $20 minimum for one pair of shorts. If you don’t want to stink, you need at least two pairs, and if you have two pairs then you’ll want five. Really, you’ll pay $100 for shorts, or you’ll spend $100 to repeatedly launder your shorts. And this isn’t just for soccer.
Athletic director Joseph Olivas informed coaches that all athletes must wear matching practice uniforms that follow specific color and brand guidelines, and that these uniforms should be bought primarily through the sport’s designated boosters. He said that mandating students wear identical practice uniforms in school colors will improve school spirit, unify the school’s athletes, and strengthen the school’s image. Olivas also emphasized that athletes who cannot afford to buy the required practice uniform should tell their coach or see Mr. Olivas in the athletic director’s office for assistance.
“When someone walks by or drives by FUHS, that person should see a sea of red and white. In some cases it might be gray,” Olivas said. “The athletic department has a branding to keep up and that starts with how we dress. This is not something new to high schools. Schools in our district and many schools around our district follow this same policy.”
Although it might be true that some schools require practice uniforms, the Tribe Tribune talked to a few athletes at Troy and Sunny Hills who say they are not required to buy separate practice uniforms. One of our staff members who runs cross country says she sees Troy runners on Pomona wearing “cute pink running outfits” that are definitely without Troy logos.
And even if there is a trend toward wearing the same clothing for practice, the Tribe Tribune believes that this policy of buy-the-correct-shorts-or-don’t-play is, if not a financial burden, then an emotional one.
The financial burden is clear. Sports are already expensive. With fees for uniforms and season donations, some golfers already pay nearly $400 for the season. Girls soccer is even more expensive at around $700.
“It’s not fair because we have to buy extra gray shorts and I already have white shorts and black shorts,” said sophomore tennis player Audrey Lee. “It just costs me more money. Not a lot of kids have the funds to pay for extra clothes.”
The emotional burden might not be as clear, but what if you can’t afford the uniform? Then you have to tell the coach you’re poor. And being known by the coach for needing financial assistance to pay for shorts is not exactly the first impression that players want to make. Nearly all athletes would rather compromise their money than draw attention to themselves as the “poor” player.
Even worse is that boosters don’t always make good choices. The girls tennis players were stuck buying ugly-too-big-gray shorts without pockets. You can’t play tennis without pockets!
Junior cross country member Madison Sibal said that the policy’s especially annoying for runners: “Black spandex is very common and now they want us to wear gray. C’mon, who has gray spandex?”
Besides, gray spandex is gross. You can hide butt sweat in black shorts, but gray spandex shows everything. We also suspect men came up with this gray short rule; a girl on her period feels safer wearing black compared to gray, especially after running five miles through downtown Fullerton.
The Tribe Tribune believes that asking athletes to wear gray clothes is unfair, but demanding athletes buy specific gray clothes should be against the law. Public education is supposed to be free. According to Article IX, Section 5 of the California Constitution, school activities should remain free, extracurricular or not. Additionally, offering a fee waiver doesn’t make charging students any more constitutional.
Finally, we disagree with the premise that uniforms create unity. A team’s strength isn’t based on being matchy-matchy. What passerby is going to notice the logo on our shorts? Instead of being absorbed in our fashion choices on the field, school officials should focus on facilities and scheduling. It’s not always smooth going when three sports are all trying to use the football field at the same time. Who cares if we aren’t wearing the same uniform? We can dominate in our sports and make life-long friendships, even if we don’t all have the same Puma logo on our gray shorts.
