In DCIAA, Coaches Do More With Less
Ballou's Moe Ware is one of several coaches in the DCIAA who have a small budget for equipment and supplies.
(By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Last August, McKinley Tech held its first football practice in nine years. Even though the school, which was closed from 1997 to 2004, only had a junior varsity team, tryouts began with 60 players facing Coach Cornell Simms.
Simms's supply closet, though, was empty; he had no uniforms yet. He pleaded for patience and asked the players to do what they could to provide their own apparel until 35 uniforms arrived in late October. By then, 17 players had quit.
The 43 remaining players "understood because it was a new program and it took some time," Simms recalled. "But they were nagging me about it. [Other teams] actually teased us."
Uniforms and supplies are tough to come by at DCIAA schools because they are only ordered when need dictates on a citywide basis. If one school needs a new set of uniform pants, it is up to the individual program to provide them.
It puts coaches in a tough position; turnout for some programs varies greatly and leaves coaches unsure if they will have too many or not enough uniforms until the start of practice.
Some coaches have turned to fundraising, such as car washes, as a means of security. Six of the 11 DCIAA schools that play football -- Anacostia, Ballou, Coolidge, Dunbar, Theodore Roosevelt and H.D. Woodson -- have scheduled games against schools in Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Ohio that garner them guaranteed payments. Coaches can turn this income around for uniforms or other supplies.
Anacostia, for example, has two games scheduled at schools in West Virginia in September. Indians Coach Willie Stewart said he negotiates a standard deal -- $5,000 plus bus transportation and dinner -- for each game.
"I can dress, from head to toe, 80 kids on varsity," Stewart said, "but it's only because I go out of town. Those schools that go out of town, they need money for uniforms. I use my guarantees to fund my program."
