Volleyball self-sustains Lack of money leads team to seek sponsorships

SHARLA SMITH Roundup Reporter @sharlamsmith

The minimal funds the athletics department receives from Pierce College has led the men’s volleyball team to find ways of funding itself through sponsors and fundraising.

Head coach Lance Walker believes it’s important for the team to make connections with business owners for sponsorship. These connections make up for the lack of financial support.

“This year we received $3,000 from Pierce, which can be used for equipment needs like balls and nets,” Walker said. “We can’t use it for food, uniforms, or travel fees for away games and tournaments.”

Athletic director Bob Lofrano divides the money between all of Pierce’s athletic teams.

“All sports receive equal amounts of money, with the exception of football, because football has so many players,” Lofrano said. “I probably shouldn’t give equal amounts, because some teams don’t have the same amount of players, and I’m going to look at that in the future,” Lofrano said.

As players are recruited, Walker and assistant coach Bronson Oliveira explain to them that it takes a lot of outside work to be a part of the team.

“It’s a time-consuming process,” Oliveira said. “It’s a lot of work for the guys and coaches as well.” all of our equipment and uniforms, so whatever they bring in is what we’re going to get,” Walker said.

Walker made sure that new players are informed on what it means to be on the team.

“I don’t want the guys to ask their parents for money. I want them to go out into the community and shake hands with business owners and ask if they’ll sponsor us and put a donation into our foundation account,” Walker said.

Walker is proud of how much his team accomplished in terms of funding, but there is still a sense of disagreement with the small amounts the team receives from the school.

Freshman outside hitter Garrett Degrasse doesn’t think that it’s fair that the team has to do its own fundraising.

“I think that being a college volleyball player, you shouldn’t have to pay so much money,” Degrasse said.

The team has many sponsors, including Cavaretta’s Italian Deli, Denny’s, Galpin Ford, Ralph’s, and Body Dynamix.

“Last year we brought $12,000 into the volleyball foundation,” Walker said.

Cavaretta’s supplied the team with sandwiches for all of the team’s road games at a discounted price.

“We’re always ready to help out local organizations,” said Cavaretta’s owner David Weisberg.

“We supply the team with lunches for its away games, we purchase advertising space, and we promote the team on our website,” Weisberg said. “We do what we can to help out.”

Denny’s on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills is also a sponsor of the team.

Schedule

March 18-24

Baseball

Thursday, March 19 vs. Oxnard 2:30 p.m. (away) VOLLEYBALL

SOFTBALL

TENNIS

Scott Aaronson / Roundup Assistant coach Bronson Oliveira of the Pierce College menʼs volleyball team picks up food for the team at Cavarettaʼs, one of its sponsors located in Canoga Park on Friday, March 13.

“I tell the guys up front that we don’t have the luxury of being a team that’s funded by the school for

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