School sports are a big part of high school life.

At Cal High, sports teams are very successful and bring the student body together.

But these sports must be funded. Most of the funding for Cal High sports programs comes from donations made by the families of the players.

In recent years, these donations have been decreasing as the struggling economy has taken its toll.

The lack of donations have brought on fears of cuts that could affect busses, carboloads or other luxuries the teams are used to having.

According to Cal High bookkeeper Ann Weidinger, about 68 percent of sports families are paying the sports donation fee.

So how will the sports teams make up the money? By fundraising.

For example, the football team has an annual meat sale and sells coupon cards before the season.

This year, the fundraising that all teams did just wasn’t enough. Instead of solving the problem by finding more money, programs cut corners.

Instead of having paid ticket-takers at games, teachers volunteered to do it. Teachers also provided security during games.

One cut that was not imposed was the elimination of bussing for freshman sports programs. Busses cost a lot of money, and eliminating the costs of a few busses would go a long way. Fortunately, it never got to that level.

Weidinger said Cal was never actually in the red this year.

“What people don’t realize is that paying donations means less fundraising,” said Weidinger.

If the problem of dwindling donations continues, there will be more cuts. And that could include entire sports.

UC Berkeley originally cut five sports, including the 25-time national champion rugby team, showing that not even the most successful sports are safe in these rough times. Rugby was later saved, but baseball and men’s gymnastics remained cut.

It’s very understandable that it’s not economically feasible for some families to pay the donation. But if donations continue to drop off, we can expect to lose sports for good.