Lehigh University Athletics
From Head Coach Chris Wakely
2/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Dear Lacrosse Alumni,
I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the start of another prosperous and healthy new year. The spring semester is in full swing, we have been practicing since mid January and we just completed our first scrimmage against Drexel University. We are off to an excellent start and have strong aspirations for the 2005 season.
The purpose of this letter is to update you a bit about our intentions for spring break and to ask for your assistance. To be perfectly honest, the costs of such an undertaking have risen substantially, primarily due to a couple of circumstances beyond our control.
Our intentions for spring break this year are to travel to the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area. This will give our program an opportunity to pick up a game against St. Joseph's University, the opportunity to bond as a team, and get some much - needed time away from campus. We were originally able to arrange reasonable airfares through Southeast Airlines, but since they have ceased operations, we needed to book alternate arrangements, and the only option was to fly from Philadelphia. The added costs are higher airfares and the additional busing cost to and from Philadelphia International Airport.
While many of you may remember traveling in vans during your spring break days (perhaps even during your normal game day travel), many universities, including Lehigh, now view the use of 15 passenger vans as an increased insurance liability and we are now required to travel by either 7 passenger "minivans" or full sized coach buses for any team travel. As minivans are not practical with a roster our size, we always travel by coach bus. As this is our first spring break trip to Florida in the last 4 years, we are incurring some costs we have been fortunate enough to avoid in recent years.
The department of athletics is very helpful with offsetting as much as 60% of the costs of spring break. Our players have worked the concession stands at football games, basketball games, and wrestling matches and we have received generous donations from our parents' organization. As can be expected, there still remains a shortfall that equates to around $350.00 per player.
If you are in a position to assist members of our Lacrosse Program, it would be tremendously appreciated. Every little bit of financial support makes an enormous difference. Thank you for your continued support.
If you can make a gift, please send a check made payable to: Lehigh University and use the enclosed form.
Lehigh University/Men's Lacrosse Program
641 Taylor Street Bethlehem, PA 18015 Best wishes to you and your family.
Sincerely Yours,
Chris Wakely
