Lehigh University Athletics
From Head Coach Fran Troyan
2/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Dear Softball Alumni
Happy New Year! The spring semester is here, we have already practiced for a week, and we are readying for a season that will hopefully be a memorable one.
The purpose of this letter is to update you a bit about how spring break has evolved, and quite candidly, to ask you for some help! Quite simply, costs have risen rather dramatically, mostly due to a couple of circumstances beyond our control.
Our break trip is still a trip to the Orlando, Florida area. We participate in a well organized tournament involving a number of quality college programs, and we are able to play 10 games in the week we are there. Several years ago, we made a decision to fly to Florida instead of driving overnight. While we miss those memorable trips (not!), the choice to fly enables us to play more games and to travel a bit more conveniently. We had been able to arrange airfares that were quite reasonable, partly due to discounted fares by airlines. One of those, Southeast Airlines which we used last year, ceased operations. This forced us to use the Newark airport to get any kind of affordable fares, and this means we also have to bus the team to and from Newark. The added costs are higher airfares and the additional bussing costs to and from Newark.
The other increased cost has to do with ground transportation. Because of some changes to the way most universities, including Lehigh, view the use of 15 passenger vans, and because of increased insurance costs, we are now required, for safety reasons, to use 7 passenger "minivans" (or full sized coach buses) for any team travel. This reality makes the reconsideration of driving to Florida unreasonable, and it increases the costs of our ground transportation in Florida. As a result of these circumstances, the spring break cost per player has increased significantly and unpredictably. The Athletic Department has been great about helping us come up with some of the difference, but still there is a portion of funds that this year's softball players will have to burden that previous softball players did not. We are running a clinic and are hoping to net about $800 from that. But that still leaves us at a cost of nearly $400 per player for the trip. For many of our families this cost amounts to a big sacrifice.
Our spring break trip represents about 20% of our total competitions. Historically, it has served as a spring board into our Patriot League Season. My goal is that my current players and their families get to have the same sort of spring break experience that you have all enjoyed without their families facing a fairly significant financial burden.
If you are in a position to help out all the members of the Softball Program would be tremendously appreciative. Just like every additional little girl that comes to our clinic makes a difference, every little gift that our friends can make will make a difference! Thanks for all your continued support. And regardless of whether you can make a gift this year or sometime in the future, you can be assured that the 2005 squad will work hard to meet the standards that you all have set for Lehigh Softball.
If you can make a gift, please send a check made payable to:
Lehigh University/Softball Program
641 Taylor Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Again, thank you for all your kind support of our Program. Best wishes to you and your families.
Sincerely,
Head Softball Coach
