A quick search on GoFundMe – the world’s biggest crowdfunding website – yields nearly 3,000 campaigns related to high school sports. One such fundraiser was for a severely underfunded team on the border close to McAllen, Texas. The goal was $5,000; the team managed $600.
Thousands of Texas athletes and their parents, coaches and schools are turning to the web and other means to try to recover the difference of a shrinking athletic budgets and the high costs of high school sports.
The Rio Hondo Touchdown Club was founded by Daniel Flores three years ago as a way to assist the Bobcats.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Flores
The club’s goals from conception was to raise money for new equipment, food while traveling and facility upgrades. The school district just added soccer to the department, decreasing an already small budget per sport.
This year SquadLocker became the official gear provider to TexasHSFootball. To kick off their partnership they launched a contest at the Texas high school coaches convention this summer with drawing to win $2,500 in gear for your team. This past week SquadLocker and TexasHSFootball announced the Rio Hondo Touchdown Club as the winner of the drawing. The customizable apparel will be brandished with the Bobcats team logo through the instant online store.
“The contribution from SquadLocker will be beneficial in helping the athletic department with equipment,” Flores said. “Football players are always in need of undershirts and shorts.”
Established in 2015, SquadLocker has experienced 500% year-over-year growth with mass customization at scale-efficiently adding any players names, numbers and logos through embroidery and heat printing. Gone are the days of coaches and parents being forced to sit down with a salesperson and flipping through a catalogue; obtaining team gear is as simple as going to SquadLocker’s website and uploading a your logo.
Because of the speed of SquadLocker’s embroidery and heat printed customization, Rio Hondo will had their gear at the start of the season.
In the meantime, you can still benefit the Rio Hondo football program by donating to their GoFundMe.
“Our goal is still to help the district afford quality equipment and experiences to these athletes as they go through their football seasons,” Flores said.
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