September 19th, 2025 – from our friends at GoFundMe
This week’s Feel Good Friday tackles a persistent challenge in youth sports: the gap between opportunity and funding. From high school girls fighting for equal access to prestigious tournaments, to successful college club teams penalized by their own achievements, these stories highlight how communities are finding creative solutions to ensure that talent and dedication, not budget limitations, determine who gets to compete.
This Week’s Inspiring Headlines:
🏀 Oakland High Girls’ Basketball Fights for Tournament Equity, Raises $6K+ Toward $30K Goal
⚾ USC Club Baseball’s Success Creates Funding Challenge, Halfway to Season Goal
⚽ Reno High School Soccer Team Embraces GoFundMe as Primary Fundraising Source
🏟️ SoCal Youth Baseball “6th Tool” Team Heads to Cooperstown with Community Support
🏀 Fighting for Equal Opportunities
Oakland High School Girls’ Basketball Coach Nita Simpson is trying to get her team to the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona this December. The girls were thrilled when they received the invite to the prestigious national tournament. However, reality quickly sank in that the team has nowhere near enough funding for them to actually seize this once-in-a-lifetime chance to play on a national stage.
Coach Nita started a GoFundMe asking the community to fill in this gap. She emphasized how important it is for there to not just be opportunities for girls, but for them to be able take advantage of the opportunities when they arise.
“Across the country, girls’ sports programs continue to receive less funding, fewer resources, and less visibility than their male counterparts,” Coach Nita wrote on GoFundMe. “At Oakland High, we’re working to change that. But real, lasting change doesn’t come from one person. It comes from collective effort—a community that believes in fairness, opportunity, and the power of sport to change lives.”
For Nita and the Oakland High Lady Wildcats, this isn’t just about sending a team to a tournament. This is about investing in equity and creating a culture of community pride and support.
Getting to the tournament will cost $30,000. The team has already raised more than $6,000 towards that goal on GoFundMe.
⚾ When Winning Becomes a Financial Burden
Club sports in American colleges give young athletes who aren’t quite ready to give up on their dreams of competing the opportunity to stay in the games they love. Unfortunately, while these student-athletes take their sports as seriously as any scholarship athlete, they receive little to no funding from their universities. This is true for USC Club Baseball, which is now struggling to cover costs because they won too much.
You read that correctly. They won too much. For club teams winning means the chance to compete in regional and national tournaments. Of course that comes with an extra cost, which again the universities don’t help cover.
On top of that, USC Club Baseball has to pay to reserve time on the field and maintain that field. This is the single largest cost for the team. So, as the team prepares for this upcoming season they are asking for help filling budget gaps created by their winning ways.
“We would appreciate any support in our efforts,” Ryan StClair wrote on GoFundMe. “We know that with your assistance, we will be one of the few universities in the country that can legitimately compete for a national championship at the NCBA D1 and D2 levels.”
The team is more than half way towards their $10,000 goal to carry them through another season on the diamond.
⚽ Embracing the Digital Age of Fundraising
The McQueen High School Men’s Soccer program is fully embracing the digital age as their main form of fundraising. Head Coach Ryan Clark started a GoFundMe asking the Reno community to support his boys as they represent the community. While the school district does provide funding for the team, the money just doesn’t go far enough.
Basic equipment, field maintenance, travel, tournaments, and uniforms are not in the budget. So, the team has to bring in money from outside sources to fill the gaps. Coach Clark wrote on the online fundraiser that GoFundMe is the team’s “primary fundraiser.”
The straight to the point fundraising method cuts through all of the unwanted candy, popcorn, and amateur car washes. It gives people the chance to support young athletes in their community for nothing in return other than hometown pride. That approach has paid off for the McQueen boys which have raised more than $8,000 to supplement their district budget.
“The McQueen HS Men’s Soccer team is grateful to you for your generous support that will help us have a successful season and improve the overall experience of the student athletes at McQueen High School,” Clark wrote on GoFundMe.
🏟️ The Sixth Tool Leads to Cooperstown
Los Altos Youth Baseball and Softball was created in 2020 to provide an opportunity for local kids to play ball in a family-oriented, educational environment. The program has quickly grown, including the development of three travel teams. These teams play under the name “6th Tool.”
In baseball a player is referred to as “5-tool” if they are above average at hitting, running, fielding, throwing, and hitting for power. The name “6th Tool” is a play on this baseball term. So, what’s the sixth tool? It’s a combination of the intangibles: work ethic, sportsmanship, and teamwork.
The 12U 6th Tool team has now accomplished a first. They’ve earned a spot in a national tournament to be played in Cooperstown, New York in the shadow of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The team needs $30,000 to cover all costs for this competition so the players’ parents don’t need to shell out any additional funds. They started a GoFundMe which has raised more than $9,000.
Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions
This week’s stories reveal a fundamental shift in how youth sports programs approach funding challenges. Traditional fundraising methods are giving way to direct community appeals that cut through the noise of product sales and endless events. From Coach Clark’s honest assessment that GoFundMe serves as his team’s “primary fundraiser” to the various programs raising thousands through digital campaigns, these stories reflect how technology is democratizing sports funding.
Yet the underlying issues remain timeless: girls’ programs fighting for equal resources, successful teams penalized by achievement-based expenses, and the persistent gap between what institutions provide and what programs actually need to thrive. The community response to these campaigns suggests that people are ready to invest directly in young athletes when presented with transparent needs and clear impact.
Whether it’s bridging gender equity gaps, supporting club sports that receive no institutional backing, or helping teams reach prestigious tournaments, these stories demonstrate that modern fundraising tools are enabling communities to solve age-old problems in youth sports funding.
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