Student-athletes’ schedules are packed full of many different commitments, lasting from the wee hours of the morning until the sun sets at night.

They have a full class load, workouts, practices, homework and more. On top of that are a bunch of extra fundraising to be able to play the sport they love. With the amount of money people pay to attend Siena Heights, many students have a big issue with the amount of fundraising that teams have to do.

Many athletes endure countless hours of fundraising, both during the summer and during the school year, which they said greatly affects their lives. Siena Heights women’s basketball player Haley Hoffman and baseball player Brenden Baker both understand the effects of fundraising for their teams. Both of their teams fund raise throughout the school year.

Hoffman said the women’s basketball team works at Michigan International Speedway as well as hosting lock-ins for children. According to Baker, baseball raises money through golf outings and working at the Huntington Center in Toledo.

Hoffman and Baker said there are some positives that come with doing a variety of fundraising events.

“It can create team bonding and help you get to know the freshman and new players,” Hoffman said. She said bringing a team together is very important in developing a positive and supportive team culture.

Baker also stated fundraising opportunities have taught him, “to work hard to achieve something with his team.” He also shared how it “does make you feel good about yourself.”

Although working fundraising events can added to the already stressful and busy life of a student-athlete, they said it does have some positives.

There are also many negatives that come from these fundraising situations. They said fundraising takes a lot of time and effort outside of school and their sport.

Baker said, “it is very irritating that they are forced to fund raise this much after the amount of money we have to pay for school, and we are here because of the sports programs.”

Baker also said it takes away the few days off from baseball that they have and forces them to spend those days fundraising. He said the events take away time that could be spend doing school work and projects, which forces many athletes to cram work in to attempt to get it done.