Do Non-School Teams Have An Advantage?

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

No... there isn't a huge advantage to not being attached to a school.

For instance, we get a sales-tax exemption because we are with the school. The forms kids have to sign are waivers as much as anything - and I'm certain you have the same liability issues that school teams do. In fact, yours may be worse because you may have to carry your own insurance.

We don't have to wait to order things. The mentors generally pay for them ourselves and get reimbursed later. Not a big deal. We haven't had any problems with sponsors because we're attached to the school. I mean, it's not like we'd be accepting liquor or gambling sponsorships anyway.

We can already meet whenever. Even if there's a snow day, we still meet afterwards as long as the roads are cleared.

This is not the case for all school teams, and I can say that not being affiliated with a school is a DEFINITE advantage for us. Some teams work better being affiliated with a school, and that's great. Others wouldn't be able to work in the school. One situation isn't applicable to everyone. For example, we definitely wouldn't be able to meet on snow days based on our school board rules. It's great that your school allows you to. For many others, it's a different story.

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Let me lay out the pros and cons that MARS has experienced, being not affiliated with the school, but sponsored by the board of education (based out of a university), based on the rules of our school district. We are a community team that is comprised primarily of two rival cross-town rival high schools, and several other students. Some of these pros and cons that apply to us might not necessarily apply to others due to differing school districts. There was a team before us that was based out of the school that was never successful, and folded because the school didn't provide any facilities or money or really any support at all.

Pros:
We can accept any student from any county/school.
We can meet anytime/anywhere we want
We can travel using any method (usually we carpool, and we dabbled with a flying option this year)
School board gives us a practice field and a hefty monetary donation each year, but we are not bound by their rules, and the students still get absence exemptions
We don't have to worry about having a teacher involved with the team every year
We can do all kinds of official team events around town and around the state utilizing a carpool (carpools with adults to any official away event is prohibited for school organizations in our county. We would need a bus for everything)

Cons:
We have to organize our own transportation (also a pro because we have leeway, but it's not free like it is for some school teams)
Need our own insurance (completely do-able)

Again, this is for us. Depending on the team and the school, these may look way different for others. Some of our "pros" could be "cons" for other teams, or may not even apply to all.

The moral of the story is, figure out what is best for YOU. One size doesn't fit all, so you need to see what would be best for you based on your situation, your school district's rules, etc.