High School Basketball Team

In high school the only time I ever provided the team with food was when I signed up to bring a dish to a banquet, or other team dinner or event. Beyond that I gave my kids food and/or money to get through the day. For example, my son ran track and cross country and there were a few "pasta feeds" the day before a big meet. I signed up and brought food to that, most of the time.

I believe our boosters provide a pre game meal.
My friend used to do football meals--through the boosters, I believe.

Yes, Usually the Booster club provides snacks, drinks and meals.

Do you have a basketball Booster club?

If not come up with an amount that will cover meals , snacks and drinks,

I have helped with sub sandwiches, the Sandwich places close to the school, usually give a big discount., Parents provided raw vegetable trays and bags of Sun chips. Bottles of water and Gatorade, lemonade, limeade.. type drinks.

Yes granola bars, fresh fruit, During the hot weather, the football team were given frozen juice or fruit pops. One of the moms made a whole Taco meal tortillas, with the toppings.

One time after a huge catering event, I had a ton of enchiladas, rice and beans, I called one of the moms to see it she could use them for the football team that night.. She was thrilled and the guys loved it.

Another mom did a big pasta meal.. with salad and garlic bread.

Most of the time the moms kept the food warm OR cold using the coolers. They can hold in cold, but they can also keep things warm too.

When we traveled to college football games to march in their parades and stuff we'd get on the buses first thing in the morning then we'd stay all day and attend their homecoming game.

No one gave me food. I took money and ate from the concession stands. The buses would sometimes stop at McDonald's on the trip home though.

I think each parent needs to give their child his or her own money so they can get what they want to eat. If they can't afford to buy their child out to eat food that much then they could simply prepare them several PB&J sandwiches and other stuff that won't go bad from being in their bag with their uniform and stuff.

As for the team dinner I haven't come across that bridge yet but I do have friends in OKC that do a team meal the night before, after the homecoming parade. It's usually a menu type thing and the parents do the buying and cooking for the whole team.

I did gymnastics in high school about 15 years ago now. We girls typically would each bring components to a big lunch that we would all share. (One girl would bring salad greens, some one else dressing, another bread, another peanut butter, one girl's parent owned a big box store and would always bring a case of gatorade.)

Usually the team moms arrange a list for parents to rotate giving snacks for the away games/bus rides in little league. Even then some parents did not remember to bring snacks on their days. It was annoying and unbelievable.

In varsity away games, boys take money to buy fast food.

In high school, we sent our own kids with their own food. The cost does become a problem for some parents because "group meals" involve more food than necessary, and someone else is deciding what you should send and not send. And depending on when individual events are held (as in a track meet), there will always be some kids who don't get any food because they're at the end of the line. Then there are the issues of personal taste and food sensitivities which are on the rise.

For Cross Country, we had a team meal (men's and women's teams combined) on the evening before the first meet of the season. No soda, due to the dehydration effects of caffeine. This was a no-coaches, kid-run, team-building event held at whoever's house was big enough (usually it could be done outside since it was plenty warm.) It was typically a pasta party, and usually the captains organized some group activity like shirt tie-dying (kids brought their own plain white tee shirts, the team paid for the supplies - I think there was a set of buckets that kept getting used by different teams or school clubs, so it was only the dye stuff and paper towels that needed to be bought). Another good reason for a backyard vs. an indoor party. When my kid was captain, I invested in a few of those foil chafing dishes with sterno fuel, so that kept the pasta and meatballs and sauce warm.

At the end of each season, there was an awards dinner organized by coaches and captains, open to athletes and families. Usually that was a catered buffet chicken dinner (chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, cornbread, etc. plus soft drinks and water, with cookies for dessert). This was a fee-based event and the coaches had some sort of deal where kids with financial difficulties were just covered by a fund, and no one knew the difference. Parents who worked late could skip the dinner but come for free to watch the awards and listen to the speeches.

We didn't do parent-organized dinners until college when there was tailgating organized by parent volunteers. But cross country is an odd sport - it's all outside, it can be cold, there's no shelter other than a pop-up tent, and everyone is done at the same time. So it worked to have some tables, some sandwiches, side dishes, etc. But even so we did it for large, multi-school or championship meets, not every time (just the big meets that people would travel for.) For winter and spring track meets, we would organize things like granola bars, trail mix, healthy sports drinks, and orange slices, with those parents who were attending volunteering for a different part of it. But in this case, the kids aren't all eating at the same time because the events stretch out over the course of hours.

I played 3 varsity sports in high school and there was never a team meal. The football team would have a team dinner the night before a home game, but that was it. Parents were certainly not expected to provide lunch and dinner to the entire team on game days.

At our high school, for all of the sports, the kids have to bring their own water, snacks, etc. They do have water in a cooler for longer meets/games but that's it.

My daughter was in cheer from 7th -12th grade. I know, different from boys

BUT.... On game days starting in 9th grade, the cheer booster club provided a meal for the cheerleaders for every game before they left the school. We got a volunteer to coordinate and assessed a charge of about $8/meal. Each family who wanted to participate, paid in advance before the first game for the season. Then each week we gave the cheerleaders a limited menu from places around us that worked with us on pricing, etc... Chick Filet, Subway, KFC, Italian, Pizza, etc. If any funds were left over from that particular fund for food only, it was evenly distributed between the people who had paid to be in the program. There were a couple of moms who opted out for whatever reason and it was sad because all but 1 or 2 of the cheerleaders had a meal before each game. In 9-10th grade, these girls left cheer class by 2:30 or so, got dressed came in to eat about 4 and left for the game accordingly. On away games, it was earlier, on home games, it was around 4 and they walked to the field from the school. It was not unusual to get home around 9-10pm on game nights.

In Senior high school 11-12th grades, the girls were released on game days around 130pm. They were on their own to use that time to eat, get ready for the game, study quickly ,and be back at the school for send off at 4:45. Earlier for away games. These game nights could keep a student out until almost midnight.

I do know that our football teams and basketball teams were fed before the game. I will say that when cheering for basketball, the nights were not as long but still... in my opinion, the kids need fed. In fact, ALL sports teams were provided meals before games and sometimes snacks on the way home if it was an away game.

We had banquets with awards usually in late January - February.

Our booster clubs were very active in this part of the sport. We loved participating this way!

I have never heard of this. I wouldnt want to feed an entire bus full of boys. That just sounds stressful.