BALDWINSVILLE -- There are no scholarships and no paychecks. Those who play, play for fun and for the love of the game.

High school sports are the pride of many communities - but sports aren't free. The uniforms, referees and coaches all cost money and budgets are getting tighter in communities across Central New York. In Baldwinsville, the proposed athletic budget would cut costs across the board by $133,000 but wouldn't cut any varsity teams.

Several parents spoke about the plan at Wednesday night's game between Baldwinsville and Oswego but few parents could appreciate the difficulties of sports budgeting like Rich Roy. Roy is the athletic director at Fayetteville-Manlius but his son is on B'ville's basketball team. Roy said Baldwinsville's plan to have junior high teams play more scrimmages without refs and to trim costs for equipment and travel is better than dropping a sport altogether.

"You look at all that stuff first and hopefully it doesn't get down to a team because once it gets down to teams or a music program or an art program or an elective, it has an impact on kids," said Roy.

Strong defense can start a winning streak on the court but some parents says just keeping the teams is another kind of victory for Baldwinsville.

"I guess it's a win-win if you look at it that way. We'd like to have everything intact," said Tim Marshall "I'd like to see more activities and more sports for the kids but you can't have everything you want."

Many parents who were happy that Baldwinsville wasn't proposing to cut any sports teams knew the district could have budget problems in the next few years and there may still be tough decisions ahead.

Earlier Coverage -

The Baldwinsville School District's athletic director dispelled some rumors with his budget Monday night.

The Athletic Department is working to cut about $133,000 from its budget, but despite the rumors, there is no plan to cut teams.

Instead, the budget would hold teams to no more than five tournaments. Right now, some teams go to only one, while others go to more than five. The athletic director is also asking coaches to rearrange practice time to be more efficient. That would avoid the need to bus students to other practice locations, or rent out practice space. The budget would also cut the modified sports schedule. Instead of 10 games, each team would play five games and five scrimmages. Scrimmages don't need officials so they are cheaper. Teams would also avoid buying new uniforms and other clothing, repairing old ones instead.

The athletic director says these are short term fixes. For example, uniforms can only be repaired so many times before they must be replaced.

The proposal presented Monday night still needs district approval.