By Thomas Michel
Special to the Palisades News
Hard to believe that the football season is upon us. Palisades Charter High School opens its season next Friday evening, August 26, at home against Sierra Canyon. Head Coach Tim Hyde, after three winning seasons, has raised expectations going into his fourth campaign. A Western League championship and a deep run in the playoffs is the goal of Pali’s student athletes.
Behind the scenes, the Pali QB Club, the team’s major fundraising arm, is trying to turn things around when it comes to facilities. The administration works very closely with Coach Hyde and all the coaches in various sports to produce all they can with their limited financial resources.
Many Palisades residents are unaware that more than 90 percent of PaliHi’s football budget, and other sports, comes from parental and community support. Unfortunately, without concerted fundraising efforts, many of the basics at our beloved high school are far below par.
For example, the weight room—available to all Pali athletes—has not been touched or updated in years. The locker rooms have received some partial new lockers, but the area itself needs a massive overhaul.
The shower areas are worn and outdated. Most, if not all, players don’t shower after the games or practices, opting for other alternatives because of the substandard conditions.
Training facilities to keep our student athletes healthy are virtually non-existent. Players don’t have a quality training area to prevent injury or facilitate rehabilitation. In addition, the team’s meeting room and locker room during the game is the coach’s office. And the list goes on! Consequently, the Pali QB Club has embarked on an aggressive “legacy” fundraising campaign to bring our facilities in line with other high schools and our efforts will benefit all student athletes at Pali. We have started to reach out to the community and some of the school’s more notable alumni. Last week, Jeannie Buss, VP of the Los Angeles Lakers and class of 1979, sent a nice donation to help kick-start the campaign.
Clearly, now is the time for the alumni and the community to come together to help our student athletes. To continue building winning sports programs, Pali needs the facilities to attract and retain the area’s finest athletes.
Private funds are needed to provide state- of-the-art equipment to keep players safe. In the last month, a small outdoor weight room was installed, a new helmet room was put in place, and new practice gear was purchased. Over the summer, new video equipment was put in the coach’s office to keep the team on par with its competition.
All of these improvements were the beneficiary of personal support by individuals and the QB Club. However, a prestigious high school like Pali should not have its student athletes competing at a disadvantage when it comes to their facilities. We hope that alumni and the community will step up and support this public high school. We urge you to go to palifootball.org or contact the head of Pali QB Club fundraising, Tom Michel, at tommichel1@me.com or call (310) 948-4359.
(Editor’s note: Michel’s son, TJ, a nose guard, was a starter on the JV team as a freshman, and is on the varsity team as a sophomore.)
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