Football, soccer, basketball and volleyball are all easily recognized as school sports and have high numbers of students and parents attending their games, but not many people know that LHS also has a softball team.

In South Dakota, softball is not a school sanctioned sport, meaning the school does not fund it. LHS softball coach Trent Dlugosh experiences the effects of this firsthand.

“We have to raise money for uniforms and everything that we need; none of it comes from the school,” said Dlugosh.

If the school were to sanction softball it would cost them more money than it does for the team currently.

“It would cost more than it costs us now because they would have to pay for transportation to the games and pay coaches and all of that kind of stuff,” said Dlugosh.

The reasons for not sanctioning the sport are as simple as the fact that almost nobody else in the state sanctions the sport.

“The state does not sanction it so Sioux Falls does not sanction it. To my knowledge the

only school that sanctions it is Brandon high school,” said Dlugosh.

Sophomore Summer Stoll joined the LHS softball team this year. She knew there would be some fundraising just like any other sport.

“We got new helmets this year and we fundraised for that, then we fundraised for our team to buy the jerseys and to be able to go out of town. We got specialized socks and then we have fees to be on the team so we have to fundraise for that too,” said Stoll.

Just like any other sports team, if softball players volunteer at President’s Bowl, the team will then receive money for working the event.

“If we work at President’s bowl we get some money from that, but if we don’t have enough people working, we don’t get much,” said Stoll. “Lincoln really just puts their name on the team.”

Softball is not the only non-school sanctioned sport and soccer was only sanctioned about four years ago. While these sports may not be as outwardly popular as others such as football or volleyball, they are just as valid.