GFAA funding gives athletes $30 break in sports fees The inaugural Gloucester Triathlon brought sports and a festival atmosphere to the waterfront three weeks
ago. Now, proceeds from the event and other Gloucester Fishermen Athletic Association fund-raising activities will reduce the cost of playing sports at Gloucester High School by $30 per athlete per sport. The GFAA made $25,000 from the triathlon, with half of that total going to two charities and the other half going toward the organization’s goal of making it easier for local students to participate in athletics. While the $25,000 gross did not match expectations going into the event, it will still help the GFAA make a dent in what have been skyrocketing sports fees in the Gloucester public schools over the past several years. With the GFAA contribution, the per-sport fee for each student in the majority of sports at Gloucester High School drops from $399 to $369 — still an increase, however, from the $302 fee for most sports last year. Fees for track and cross country will drop from $271 to $241 thanks to the GFAA contribution, while hockey at O’Maley Middle School will drop from $399 to $369. The remainder of sports at O’Maley will be reduced by $10, from $114 to $104.
The total GFAA contribution for the fall will be around $30,000, including $12,500 from the triathlon and another $18,000 from the GFAA’s general fund, which is built in large part on memberships.