Being on a sports team means more than practicing for games or attending competitions — it also means branching out to the community to volunteer and fundraise. More than just a chore or a project to earn profit, these events have expanded to become a time for students from the soccer, dance and cheer teams to give back to their community. Varsity Girls Soccer Head Coach Rick Gallo says that a majority of the team’s money is raised through co-hosting their annual Fireball Tournament with Fremont High School, where extra attendance is gained by hosting games for Junior Varsity teams from different schools at MVHS. To capitalize off of the increased audience, the team charges a fee at the gate and sells concessions, which is worked by varsity players and parents alike. Gallo says that the tournament has also been an important team bonding experience.
“These events just get us to relate to each other outside of the soccer realm,” Gallo said. “The tournament is actually just a great time for the girls to get together outside of soccer and work together, as well as also work together in conjunction with the parents. We know it’s a time where we can all hang out and not really think about soccer, but just enjoy each other’s company instead.”
Besides strengthening team relationships while volunteering, Gallo hopes to use money raised from the tournament and frequent Local Kitchen partnerships to support senior night and fund new equipment — specifically towards purchasing more light structures that would broaden their choices of playing fields during practices. Gallo says that since soccer is a winter sport and early sunsets begin at around 4 p.m., having well-lit fields is a necessity.
“We actually are working and have been saving up over the past couple years to purchase a couple of battery-powered lights so we can practice down in the lower field, which doesn’t have lights right now,” Gallo said. “It’s really hard to practice with four teams in the stadium every year, so we’re trying to use the battery-powered lights to extend our play surface.”
Like the soccer team, the MVHS Dance Team also holds after-school fundraisers to raise money for team equipment and to create team chemistry. However, while the soccer team has access to athletic boosters to invest in basic essentials, the dance team has had to form a fundraising committee in replacement of the school’s athletic sector to handle all their monetary affairs. Parent and leader of the MVDT planning committee Amy Tu says by holding personalized fundraisers, the team is able to practice an important quality outside of dance: accountability.
One of the biggest challenges facing the dance team’s fundraising group — a mix of about 10 dancers and parents — is ensuring clear and consistent communication among students. Tu has noticed that misunderstandings often arise due to delayed or assumed information, particularly affecting underclassmen who may not be used to the frequent correspondence. These experiences have reinforced her awareness of the diverse personalities and work ethics among high school students, shaping her approach to teamwork and leadership.
“The more events we put together, the more everyone will build trust in each other and become a smoother operating team,” Tu said. “Typically, I don’t get exposure to that many kids of the same age group, so having that exposure, seeing how different everyone is yet still be able to come together is very rewarding. It’s different from my normal, everyday working environment in the adult world.”
In order to gain exposure to environments outside of their school community, as well as to further their social and communication skills, senior and Cheer Game Captain Michelle Huang says that the MVHS cheer team volunteered at Hope’s Corner, a nonprofit organization in Mountain View. The team worked together to provide free meals, showers and other essential services to those in need. According to Huang, many of the recipients were Chinese immigrants, allowing some of the Chinese members in the team, including herself, to connect with them through a shared language.
“It’s just really heartwarming when you help other people directly,” Huang said. “You can see how it affects them — how they smile and thank you for volunteering for them. Usually when you volunteer, like when you clean up trash in a park, you rarely see the immediate effects but being able to work directly with the people that you’re helping is really rewarding. ”
After the experience, the cheer team proposed to their coach that they participate in community service more regularly, seeing it as both a meaningful way to bond. Similarly, Tu is now planning larger-scale events for the dance team’s fundraising group, building on their experience through their smaller initiatives in the past. She hopes to organize products to sell, such as crochet roses, cup noodles or boba, at the team’s upcoming Spring Show and host workshops to boost profits.“My genuine interest is to help my daughter and the rest of the dance community to be able to grow, to bring awareness to my whole MVHS community and what MVDT is about and also pay back to the community,” Tu said. “With what skills the dance team has, they can pay back to the community and share that love of dance with everybody in MVHS.”
