Asher Hyre is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Valley Lutheran High School for AZPreps365.com.

Valley Lutheran High School’s increase in the quality of its football equipment and facilities has directly correlated with the hire of head coach Brian Porter in 2019. 

“Since I took over, I have replaced the majority of helmets and shoulder pads,” Porter said. “We needed better quality and have been fortunate with fundraising to purchase better equipment.”

Porter’s rise to head coach of Valley Lutheran and uplift of the football team did not start off easy. When Porter began teaching at the school in 2017, the team was playing 8-man football, without the financial support that it enjoys today. 

“Because our numbers were not very large during 8-man football, we needed a whole new set of jerseys. Once again, fundraising has been key to these new purchases,” Porter said.

Donations and fundraising have, in fact, been a large reason as to how and why the quality of equipment and facilities has increased. According to athletic director Bob Parsons, roughly $5,000 has been accumulated through donations and fundraisers. 

“Football at our school is funded by three main sources,” Parsons said. “One, a portion of all tuition collected is allocated to the general athletic program. … Two, each student that participates in a sport is charged a sports fee, which is then funnelled to that particular sport. And three, donations and fundraisers help to bridge the gap between total needs and availability of funds.” 

Approximately $7,000 of the school’s budget this year was allocated to football, and an additional $5,000 is gathered from the sports participation fee, Parsons said. 

“For this year, those funds then have to cover costs for field rentals, coaches stipends, equipment, trainer cost, transportation, referee costs, insurance, AIA fees, replacement jerseys, and probably a few other things I am forgetting,” he said.

One issue that could potentially prohibit the team from playing at the highest possible level is the Flames’ practice field — which is roughly about half the size of a regular gridiron. The practice field is around 40 yards in length, and 10 yards are lost horizontally, according to Porter. 

There are hopes to eventually either find or construct a normal-sized practice field, but not anytime soon. 

“We have taken a look at the possibility of having our own field, but for a number of reasons have elected not to pursue that option at this time,” Parsons said. “Costs are huge, and our land parcel doesn't lend itself to such an expansion.”

Porter has been forced to become creative to maximize the potential size of the field, such as cutting down trees and bushes to give the team more room to practice. 

“The portables (classroom trailers) we have next to the field prevent us from trying to get a game-sized field,” he said. “We are still in the process of finding someone to take the portables in the hope of making the field bigger.”

This lack of a normal-sized practice field is not as large of a disadvantage to the team as some may think, though. The team is so used to practicing on the field that it does not affect the players much in their preparation, Porter described. 

Of course, Porter and the football program would rather have a standard-sized practice field. 

“I would like to put down FieldTurf and build a storage facility along with new locker rooms if possible,” the coach said. “However, that is a big dream.”