Ryan Gaylord is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Carl Hayden Community High School for AZPreps365.com

Carl Hayden Community High School has been around since 1957. The school’s campus is located west of downtown Phoenix and is part of the Phoenix Union School District.

The median household income for the zip code that Carl Hayden is $46,707 according to incomezipcode.com. The families of the Falcon student-athletes are always able to spend extra money on equipment and training sessions.

Carl Hayden does not have a rich history in athletics. The Falcons athletic programs do not get the same resources that some of the opposing schools that they play do.

The Falcons athletic programs have to make do with what they can receive with the help of the Phoenix Union School District. The student-athletes at Carl Hayden are not always receiving the new equipment and other resources.

One person who knows the challenges that the Falcon athletic programs face is baseball and boys wrestling coach James Shields. Shields understands what his athletes have to do to be the best that they can at their sport.

Neither team has a booster clubs so everyone has to think of ways earn money from fundraisers.

“The biggest thing might be in the sense of the competition that we are required to play. I think that is a little unfair, us being in baseball a 6A school, we have not been successful in years,” Shields said.

Shields also knows what the opposition that the boys wrestling team has to compete against every year. The competition they face is the best of the best high schools in boys wrestling in Arizona.

“In wrestling we are in Division I, which is the toughest section as well. I understand the AIA process on the size of the school and the population but if there is anything that is not fair is the competition that we have to go against,” Shields said.

Jonathan Payan who is an assistant coach and former student-athlete athlete at Carl Hayden helps with both the baseball and boys wrestling teams, knows all about what financial support and the inexperience.

“This area that these kids are coming from they are not known for wrestling gurus or baseball player. These kids start off at maybe the high school level or the middle school level, which does not give them enough skills or enough time or experience in the sport to actually be successful as these other kids are,” Payan said.

The roster sizes are always filled every season with a full number of players. For many of the sports programs at Carl Hayden, they have to work with how many players they have for that team.

“Most of these kids never wrestled until high school. It is always the concept here because they do not know how to wrestle,” Payan added.

One other aspect that Carl Hayden hopes to have more financial backing for improved playing surfaces for the Falcon student-athletes. Athletic director and assistant principal Sara Matthews hopes to see improvements for the athletic venues.

“I would love to see more money spent on the renovation of facilities, specifically baseball,” Matthews said.

The community can play a big part by showing support by helping the Falcon athletic programs.