By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

CUMBERLAND - Cumberland High Athletic Director Frank Geiselman isn’t experiencing the problems like neighboring Woonsocket, which a few weeks ago eliminated sports from its school budget.
Bu that doesn’t mean he isn’t feeling their pain.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I can’t imagine what (Athletic Director) George (Nasuti) is going through. I know he’s got the support of a lot of coaches, but it’s every AD’s nightmare what he’s going through; looking for every penny you can find to keep athletics afloat.”
Presently, athletics are afloat at Cumberland and right now operate on a budget of about $290,000 to $310,000, according to Geiselman. While that may seem like a hefty sum, it’s not a whole lot when considering that two junior high schools and the high school are sharing the tab for the many sports programs that the school district offers.
At the high school level, Cumberland participates in every sport in the Rhode Island Interscholastic League except boys’ volleyball and gymnastics. The middle schools offer cross-country, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer and wrestling to their students. The money in the budget is utilized in many ways with a good portion going to transportation and to pay for officials.
With the current economic situation and a not-too-favorable future, Geiselman indicated that he has been keeping a watchful eye on expenses. In fact, that something he has been doing since taking over as the school’s athletic six years ago.
“Obviously, with the school budget we have to be creative at what we are doing,” he said. “We have to look at the program and what’s best for the program. In many cases, we can’t keep status quo. There’s only so much to spend on athletics and you have to get your best bang for the buck.”
As early as a decade ago, Geiselman has seen a big change as far as school funding for athletics.
“You have to scrutinize a lot more than you did,” he said. “Is this money that benefits everyone? Is it (money) we can use somewhere else? Those are things that you have to look at.”
Like most school districts and their athletic programs, Geiselman says that fundraising and ticket sales for sporting events are relied on heavily.  Fundraising such as car washes, raffles and golf tournaments are a common sight year after year.
Longtime wrestling coach Steve Gordon says fundraising helps his team not only purchase things such as new warm-ups, but also helps in the expenses in traveling to out-of-state tournaments. That’s something he feels is a necessity to keep his program running strong.
With the current state of the economy, Gordon has seen more and more emphasis on fundraising.
“We have to do those sort of things in order to keep the program alive,” said Gordon, whose squad has copped the last two dual-meet state titles and won the overall state championship in 2005. “The school pays for everything that’s part of the interscholastic league…We have parents that are very supportive. That helps us a great deal. A lot of schools are fundraising and they’ll be doing more. Do we like fundraising? No, I would like the school to pay for it all. But the reality is in public education, you can’t do that. I understand there’s a budget crunch. I understand that’s what you have to do. Teams that don’t want to fundraise are going to be limited in what they can do.”
Geiselman and Gordon have been educators and part of the athletic programs at Cumberland since the late 1960s and early ‘70s. They both agree that an education is the primary reason a child attends a school, but also feel cutting athletics short is something that could hurt the overall process.
Geiselman, a onetime star football player at Tolman High and the University of Rhode Island, believes it something that builds morale, an important ingredient for a school to function properly.
“It’s just something that everyone can rally around,” he said. “Yeah, there’s some kids that could care less, but a majority do like to follow a championship team.
“It builds a lot of spirit. There’s not a lot of things that can build the reputation of a school like athletics. In most cases, the press is positive.”
Gordon agrees with the importance of athletics.
“First of all, I think it’s a shame they are dropping sports (at Woonsocket). Coventry did that a few years ago and it really hurt a lot,” said the former all-state grappler from the old Cranston High. “It’s an old cliché but it’s true - sports keep kids in school and active. Anything that can keep kids in school for an education has got to be good.”