Buy a Super Bowl square, help hockey team

East Bay Co-op team needs to raise $8,000 to $10,000

EastBayRI.com ·

The East Bay Co-op girls hockey team is holding a Super Bowl fund-raiser. The event will help the team pay for transportation to and from practices.

The East Bay Co-op team is made up of student-athletes from Barrington High School, Mt. Hope High School and Portsmouth High School.

The fund-raiser — officials are hoping to raise between $8,000 and $10,000 — asks friends, family and community members buy squares on a grid the represents possible scores across the four quarters of the Super Bowl. Rows are listed 0-9 on the left side of the grid denoting AFC scores and columns listed 0-9 across the top of the grid denoting NFC scores.

These squares are randomly assigned to a grid of 100 potential numeric combinations — each square containing a digit from the AFC and NFC possible scores.

On the morning of the Super Bowl, participants will receive an e-mail with their assigned number(s). 

At the end of each quarter if your number is equal to the second digit of the score for the AFC and NFC, you win. Each square costs $20. 

Participants have a chance of winning $100 for each of the first, second and third quarter scores and $200 for the final score. Winners will receive an e-mail after the game.

Organized by the team and spearheaded by Barrington High School senior Sydney Parkhurst, the idea is to raise money as well as make the game a bit more enjoyable.

“I hope people will support our team and buy a square,” Ms. Parkhurst said.

The Super Bowl fund-raiser was started four years ago to help the team to raise money for practice buses. They have practice four to five times a week from the end of November through playoffs in March. The three schools split the cost for the program based on the number of players each school has that year. But the practice buses are not covered so an association was created to raise money for the team.

The association, which is made up of the families for the players, holds a few fund-raisers each year.

The other fund-raiser is a “Shake the Can” where they ask for cash donations. Players will be outside of Barrington Shaw’s, Bristol Stop & Shop and Clements Market in Portsmouth. They will be asking for donations to help the team and raffle off a big screen TV.

Hockey is the most expensive sport (per player) for a school to fund. Every practice session and every game is off-campus. Ice time is costly, and a bus is needed for every contest.

Because of this, the school budget does not cover the cost of a practice bus. That leaves limited transportation options.

Parents must drive their players to practice, which are held on weekends, afternoons, and nights, sometimes with players getting home around 11 p.m. Practices are held in Portsmouth, Providence, Cranston, Smithfield, and Fall River.

They have found that a practice bus is not only more convenient, it’s also safer and more reliable for the team and players. The idea of a practice bus came about after some student-athletes were in a car accident on the way to practice. (This was before laws prohibiting young drivers from taking a carload of friends in their car.) 

The co-op handles the billing and payment with the town, who has a contract with the bus company. Historically, the cost of the bus has been paid by parents, and subsidized with fund-raising efforts.

Susie and Colin Harrington, of Barrington, are the co-chairs of the East Bay Co-op Association this year.

Super Bowl fund-raiser

Cost: $20 per square

Checks: Made payable to Barrington Girls Hockey Association (BGHA). 

Note: Please e-mail along with the name, cell phone number, e-mail address and number of squares to parkhurstri@cox.net or send check and information to Sydney Parkhurst, 10 Leslie Ave, Barrington, RI  02806.