The athletic department was hit by theft when equipment was stolen from the team room and a locked storage closet over the past few weeks. The stolen equipment included medicine balls from the weight room, lacrosse goalie equipment, lacrosse practice jerseys and a bag of lacrosse balls according to athletic director Peter Jordan.
The most significant of the stolen equipment was the bag of goalie equipment that included body pads, elbow pads, gloves, leg pads, knee pads and helmets. That equipment is critical for the lacrosse team since the goalie cannot practice with out it, and Jordan was forced to reorder nearly $1,000 in replacements.
“I didn’t take it personally,” said sophomore varsity goalie Megan Benzing. “I just feel really bad that Mr. Jordan had to buy all new stuff and it slowed me down for the tryouts because I haven’t had much to do in practice.”
The administration has been notified of the thefts, but Jordan has no hint of who the suspect might be. Most of the stolen equipment was taken straight from the team room, but the goalie equipment was stolen from a locked storage closet that only PE teachers and janitors have access to.
Although the lacrosse pads cost almost $1,000 to replace, Jordan thinks that they hold little value to the thief because they are used and therefore hard to sell.
He hasn’t had to reorder anything else yet, but he estimated that the cost of replacing the rest of the stolen equipment would be $100 for lacrosse balls, $350 for pennies and $200 for medicine balls.
“I suspect that it was somebody who was bored or was looking for a way to cause trouble,” said Jordan. “These are hard economic times right now and to have to replace equipment like that unnecessarily really hurts.”
This isn’t the fist time the athletic department has dealt with thieves. For years student valuables have gone missing from the locker room, but this is the first time sports equipment has taken such a direct hit. As a result the entire department is working to prevent further theft from occuring.
“I’m telling coaches that the teamroom is definitely not secure,” said Jordan. “It’s not occupied as often [as classrooms] so I think it is a little more susceptible to people going in and out of there. We are trying to be a little more conscious of keeping it locked. Anyway it can’t be used to store equipment any more.”
Jordan doesn’t know if this incident is related to the recent music theft incident but he asks anyone with information regarding the sports theft to come forward.
“I’ve worked at Saratoga High School for 10 years now and that’s just nothing I’ve worried about before, and suddenly I’m worried,” said Jordan. “I don’t like that feeling, I don’t think any one does.”
