Quakertown athletic director outlines 2025–26 uniform rotation, adds girls flag football and fueling stations

Brian Lycona, the district—s director of athletics, used the Quakertown Community School District—s budget workshop to present a detailed plan for the 2025—6 school-year athletics budget, including a district-wide uniform rotation, vendor contract details, equipment and supply scheduling, and new program additions such as girls flag football.

Lycona told the board: "To start off, I think it's always good to look at numbers," and then walked members through participation figures, a multi-year uniform rotation, and supplier arrangements the district has under contract.

The presentation matters because the district is proposing to cover more of the cost for uniforms and expendable items that boosters historically purchased, shifting recurring costs into the school operating budget and changing which items families must buy. That shift combined with vendor price increases and a five-year vendor contract is projected to raise the athletics budget for 2025—6.

Most important: vendor contract, uniform rotation, flag football, and equipment budgeting Lycona said the district is in the first year of a five-year contract with BSN Sports that obligates the district to use Nike stock items unless a supply exception is granted. Under that arrangement the district budgeted standard (entry-level) uniforms for teams on a rotation: a three-year replacement cycle for high school teams and a four-year cycle for Strayer (middle school) programs. The presentation lists the sports scheduled next for replacement and estimates costs by sport and by year, and notes that some expendable items (socks, caps, visors) will be provided by the district going forward.

Lycona announced the addition of girls flag football as a new program starting in 2025—6. He said: "Flag football is in this year's upcoming budget" and confirmed it will be added to the high school rotation beginning next season and will follow the three-year high-school rotation thereafter. He also said the program will be girls-only.

Uniforms and booster role Lycona explained the district budget would cover stock Nike tops and bottoms for teams that are due for rotation (boys volleyball, baseball, softball, wrestling, girls lacrosse, and others) and that boosters could still contribute if a coach or program wanted custom or upgraded gear beyond the stock items. "If a coach or program decides they wanna put some bells and whistles into those uniforms, there is gonna be a need for booster involvement because what we've provided here in the budget is for the stock item," he told the board.

Lycona corrected a packet math error during the presentation: the high-school athletics total should be $414,564.66; he said the difference reflected an omission of freshman baseball uniforms in his earlier packet.

Equipment, supplies and trainers Lycona described efforts to reduce the financial burden on booster clubs by shifting recurring purchases (socks, hat/visor, certain practice supplies) into district supply lines and by using a vendor relationship to standardize ordering. He said the district will continue to supply or budget for practice training equipment (for example, swim caps, fins and practice training items) based on participation and condition; some purchases last multiple years.

He told the board the district—s contract with St. Luke's provides athletic-training services and has reduced professional-services spending for athletics by roughly $45,000 compared with the prior year because the district moved into a contracted tier of service.

On sports video, Lycona said two automated Hudl cameras are installed (alumni and lower gymnasium) and a third camera is planned; Hudl accounts are available to all teams but baseball and softball currently use other camera systems that require manual uploads.

Fueling station and transportation to off-site sites Lycona said St. Luke—s also provided a fueling station for student-athlete nutrition and that the fueling station is supervised and available early enough for teams traveling on district bus routes: "That fueling station's open at...1:15, 1:30, depending on the departure," he said, and added athletes can take supplies on the bus. He also described using existing after-school bus routes for off-site practices (golf, swimming, softball, baseball) to avoid increasing the transportation budget.

Questions from board members and staff Board members sought clarifications on several points during the Q&A: - Coaches and board members asked whether swim caps and fins were purchased in 2024—5 or whether those costs would appear in future budgets; Lycona confirmed caps are part of the supply budget and that some practice items purchased this year were paid from supply lines and future budgeting may include replacements as needed. - Board members asked whether freshmen keep uniforms; Lycona said freshmen historically received hand-me-downs but the 2025—6 plan will provide basic new uniforms for freshmen where needed, and varsity teams will remain on the Nike/B SN contract. - A board member asked about police overtime and security costs for home games; Lycona said security is variable depending on who the borough assigns and he averaged recent costs when building the budget estimate.

What the plan will cost and next steps Lycona provided sport-by-sport totals and a three- and four-year rotation schedule by program; he said the vendor warned of potential tariff-driven price increases and the budget added a contingency for higher fees. He also told the board he would upload a corrected version of the presentation and the additional handouts to the board agenda and district website.

Lycona closed by thanking board members and coaches and said the district will continue to refine participation-based estimates and will email updated breakout sheets to board members.

Ending Lycona—s presentation marked the most detailed athletics budget briefing the board members said they had seen; the board asked for the corrected packet and additional follow-up on items including the swim-team equipment plan, Hudl camera rollout, and the financial effect of moving more uniform and expendable costs to the district. Lycona said updated materials would be posted to the board agenda and the district website.