Boosters play a big part in the development and progression of our sports teams.

Without them we could be watching the Huskies play at Glidden Field or they could be carpooling to road games.

Boosters make the athletic experience better for the players, coaches and fans.

At NIU, no one’s title is “booster.” Here, these people are referred to as donors.

The Huskie Athletic Scholarship Fund (HASF) is in charge of dispersing the donations among the 17 intercollegiate athletic programs. According to its Web site, the HASF is here to provide the necessary resources so that each of our student athletes may have a “world-class” academic and athletic experience.

The HASF Web site also states that they are helping the athletes by directly supplementing the rising costs of athletic scholarships, recruiting budgets, team travel, facility enhancements, and other operating expenses associated with an NCAA Division I athletic program.

According to Shelley Binegar, assistant athletics director at HASF, the donors are various types of people, but they are mostly alumni, former athletes and supporters from the community.

“The donors are indispensable,” Binegar said. “Without them, NIU wouldn’t be successful.”

According to Binegar, before 1992, each sports team had a budget and since then the donors have taken over.

“If we were still under the budgets from 1992 we wouldn’t be able to keep up with other schools from the MAC,” Binegar said.

The HASF divides the donations proportionally according to the number of athletes on each team. Each coach along with the athletic director decide how to spend their team’s donation.

NIU volleyball coach Ray Gooden believes that the HASF is a great organization and is simply “first class.”

“It’s been an amazing resource for us,” Gooden said. “They’ve been a tremendous support service with things like travel and equipment.”