Casey Smith is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Phoenix Christian High School for AZPreps365.com.

Monetary resources are never going to be easy for Phoenix Christian as a small 2A conference school.

Despite the challenges, the school is looking to add more sports programs, including esports and girls soccer in 2025, while maintaining its athletic programs already in place. 

The school's director of operations Daniel Witkop believes that Phoenix Christian is a school of opportunity despite its limitations. 

“We definitely don't have a lot of the resources that the big 5A or 6A schools have,” Witkop stated.  “We are grateful for all the resources the Lord has entrusted to us through. The question is always how do we use the money that God has given us in the best way possible to steward it and use what God has blessed us with to be a blessing to others.”

The addition of new sports brings logistical challenges. Phoenix Christian hopes to make a push for a swimming program in the future, but without a pool on campus it's difficult.

“Phoenix Christian's hoping to bring back swimming. That's one of our plans,” Phoenix Christian athletic director Ben Stryczek said. “But at the same time, you can't just say we want to bring back swimming because there's a big cost with that. We don't have a pool here, so the YMCA down the street is realistically where we would go. We got to just look at this ‘25-’26 budget and there's a lot of things you got to figure out before you make this stuff happen.” 

Despite all the complications that can come with expanding an athletic program, Phoenix Christian prides itself on the idea of being an opportunity school. 

“Our school is really proud that we offer athletics as part of our tuition package,” Stryczek said. “It's more of a Southwest airline model, where we charge one tuition rate and that covers kids' whole experience at Phoenix Christian.”

The current model has supported over 100 high schoolers playing winter sports this season. The adjacent middle school also benefits with roughly 73% of middle schoolers in winter athletic programs. 

Stryczek has a lot to do with the bigger picture. However, he and many other staff members take the time to be involved at the ground level to do what it takes to run a program.

This past weekend, the Cougars had to install new shot clocks to be eligible for the Open Division boy's basketball playoffs in February. Playoff games are a crucial source of revenue for Phoenix Christian. Without these shot clocks, the basketball team would be losing out on valuable income. Stryczek installed the shot clocks himself up high in the Phoenix Christian gym.

The foundations of opportunity at Phoenix Christian are ultimately made by the school's staff. Their sacrifices and contributions allow the school to go forward, regardless of monetary restrictions. 

“In Arizona you're not doing this for the pay, no matter what school you're at,” Stryczek said. “In terms of being a coach it's for the love of the game and these coaches that we have here just go above and beyond.”