In the world of athletics, success on the court, field, etc. is often determined by a number of different variables.

One tried-and-true ingredient for coaches and players to find success, and by extension, win championships, is hard work.

Attending summer workouts, giving your all in each practice, and completing your assignment come game time are some of the ultimate determining factors when it comes to winning.

But hard work can only take some teams so far.

Often times, resources — facilities, equipment, etc. — are crucial in preparing a team to take the next step and capture victory.

Take college football, you’ll find that the best teams — the ones who often finish in the top 10 year after year — are the ones with the best facilities and well-stocked weight rooms that enable them to cultivate the talent they recruit each year.

The same can be said for high school football, and high school sports in general.

Updated weight rooms, gyms and others help players develop physically and reach their full potential, often giving teams that extra edge.

Of course, the money allocated to high schools for their facilities — academic and athletic — comes from the state, and budgets these days are constantly being cut.

That’s one of the reasons that Selma is very fortunate to be able to have a new high school coming this year.

Along with that new school are new athletic facilities, including a new basketball gym, a new weight room and a new field house that will include a new locker room and weight room for the Saints football team.

When I recently talked to Selma High’s head football coach Leroy Miles, he told me how the Saints’ current field house can accommodate around 50 or so players, but with the new field house Selma High has enough room to accommodate 90.

That’s more space and more weightlifting equipment, which equals more repetitions when the Saints participate in workouts.

Those facilities will pay dividends for Selma High’s athletic programs — programs that already have been consistent in finding success and pilling up the wins — in the long run.

But like I said, not every school is fortunate enough to have state-of-the-art facilities.

However, where officials in the Selma High athletic programs deserve credit is the fact that they’re not taking these facilities for granted.

They’re not resting on the fact that they have all of these new facilities coming in, and they know there’s still work to be done.

With fundraisers like the Butterflies and Brides Run back in April, Selma City Schools is continuing to raise money in order to ensure its student-athletes are well prepared when they take to the field.

One thing in particular I think needs to be praised is the implementation of a system called Hudl — a program that helps teams better put together game film, not only for study in preparation, but also so it can be sent off to college scouts, thus helping players get recruited for college scholarships.

Teams such as the University of Michigan, the University of Nebraska, and the New York Jets use Hudl.

The fact that the school system is aiming to raise funds to support programs like this — programs that will help student-athletes have a better chance of acquiring scholarships — is a positive for the community.