Booster Clubs

same situation here

My son graduated last year and I now have a freshman daughter at the high school. The baseball program has had a very successful booster club the past few years that was started by the past (now retired) head coach and a nucleus of parents. With a new head coach and "new" parents moving in to replace the oldtimers it will be up to them to keep that going. For my daughter, the softball folks have made great strides also over the past couple of years and are right there with baseball in raising funds for field improvements etc.
As far as the general booster club goes... it leaves a lot to be desired. It was actually non existent for a couple of years when my son was there. I was involved his freshman year and we would have 4 -5 parents show for meetings. The parents that did come were mostly baseball, softball and a tennis players mom. When they started it back up his senior year the new principal at the school made it known that all sports had to have parent representation at the meetings to get a share of any funds raised. After a few meetings it was obvious that it was going to be the same old thing and we knew that we, as baseball parents, could raise more money on our own then through the general booster club. If we had gone that way the funds raised would have been shared with all the other sports no matter how little they contributed to raising the funds. I'm not that nice...
For the next four years I'll be writing a check for my daughters basketball stuff and in the spring, I'll be involved in fund raising for the softball program to help be sure they have the best facilities possible. If there is anything left there's a good chance I'll keep giving to the boys on the diamond. Though I won't have a son playing I'll always feel I'm a part of that program. When I look over from the softball field I'll be able to see what can be done when folks work togather for something... a top notch hitting facility, a new irrigation system,a new sound system, and new bermuda sod in the infield.
I'm proud of what we accomplished.

 

"Our"...

baseball boosters raised 80K to put up new lights back in 96!

 

Keep on helping

This is commendable of you. We should always remember where we started and try to help others.

 

We have not let beauracracy slow us down. In the last 2 years parents have put up 2 covered batting cages with lights on the way. A warning track, new dugouts with new roof, a brand new backstop complete with new poles and nets. (thanks to some Southwest parents for their guidance). Lots of painting, in process of grading an area where a retaining wall caved in and many other projects. We even have to buy some of the dirt for our field and our own paint. We do have a couple that sells clothing for the boosters and I think tat money stays in boosters. They even have a website.

But Speedball is correct, we have a great facility and a coach that works continuously on the field. Our boys are lucky. And as long as we don't get caught, Speedball and several others of us will keep improving it.

 

We have 2 football parents and I am one of them. I am there for both baseball and football. The football Mom raises money for game meals. Those also have to be donated.

Others got so frustrated with it that nobody comes. I sometimes wish each team did their own thing. We would get more participation. At least parents would know where the money goes. What I mean by that is if you donated money you would know it went to the spoirt your child plays.

 

Problems with boosters now is they have to compete for money from the yearbook, AD's, admin, band, other sports clubs, PTA and on top of that other schools. With schools not being the neighbor schools anymore. You have parents and kids that attend other schools asking for support for their schools and programs. To many asking for too much.

 

same

a couple of points from experience. at our HS, the football parents are almost non-existent as far as helping out with the booster club.

Something I noticed when I was involved, it seemed that very few parents of "star" athletes were involved in the booster club. Wonder why? go figure. and I noticed that there were far more ladies (Moms) in the boosters than Men (dads).

at our school, there was a "policy" that individual sports could not have their own booster group. really did not understand or agree with this. It's a county policy that each sport could have a maximum of 2 fundraisers per year.

booster club gets all concessions money and booster / parent volunteers work these stands. and they do a reverse raffle that nets $12-15K and has a golf tourn.

The AD is at all booster mtg's and is heavily involved. HS Booster clubs are a challenge to get ample involvement from the parents. I observed that the younger the kids are (t-ball, youth rec ball, etc) the more the parents are involved and from then to HS it just keeps getting less and less.

it's best if a few parents (maybe 1 or 2 at least) will act as team Mom or Team Dad to "represent" the team at mtg's and to act as a liason.

oh yeah, almost forgot.........most times it was rare to see a coach at a booster mtg., but they wanted funds for improvements. again, go figure. The AD worked on getting coaches to the mtg's, and that improved some.

 

The Booster Club Hates Me!

We have a booster club. They have a couple of fundraisers each year to raise money for the booster club. Each HC of every sport is supposed to get his players to participate in the fundraisers. The booster club meets once a month and everyone is encouraged to attend. Well when I first started coaching I was told our budget was X amount of dollars a year for baseball. If we wanted anything above and beyond that amount we would have to go to the booster club and ask for the money to get it. Included in our budget was we have to pay umpires for both varsity and jv games. We have to play the gate keeper to take up money. Then you have the normal stuff like game balls practice balls hats sleeves socks belts and any other equipment you need. Also all field maint gear etc dirt clay paint etc comes out of this budget. To be honest it covers about a 1/3 of what we need each year. So I go to the booster club and attend the meetings. Baseball and soccer are the only programs at the meetings. Then its time to give out the money to sports present at the meeting. Baseball is the only sport who had guys work the fundraisers. No other sports teams work any of the fundraisers. Outside of soccer and baseball no other coaches attended any of the meetings. When I show up at the meeting where the booster club is going to vote on who gets what this is what happens. Baseball is turned down for all requests for money. "You already have a budget". The golf team and the volleyball team , tennis , basketball they need the help more than you guys , sorry". None of these coaches or players worked one single fundraiser or attended one single meeting or tried to raise any money for themselves.

That is when I quit going. I started a DugOut Club. I called a parents meeting and told the parents if they wanted their kids to have the equipment and facility they deserved they were going to have to get with it and run it. They started a concession stand. They have their own fundraisers. They fund the baseball program. I then informed the Booster Club that we would not be asking for anything in the future and they could give the money to the other sports. My words were "We are off of the welfare program here at this school". We will support ourselves. Well guess what happened? Coach May is trying to ruin the Booster Club. He is undermining us. In the end I had to go to the Brass so to speak and explain to them they could either let us fund the program or they could fund the program what did they want to do?

So the DugOut Club continues to do what it has to do. What really kills me is this. They dont want you to help yourself. But then they dont really want to help you. To be honest with you the vast majority have never played a sport in their lives. They see their posistion on the booster club as a posistion of some type of authority and they want someone to come in a meeting and beg them for something that they should already have. I just say we will get it ourselves and the heck with you. Give that 1,000 bucks to the golf team since they are too lazy to earn any money for themselves.

 

Tell me about it. I went last year to the first meeting of the year since I had two kids in school (and will have at least one there every year for the next 15 years ). It was very unorganized and I was shocked so few people were there. I never heard back from anyone about when the next meetings were.

I was also shocked the $175 check I wrote for sports passes took six months to clear the bank. They did a little better this year as it only took four months to clear. As good as Ragsdale has it from the principal, AD and so many great coaches and succesful programs it is surprising there isn't a better booster club.

Kirk if you ever need a volunteer just let me know.

 

Not good for the AD to be a head coach.