en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Fri, 24 May 2013 09:04:01 GMT 15 By Rick Sobey and Kerry Flynn
New scoreboards, teams warm ups, and much more have assisted in the improvement of the high school’s athletics thanks to the school’s Booster Club. The sports Booster Club is an association which supports all athletic teams at the high school and is made up of the families of athletes, coaches, students, business owners, and other community members. The president of the Booster Club is Michael Flynn who was elected president in 2000. He is very proud of the work that he and booster club has done to financially secure the athletics at the high school. “The Booster club is a fundraising entity of the school district for all athletes. It acts as one fundraising group for all sports teams,” said Flynn. The Booster Club did not support every team fifteen years ago. At that point of time, there were four groups; one that supported the football team, one that supported cheerleading, one that supported basketball, and one that supported swimming. This four team concept changed in 1992 when all four organizations merged into one and became the Booster Club the school has today. Athletic Director Edward Doyle believes that the Booster Club has been a success and appreciates its support. “The Booster Club serves all athletes in all sports in all seasons,” said Doyle. “It has been an improvement from the time when only four teams were being supported.” For an individual team to be represented in the Booster Club a spirit group must be formed so that they are able to represent that team. To form a spirit group fifty percent of the athletes on that specific team must become members. The result of forming a spirit group is that a team can receive money from fundraising such as the 50/50 raffle done at all home varsity football and basketball games. Doyle finds that the system of spirit groups has been successful. “All of the money has to be distributed equally in the sport, so nobody is being favored,” said Doyle. “The varsity football superstar receives the same support as the freshman player participating in football for the first time.” The Booster Club understands that many organizations could use their help so they work with many different people to ensure that whoever is in the direst need of aid receives it. “We work through the high school’s principal and the superintendent to receive information on the current needs of the sports teams,” said Flynn. Some past events that the Booster Club hosted to raise money were spaghetti dinners, art shows, and a comedy play. Their biggest fundraiser is the “Booster Card” which acts as a discount card for many local businesses. The card costs ten dollars with half of the profit goes directly towards all of the high school’s sports teams while the other half of the profits enter the club’s main account As a result of events such as these, the organization has been able to buy several items for athletics such as golf carts, scoreboards, the football field’s lights, sprinkler systems, and radios for the trainer. Doyle appreciates all the purchases that have been made by the booster club for the Athletic Department. “There was a cross country meet when a girl blacked out, and we needed the trainer immediately,” said Doyle. “The radios helped get the trainer quickly. If this happened before the radios, it would have taken much longer.” There are several current projects that the Booster Club is currently working on. The association would like to finish installing lights and add more windscreens to the tennis courts, assist funding new weight room equipment, buy a portable sound system for the football field, as well as replace the current football field’s stands with plastic formed stands. “We plan to have a St. Patrick’s Day dinner show in 2008 to raise money for the new stadium stands,” said Flynn. Although the Booster Club is not responsible for the talent on the fields of the high school it has made a difference in the quality of Falcon sports. “The Booster Club has helped bring together the student athletes, staff and faculty, and the community,” said Doyle. “It has helped enhance the athletics and bring together a better enriched experience.” ]]> Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:47:00 GMT