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Dear Booster........

Does Your Booster Club Measure Up?

Fact 1: The average booster club raises $23,000 per year through a combination of activities such as fundraising, concessions, raffles, tournaments and barbeques.

Fact 2: Booster clubs provide funding for numerous expenses, which in many cases are not covered by school districts. A sample list includes: summer camps, clinics, assistant coaches salaries, practice fields, trophy cases, field upgrades, transportation and meals to tournaments and non-league games, new equipment, new uniforms, team supplies and scholarships.

Fact 3: A Booster clubs average membership is approximately 5% of a schools parent population.

Fact 4: The average booster club provides in excess of 1,200 man-hours annually with regards to volunteer support for activities ranging from chaperoning school events to improving and maintaining facilities.

Dear Readers,
We welcome those of you who are just receiving Booster Trends for the first time. You join a growing list of fellow booster associates from around the country.

We encourage you to keep your letters, emails, comments and questions coming. Staying in touch with your needs is our key focus. As we work to help provide a support system for booster clubs we thank you for allowing us the ability to play a part in helping you and your club succeed. Together, we are making positive progress that counts!

Now, on to this month's issue.

STAYING COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE

This month I want to focus my article on the thousands of you who are facing a tough time in getting your club organized and structured for growth.

The most common request we receive from booster club volunteers is "how can they get started: and "how can they get organized". If you think this request is limited to newly forming booster clubs then you are wrong. Surprisingly enough, a large number of the weekly requests for help and guidance come from clubs that have been in existence for many years.

The answer to the problem always seems to be the same. Planning! Building a strong and thriving booster club is no different from building a successful business, or a ball team. The principals to continued success are all the same. With a booster club you have some added challenges in that the volunteers traditionally remain active for only about 1.5 years, then they vanish as quickly as they entered.

So establishing a format where your club can insure a level of continuity and continued growth is not only important it is vital to success. Here are a couple of quick suggestions that I would like to offer, which will help set your booster club on a road to long term success:

Remember, that building a successful booster club is a task that must be carried on from group to group. You have a short time to make a big impact on how your group will prosper for years after you are gone.

I welcome your emails and look forward to assisting you in success.

$500 College Tuition Awards To Be Given Away

The National Booster Club Association is proud to announce a very special promotional offer by Blackboard Media. For a limited time the Ultimate Sports Recruiting Guide for - Football, Baseball & Softball, Track, and Boys & Girls Basketball can each be purchased for $12.85.

These Sports Guides, which are being called the best educational tool in the industry can be purchased on Amazon.com for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

This offer is very limited and only available on a first come basis. Listen to what College and High School coaches are saying and then read on to find out how you can also register for the $500 College Tuition Certificate:

Eric Peterson - UCLA Track and Field “The Ultimate Sports Recruiting Guide is more than a recruiting tool; it is the most complete publication I have ever seen. It will not only make their time in high school more productive, but it will enable them to take the productivity to the next level. Coaches and athletes alike will benefit from the information and guidance it provides. No high school athlete should be without it.”

June Dougherty - Head Coach University of Washington Women's Basketball "The Ultimate Sports Recruiting Guide" is a must have for any student-athlete, parent, and coach. It is a great resource to set yourself up for recognition and success at the next level. It is the best recruiting tool I've seen on the market in over 20-years of college recruiting."

Steve Pyne – Central Catholic High School Football Coach – Portland, Oregon “The Ultimate Sports Recruiting Guide is everything any player, parent or coach will need when going through the recruiting process. There is no need to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on “recruiting services” when all the information you need to know is within the pages of this planner.”

Visit the following link to find out more about these must have guides and your opportunity to receive one of ten $500 College Tuition Certificates to be given away.

Ultimate Sports Guide

One of the greatest concerns surrounding youth training is whether or not children should perform strength training. Several concerns are often brought to the forefront when deciding what is the most appropriate program for young athletes to participate in.

It is important to distinguish the age and level of young athlete that we may discuss. A young athlete may range from the ages of 10–18. This is a broad spectrum and some may suggest an even wider range. However, for the sake of this article, we will narrow our focus to athletes of ages 12–16. There is a concern that in young athletes between 12–16 strength training could negatively affect the growth and maturation of bones.

These two concerns are bread more out of myth than science. Somewhere the fear of strength training on young people developed. The myth that strength training stunts growth is popular even today. What evidence exists to support such ideas? NONE, in fact, a Russian book, “The School of Height,” suggests that strength training may actually promote growth. Anecdotally, we have to look no further than to American football to see that young men who participate in strength training programs as early as age 13 or 14 can grow to great heights.

Concerned doctors, coaches, and parents often look at strength training and view the stress on the body as a great negative. However, if we look at the truth, running and jumping impose weight loads that are six times one’s bodyweight! (Siff, 1998) This load factor would be equivalent to a 12-year-old squatting slowly with around 800 lbs for several hours a week. So, if we are seriously concerned about the stress young people’s bodies endure, then we would not have them even run or jump. Is stress to the body a negative?

Research has shown time and time again that strength training leads to greater gains in bone density. This is very important for preventing injuries and tolerating the stress of many different sports. The late world-renown sports scientist, Dr. Mel Siff, once stated, “that lifters have the highest bone density of all athletes, so any decision to do weight training will be of great personal benefit in many ways if one simply follows the basic method of gradual progressive overload.” (Siff, 2002)

If strength training can actually benefit young athletes, how should a program be designed? There are several factors that should be considered.
• Age of athlete
• Injury history
• Experience with strength training
• Facilities available

Once these factors are determined, then one can start constructing a program that is both safe and effective. Begin by focusing on the technique of all movements and not be concerned with the amount of weight the athlete can lift. Don’t judge success upon increases in weightlifting use technique and understanding of the program to serve as the foundation. By adding a variety of training methods, the athlete can develop better body awareness, flexibility, and have fun! Strength and conditioning should not be a negative experience, which can turn off the athlete from future training.

References:
Siff, MC. “Facts and Fallacies of Fitness.” 1998
Siff, MC. “Supertraining News Group.” 2002

Josh Henkin is a member of the National Booster Club Association and the Director/Owner of Advanced Athletic Performance. A sports conditioning company dedicated to developing the complete athlete. Please visit www.aaptraining.net for more information.

Have you ever heard the terms, "...a chance of a lifetime", or "...one man’s junk is another man’s treasure"? Well, David Nicholson, president of Alia Properties, Inc. in Virginia is very familiar with these terms. In May of 2002, Mr. Nicholson was training a gentleman to become an auctioneer at his Virginia-based auction house. One Friday afternoon the trainee brought a box of items from his job site, which happened to be The Pentagon, to be sold. When the box was opened, an American Flag was found in it. Mr. Nicholson’s Dad, John R. Nicholson, Vietnam Veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, along with his friend and retired Navy man, Roy Stawhun, were shocked to discover how little respect was shown to this flag.

After questioning the trainee, Mr. Nicholson learned that this very special flag had been removed from a construction crane at the site of The Pentagon earlier that day. But even more amazing, this particular flag was flying high over the grounds of the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Realizing that this was a piece of American history, Mr. Nicholson took it upon himself to preserve it. He had the flag professionally framed and a letter of authenticity produced by the construction company that previously owned it. Included in the frame are the names of each of the victims that died that treacherous day at the Pentagon and also on the plane.

News traveled fast in the small Virginia village and soon NBC news was at the auction house to do a story. CBS followed suit shortly thereafter and on the one year anniversary of the attack on the Pentagon, CNN producers picked this story out of thousands of stories contributed by news reporters around the country and aired it on worldwide television.

Mr. Nicholson was bombarded by calls from all over the world as far as Japan and Australia by people wanting to see and even purchase this piece of American history. However, Mr. Nicholson has spent that past two years sharing the flag with elementary schools in several states as well as The University of Virginia.

Alia Properties, Inc. has teamed up with the National Booster Club Association to hold a nationwide fundraiser in which some lucky person will win the flag along with the NBC news tape and the letter of authenticity. A second place winner will receive an FBI 09-11-01 commemorative patch with "World Trade Center", "Shanksville, PA", and "Pentagon" inscribed on it. This patch was given to Mr. Nicholson by an FBI agent who was on the body recovery team at the Pentagon on 09-11-01.

The lucky winner of this flag will have to sign a special release that will be spelled out in the rules of the drawing. There will only be a certain number of tickets printed, so get your block now while they are still available. The tickets are sold for $5.00 each with your booster club or team retaining $2.00 per ticket. In addition, cash prizes are given to the top ten groups with the most ticket sales.

To find out more about this program or to enroll and receive tickets contact Judy Evans.

Log Online and find out more now

Keep watching as the NBCA prepares for the national rollout of Community First and Booster Bucks. A winning combination that will help increase membership and provide opportunity to gain local business support. Stay tuned for more information next month.

Dear Booster,
Help!!
We started a booster club two years ago. This is our third year. We have changed our officers for the club this year. I am President of the club now. We went before our school board last month to get approval for the booster club to really get rolling this year. The school board listened to our ideas, like concession sales at game, sponsor banners around the football field and in the gym. The board also said we needed to work with the principal of the school. We were like ok, this is great. Well not really.
All we have gotten from the principal is no we can't do this and no we can't do that. After we started selling the banners for the field and gym, the principal calls us in and tells us we can not put the banners up in the gym. After the school board told us we could do concessions at the football games, the vice-principal called me and told me we could not sell food because the baseball team was going to be doing concessions now.

Anyway, we are not getting any support from the principal of the school. We have tried to tell him that we are here to help his school. Some school facility have stated that the reason we are not getting any support from him is because he does not have complete power of the booster club. Being in a small town is hard. We have been told that the school board members will not stand up to him because it is hard to get a principal with such low pay. We are at our wits end and are about ready to disband the booster club. If you can get us any advice it would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you
T. Johansen, Malad High Booster Club

Dear Tannaca,
Don't give up. Let me share some history as to where your principal is probably getting the basis for his actions and comments towards your club, then we can go to the root of how to overcome the issue.

It is important for you to realize that the Principal views the booster club as a bunch of disorganized, pain in the neck, complaining parents. Sorry, but this is probably the true issue, although it is not your fault. History has set the stage where you are placed in a position that the work ahead will require your group to show the Principal and administration that you are a well organized group of supporters.

The issue you don't see is the "history" that has brought on your Principals actions, or reactions to your group. Let me explain so we will be able to overcome the issue. Your Principal just like thousands of Principals, coaches and administrators around the country deal with booster clubs every year. In a very large percentage of the cases the parents involved with the booster clubs have no idea of what their role is and even worse they have no understanding of boundaries. For decades this has caused ongoing battles to erupt between booster clubs and administrators. Passionate parents feel that a coach needs to be fired, a Principal needs to handle an issue in a certain way, or that the booster club should receive a certain perk simply because they are the booster club. The issues are endless and over the years have caused a very large and tall fence to be built between the booster club and administration. In the eyes of an administrator many have realized that if they can put the booster club in a corner for a few years the parents will be gone and hopefully the new group will be more obedient to the wishes of the administration.

So understand before you can ever overcome the obstacle you face that you must realize your Principal is not basing his or her decisions solely on you and your current group. He is pulling from history that has caused him to come to the conclusion that the booster club isn't worthy of his support.

Now let's work to overcome the problem. First, your group must be organized. If you are not organized and conducting business as if you are a well structured company, you will not gain the trust and respect of your Principal. Have you established a mission statement - what does your booster club stand for and what will it seek to accomplish? You mentioned that the baseball team will now be running concessions, is this the baseball booster club or players? Is your booster club a combination of all parents representing all extra-curricular programs at the school, or do you represent just one activity? Have you setup a transition plan for when your current officers leave and new incoming ones take over? How will your group continue whatever progress you have made 5, 10 and 15 years down the road? You must have a plan of action that will show your Principal that you are serious about helping him better the school, today, tomorrow and for years to come.

There are literally dozens of questions that will need to be answered in order to best position you for the next and most important step. Here is an online questionnaire that you can fill out and send in to the NBCA staff. They will help your club position to best be able to move forward:

Once you have organized your group the most important step you can take is to schedule a planning meeting with your schools administration. It is probably very likely that they have never been asked to attend a planning meeting with the booster club so you will need to also include a meeting itinerary to show them that you are serious and organized. Make sure your meeting is no longer than 30 minutes and ask that it be attended by the Principal, Vice Principals and Athletic Director. The goal of the meeting is to establish a relationship that will build a foundation from which your club will become a solid part of the school and its activities. You must show them that you can be trusted and that you are there to help support the entire school.

Don't give up, you have too much to offer to the boys and girls at your school and your community.

Send us your Dear Booster.... article and we will select one each month to share with the readers of Booster Trends. To submit your email send to: dearbooster@boosterclubs.org.

Submit your answers now
We will report the results in next months Booster Trends e-newsletter.

Fact of the month-
At a cost of only one to three percent (or less in many cases) of an overall school's budget, high school activity programs are one of the best bargains around. It is in these vital programs – sports, music, speech, drama, debate – where young people learn lifelong lessons as important as those taught in the classroom.

Quote of the month-
Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow".

Booster Trends is an online e newsletter provided by The National Booster Club Association. NBCA, BoosterWorld and Booster Trends are trademarks of The National Booster Club Association. All rights reserved. Copyright© 2003.

National Booster Club Association
100 N. Morain St., #208
Kennewick, WA 99336
info@boosterclubs.org
509-735-2878
Fax: 509-735-4917