August 25, 1999

Booster clubs bolster high school sports teams

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       "Dude, there's hamburgers?!"
      With piled plates filed from tables groaning with food, members of the Trojan freshman, junior varsity and varsity football teams stoked up after a hard day of training at the annual cookout sponsored by the Touchdown Club last Thursday evening at Central High School. Many players could not believe their eyes at the quantity of food, which included 300 hamburgers, 300 hot dogs and a potluck of other dishes and desserts supplied by the Touchdown Club, the booster club for the Trojan football teams.
      For the players, it was eatin' time. For the parents who put on the feast, it was a time to get together before the football season began and get to know the families of their sons' teammates.
      "The cookout is a time when families come together and get to know each other," said Nancy Kelly of Acme Township, whose husband, Kevin, is president of the Touchdown Club. "The players are so close because they spend so much time together so this gives parents a chance to meet other parents."
      One of the main missions of the Touchdown Club is to ensure that players have enough to eat. Since it formed two years ago when the two high schools split, the club has provided lunch and snacks during the intense August training sessions, a steak night before the season's first game this week and spaghetti dinners before games during the season, with parents rotating as hosts.
      "We are always taking care to provide for the players and food is a priority for them," Kelly said. "They boys are so well behaved and so appreciative of it and the parents have been just fabulous in their support."
      The Touchdown Club is just one of many booster clubs for sports teams at Central High School. Most sports at the school have their own booster club, with the fundraising efforts coming under the non-profit umbrella of the school-wide Trojan Athletic Booster Club. The funds raised by a team's bake sales, car washes, raffles, pop sales and so on help teams finance equipment and transportation.
      Booster clubs are crucial for sports that are equipment intensive, such as football and hockey. Without fundraising, not all the players could afford the expensive equipment. In other sports, such as cross country, have minimal equipment and their fundraising efforts are more laid back.
      "We don't get tons of requests from girls basketball or the cross country teams," said Konrad Molter, athletic director at Traverse City West High School. "But for all the teams, the number one thing the boosters add is support, not just financial."
      Parent involvement and support is crucial to the success of an athletic program at any school. More than just fundraising and feeding, however, this support shows that the parents care about what their children are doing.
      "A lot of the things we do for the kids wouldn't be done to the same degree without the booster club," said coach Joe Forlenza, who is starting his sixth season with the Trojans and his first year as head coach. "It helps the players be focused and when the parents show there is an interest, that really helps them. That is true for football, band or math class."
      Traverse City West High School sports booster teams took a new direction this year by breaking off from Central High School to create their own booster organization. Molter and an executive board of parents are setting up a school-wide booster program, where teams will draw from a central fund for equipment as needed. All sports fundraising efforts will feed this fund.
      "Instead of fragmenting all your team efforts and forcing the parent of a three-team athlete to do so much, all parents of all teams are involved," Molter said. "This forces us all to work together and it is how most schools do it."
      The Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools also have a centralized structure for their sports booster organization. While far smaller than the local public high schools, 80 percent of students at St. Francis High School participate in extracurricular activities. And the parents of athletes are a tightly knit group who all work together to make sure kids are fed, equipped and supported.
      "If your child takes part in an athletic event, you are expected to help out, whether in crowd control, concessions, whatever," said Len Classens, treasurer of the Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools Athletic Association. "Each sport is assigned a team mother who organizes meals before games and helps out."