Minutes from Lady Ironmen booster meeting held January 15 at 7 pm at DHS

The meeting was opened with remarks from Coach Davis who introduced members of the coaching staff.  He also spoke briefly about the upcoming season, Danville ’s reclassification as a AAA team, and the new Heartland Athletic conference.

  The Heartland Conference consists of 25 teams from central PA and is divided into three divisions, DHS is in division I:

Division I
Danville, Midd-West, Mifflinburg, Milton, Montoursville, Selinsgrove, Shamokin, Shikellamy, Williamsport

Division II
Central, Hughesville, Jersey Shore, Lewisburg, Loyalsock, Mount Carmel, So. Williamsport , Warrior Run

Division III
Benton , Bloomsburg, Millville , Montgomery , Muncy, Southern, St. John Neumann, Sullivan County

We will play each team in our division twice during the season .  It is a very tough division, so it will be a very challenging season.

The coaching staff then met with the team members separately, and the booster meeting commenced.

TREASURER’S  REPORT:  There was no report tonight in that the previous treasurer, Donna Brua is still reconciling last years expenses and the books have not yet been transferred to the new treasurer Michael Carr.  We hope to have a treasurer’s report next month so that we can begin to project some budgetary items for the upcoming season.

OLD BUSINESS:

·         Update on summer team camp search.  Each Summer the team participates in a camp experience. Last Summer the STN camp was chosen in Sullivan county.  All players freshman through senior are invited to participate and it must be funded by individual families.  Mike Jones has been researching, and has come up with several options including, Bucknell , Maryland , Rutgers , Villanova and STN. The prices would range from $400.00 and up for a residential camp at any given option.  It should be noted that the price includes lodging, food and instruction.  The coaches have been given the material to review and we hope to have a decision on which camp we will be going to within the next month so that families can prepare for this.  In the past camp has proven to be a good team-building an bonding experience, and especially so for the new freshman players, who will get a chance to meet and interact with the upperclassmen prior to the season starting.

• Mike also has done some research on some warm up suits.  The girls have been requesting this.  The price might be prohibitive in providing them to all the girls from the boosters, but some discussion was given to having each family contribute some money towards the suits, and having the boosters pick up the rest. We will look at this more closely when the other budget issues have been resolved. He has also looked into some opportunities for team tee shirts as well as uniform options.

• Some discussion was held again as to whether or not we will have enough uniforms to go around.  The coaches will do a count. We will need to decide whether to look into new jerseys and reuse shorts, switch our home with away uniforms etc.  If need be this will be addressed with the athletic director at a later date.

• Mike Carr and myself will plan a meeting with Athletic Director Kanaskie later on to firm up dates for senior night, youth night, and discuss number of stadium games, and possibly the uniform situation.

·        NEW BUSINESS:

• The purpose of the boosters was discussed as well as the need for VOLUNTEERS.

• Topics addressed were the need for volunteers to help with various tasks throughout the season, especially with the concession stand  set up, supply and closing as well as scheduling.

• Michael Carr will assume the role of Treasurer, he will relinquish the role of raffle coordinator

• Linda Paugh will coordinate senior night and be booster co leader

• Beth Carr and Theresa Cook will coordinate the banquet

• Mike Jones will spearhead the search for Team Camp

• Dave Pervola will continue to be game announcer.

• Alexis Jones will assist with ball-girl coordination

• New positions filled:
• Parent reps:  Sr class—Theresa Cook
• Jr class:  Dan Oberdorf
• So class:  Stacy Shepperson
• Fr class:  Linda Unger

• Ann Kay will serve as statistician

• Ken Holdren has agreed to assist the coordinators this year with the plan to take over as co-coordinator for the 2009 season (how’s that for planning ahead?)

• Pasta dinner coordinator:  Denise Brown

• Concession stand coordinator:  Cindy Grubb—she will be responsible for scheduling, communicating and generally overseeing the stand operations throughout the season.
• Assisting her with some of the tasks will be Ronda Brouse, Kim Beyer, Linda Paugh-we still need others, several others expressed interest in helping.

• Other positions that need to be filled are:
• Youth night coordinator
• Soda/drink donation coordinator
• Fruit coordinator.
• Photographer and video camera operator.  (if anyone has a tripod and is willing to film each game, please let us know)

• Jennifer Jones has offered to look into organizing a basket/ Vera Bradley Bingo to benefit the team.  She has been involved with this kind of endeavor in the past and has seen profits in the thousands of dollars.

• The decision has been made not to buy long sleeved orange shirts to wear under orange uniforms this year, the girls prefer wearing white and can provide their own long-sleeved plain white shirts (such as long sleeved cotton tee-shirt, or under armour type shirt) for colder days, these can be worn with both home and away uniforms .  The only requirement is that they all wear the same color and that color will be white.  The same is true for compression shorts that some of the girls choose to wear under their uniform shorts.  They must all be white if any part of them shows.  Also, as a heads up, the white away uniform shorts are extremely sheer, so it is recommended that the girls get something like compression shorts to wear underneath.

OTHER INFORMATION AND REMINDERS:

Mark your calendars:

--We have chosen November 16 2008 for the senior banquet.

--The booster meetings will now be held each third Tuesday of the month at 7 pm at the high school- the next meeting will be February 19.

One more note is that there is a website available in which the coaches post information and updates regarding events and happenings as well as game and practice information. There is also a roster available with contact phone numbers and e mail addresses.

This website is www.soccertownusa.org   If you enter the website there is a wealth of information which you can obtain via the  various links, especially by clicking the soccer ball on the right hand side which says “Lady Ironmen” on it.  Additionally, if you scroll all the way to the bottom of  the home page and look on the very bottom left, there is a link that says “team notes”  this is a link to be accessed exclusively by the players and their families, it will ask for a password, this password is  “ Montana ”.  It is recommended that you check this website on a regular basis (daily once practices begin)  This is the  primary mechanism for communication regarding scheduling issues and other team info.  It also contains other helpful information like statistics, team rules, contact numbers, booster meeting minutes, etc.  Check it out. Also girls are encouraged to check their emails regularly for updates and information, as are parents

We were very happy with the strong turn-out and hope that the interest continues, the boosters exist to “boost” the girls and do things in their best interest.

Please spread the word to other players and parents. We hope to have a successful season, but in order to do this we need everyone’s help!

Respectfully submitted:

Kim & Linda