St. Michael Catholic High School Booster Club
September 9, 2015 @ Bryant Bank (Hwy 98/64 intersection)
Meeting Minutes
At 6:30 pm, Mr. Weber, school principal, welcomed the 60+ persons in attendance and began the meeting with a prayer. He thanked B.A. Fogarty and Greg Strachan for allowing the school to use Bryant Bank for the meeting.
Mr. Weber indicated this was an organizational meeting of the Booster Club for St. Michael Catholic High. He defined the purpose of the night as four-fold:
to discuss the role of athletics at St. Michael,
to discuss the aims of the Booster Club,
to receive input from those present which sports the school should sponsor in its first year,
and have a question/answer session.
Regarding the role of athletics, Mr. Weber emphasized athletic “success” measured ultimately as its effectiveness in advancing the school mission, which is to create good, faithful young men and women. Success not ultimately a function of win-loss record, but whether children who play in a program under a coach for four years are better people. Emphasized athletics uniquely positioned to teach virtue--putting team before self, delaying gratification, accepting disappointment, receiving and growing from constructive criticism, winning with grace and many other virtues.
At the same time, Weber emphasized, building a competitive team creates a culture where these virtues can be more powerfully advanced. Good teams encourage kids to work harder, instill greater discipline, work toward long term goals with more fervor. Understood this way, trying to build strong athletic program is entirely consistent with mission of St. Michael. The “end” of the program is building virtue, whereas the “means” is through building competitive programs with good men and women at the helm.
Weber emphasized athletic program “front porch” of school--that those “external” to the school may only know St. Michael as a result of visiting the school for athletic contests, so important that a school presents itself well to the community by the conduct and sportsmanship of its players and fans, by the maintenance of its facilities, by its overall hospitality and vibe.
Weber also said that at St. Michael, “athletics” is not in competition with academic or fine arts program. “Many people have an image of a pie in their head, and if the “athletic” slice is getting larger, that must mean the academic or fine arts piece must be smaller. "But institutions like Duke, Notre Dame and Stanford", Weber said, "are examples of schools that have created excellent academic, arts and athletic programs, side by side--that it’s not an either-or. In other words, the “pie” can get bigger."
Regarding Booster Club, Mr. Weber indicated St. Michael Booster Club has four purposes:
To support the overall athletic program. Weber indicated that given the school’s size, there will not be separate Booster Clubs per sport--the job of Boosters will be to support all teams and the entire school program.
To raise money: Weber indicated there were immediate short term needs to begin an athletic program, including uniforms and equipment, and indicated it was his desire that fundraising would begin this year, perhaps with a major event in the spring, to help “jumpstart” the program. Longer term, Weber indicated there were facility needs, including the building of a soccer/football stadium, track, baseball and softball fields, and field house/weight room. These facilities are “drawn in” as part of Master Plan but are not part of the Phase I development.
To provide manpower--Schools need ticket takers, concessions, auxiliary coaches, persons to put together programs, raise monies, and Weber asked those present to be generous in their time for the support of the program. “We need you,” he said.
To be ambassadors--Weber noted the sports “connects people in a powerful way,” saying that “especially as we build a new school together, your advocacy and excitement for the school itself and our athletic program will go a long way to persuading others to join us. "
Regarding discussions of athletic teams for next year, Weber emphasized that no decisions about the athletic program had been made, rumors to the contrary, and that he wanted to ask those present to give input before any such decisions were made. He indicated, however, that because St. Michael intended to begin enrolling kids for next year in late October, it was important that we indicate which teams we would commit to sponsoring in the fall “very soon” (mid October at the latest he said, and perhaps sooner) so that families knew what they were signing up for.
As context for this discussion, Weber emphasized we should not think “narrowly” about the 9-12 program, but the overall 7-12 program that includes St. Patrick, St. Benedict and Christ the King, indicating the fates of the four schools are now intertwined, and that everyone’s success breeds success overall. How can we get more kids involved in athletics, to the benefit of these schools, and to the ultimate benefit of St. Michael? How can we help these schools be more attractive to athletically inclined families?
Weber indicated two trends affecting CYO athletics at the younger grades in Baldwin County, based on his conversations with many people over the summer. First, as is especially true of the two smaller schools, they often cannot secure enough players to have their own distinct CYO teams. Second, some of the more athletically gifted kids are withdrawing from our system in grades 5-6 to enter what is perceived as more “competitive” leagues in 7-8. This hurts both the school and teams they leave and the future athletic program of St. Michael.
Weber indicated in discussing these issues over the summer with principals, parents of athletes and with Paul Knapstein, CYO director, that St. Michael may be able to help the growth of middle school athletic programs in two ways:
First, to regionalize the 7-8th grade CYO program for all of Baldwin County Catholic Schools, such that the schools gather, practice and “compete” at the site of the high school, against the Mobile area CYO teams. By regionalizing our Baldwin County CYO program for 7-8, we’d provide the means for all schools to provide athletic options for their students. He indicated the principals of all three elementary schools supported this move, and that Knapstein was also in favor of it if it created more opportunities for Baldwin County kids to participate in CYO programs.
Second, since all the Catholic elementaries are “AHSAA member” schools now in the same “system” as St. Michael, those 7-8th grade kids who have the talent to do so could “move up” to high school teams, if they “made the cut” at the discretion of the high school coaches, thus providing a more competitive “option” for families with athletic children.
Weber also discussed moving into the AHSAA based on a long conversation with Steve Savarese, director of ASHAA in Montgomery. Savarese indicated St. Michael had two options for joining the AHSAA: Either join in year one as a “full member” or join as an “associate member “ for two years. As a “full member”, St. Michael would have to commit to hosting five varsity teams for boys and five varsity teams for girls. As an “associate,” St. Michael could host however many teams it wanted, JV or varsity, for two years, but then must become a full member in year three with a minimum of five varsity boys and five varsity girls’ teams. The only disadvantage to being an “associate” is that St. Michael could not compete for varsity championships. Savarese advised Weber that being the “associate” member made the most sense, as with only freshmen and sophomores, it would be very hard to field ten teams, and St Michael would not be competing for state championships anyway. It would give St. Michael the most flexibility in building its program. Weber emphasized that no decision had been made on either option, and invited people to weigh in via email or questions at the end of the evening.
Weber then asked those present to divide into groups to make the following recommendation: If by mid-October at the latest St. Michael must publicly commit to one sport each season for men and women (a total of 6 sports), what would those be? (Weber indicated this did not mean these would be the ONLY sports the school would offer next year, as he thought it prudent to wait and see what the # of those enrolled was, as well as what students’ interests were, and that it was possible that some sports, like swimming, might be a workable add-on later)
The groups participated in lively discussion among themselves. After a period of time, Weber asked the groups to reconvene, and asked groups to publicly state their positions, so that those present could get a ‘feel’ for the thinking in the room.
Regarding winter sports, there was almost complete consensus for women and men’s basketball.
Regarding fall sports, there was general consensus for volleyball for women. For men, there was some who believed that cross country made the most sense, though the majority advocated for football.
In the spring, most advocated for girls’ soccer, though softball was mentioned. For the men, there was pretty evenly divided opinion between soccer and baseball.
All groups handed in forms that indicated their preferences. Weber indicated he would read all the forms, take all the discussion for the evening “under advisement” and make some public announcements very soon for those families trying to weigh options. Weber emphasized again that “no decision has been made” either beforehand or tonight, and asked people to emphasize that to others, as rumors are often destructive and wrong.
A question and answer session followed for about 15 minutes. Several questions were asked of a technical nature involving eligibility. Weber asked that those be emailed to him so he could give a careful answer, and so he could check with the ASHAA if an unusual case or if he were unsure.
After 15 minutes of Q/A, Weber ended the meeting at 7:30 p.m, asked people to turn in forms with their names and contact numbers, and asked on those forms if a person had an interest in being involved in the leadership of the Booster Club. He invited those who wanted to continue with Q/A in informal discussions.
He thanked everyone for coming. Weber indicated it’s WE now, not “them” or “that school.” The general tenor of the evening was very positive and enthusiastic for the new school. We’re off to a good start!