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Why Should I Become a Colonial Athletic Booster (CAB) Member?. 2010 - 2011. What do the Athletic Boosters do?. Before you consider becoming a member, you should know what the Athletic Boosters do
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Why Should I Become a Colonial Athletic Booster (CAB) Member? 2010 - 2011
What do the Athletic Boosters do? • Before you consider becoming a member, you should know what the Athletic Boosters do • Put simply, the CAB supplement the Athletic Funding provided by Fairfax County to provide your child with a more rewarding athletic experience at TJ
Supplement County Funds? Huh? The Colonial Athletic Boosters BRIDGE the gap between county funding and the actual cost of participating in a sport!
Supplement How? • Fairfax County pays for the Coaches’ salaries, bus transportation, referees and utilities • The Colonial Athletic Boosters: • Pay for Uniforms • Pay for specialized equipment, such as wrestling and cheerleading mats, football helmets, field hockey and lacrosse goals, basketballs, baseballs, and all equipment in the weight room and more. • Subsidize bus trips for teams to invitational events in cross country, track and for other sports as required • Fund many other smaller ticket items, such as the CAB website, awards and scholarships, coaching clinics, etc • Pay for field care and maintenance (seeding, cutting, putting lines on the field, etc.)
My child plays football, how does the CAB help the football team? • Field maintenance!! • Equipment and uniforms • Provide concessions and ticket volunteers • Publish the Fall Sports Program, highlighting the football team • So...compare the costs of CAB membership with a typical football youth league...This is taken from the McLean Mustangs registration page: “Registration Fee is $225; Optional equipment packages are available at either $75 or $90, depending on the weight class. Late Fees of $50 are applied to registrations received after August 9 - the first day of practice.” .....You get a bargain at TJ!
How do the Athletic Boosters pay for all of those things? • The CAB has an annual operating budget of around $140K per year • The CAB brings in money in the following ways: • Membership (this is almost all profit that goes straight to the CAB, more than $40,000 per year) • Concessions (we make about $1 profit for every dollar we spend – so if you don’t want to become a member eat a lot while you are at the games!) • Merchandise (this is a highly variable source of income, once we purchase items we have to sell them or they become a sunk cost; it’s a delicate balance between having enough in inventory and having too much in inventory) • The Penultimate Track Meet (more than 25 teams participate in this annual spring meet, which brings in anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 after expenses. Although this is a track event, the money goes into the general CAB operating funds.) • Sports Physicals (another source of $5,000 to $10,000 dollars all from volunteer labor! We may lose this as a source of funds in the future, it may go straight to the Athletic Trainer’s budget. The final resolution is still to be determined) • A variety of other income sources are employed. In the coming year we are going to try to improve fundraising and sponsorships. • Being at TJ presents a BIG challenge since we don’t have a local community base to align ourselves with. It’s much harder to get sponsors and donors than at a geographically based school!
But my family may have to pay an athletic participation fee next year! • That is true. The proposed participation fee is required to make up for Fairfax County school system shortfalls. • However, these fees will not cover the expenses that the CAB funds, we still need family and friends to become members and provide support!
Convince me some more.... • A couple of things to consider: • Depending on the level of your membership, you receive passes for all athletic events at TJ. Think about it, at $5 per game, attending 5 fall sports games, 7 or 8 winter sports games, and 7 or 8 spring sports games can cost you from $95 to $105 per year! You get the biggest bang for your buck by JOINING IN THE FALL! • Travel sports and club memberships cost a lot. CAB membership is a small cost in comparison. Take a look at your cable bill or think about how much you spent eating out at Outback the last time you went! • In previous years nearly half of the student body has participated in at least one sport at TJ. Nearly 1,000 students. If ¾ of those parents join at the $100 membership level, the CAB would bring in $75,000 in memberships alone!
I MIGHT be interested – how do I join? • Go to colonialathletics.org • Click on the Boosters tab • Click on the Membership tab and choose the method that works best for you