Excitement Reigns! Larry and JT can hardly stand it for the next six weeks! Volleyball season is in the air!
The June 24th meeting was called to order at 7:02 by President Larry Mickelson. Larry introduced Chuck Rey who is going to be this years’ volunteer assistant coach. Chuck gave us some background and is anxious to be taking on this responsibility. Welcome, Chuck!
Those in attendance: Larry M, JT and DuAnn, Betty C, Hamlin, Scott, Nao, Sharon and Dave M., Chuck Rey and Kyla. Kyla is interning with Nao this summer. Great to have her at the meeting!
There is a change to the secretary’s minutes - we do not need to have 3 more meetings before the end of the year – 0 or 1. The numbers we need to have in a year are 4 and we have had all of those: We did have a November meeting, Jan 8, April 15, and June 24th. With that change there was a motion to accept by Betty and a second by David.
JT gave the treasurer’s report. There was a bit of discussion on the need for a PO Box and the $94.00 cost. It was decided that no matter what, it is a good thing to have and most booster clubs do have them. A lot of members like to mail membership information and checks to a PO Box. Larry likes to pick it up when he is in the area! JT has paid ½ of the remaining renovation fund ($1,000). There was one check for $160.50 that was overlooked and taken care of – the balance for the end of this year is $3,531.48. There are only 6 days to the end of the fiscal year and JT said that he sees no need to write any more checks for this year. The report was accepted by Dave and seconded by Hamlin.
Old Business:
First Practice: Will be Saturday, August 9th. We will host a catered meal on August 15th. Nao mentioned that there is a new catering company and she will get a pricing from them and let us know. We had projected that the cost be $10.00 per person and $25.00 per family. Time will be about 6:30. We will have a membership campaign before this practice and forms available. IT IS GOING TO BE HOT IN THE PAVILION!
Bus Trip: After a bit of discussion it was pretty much decided that this trip will be a 2 night overnight trip. Dates of the games are November 14th and 15th. Larry is going to be talking with the bus company soon and get some pricing for us so we can start to advertise the trip to booster and non-booster members. We will try to have fliers out by the first games and JT will be sure the information is on the web site. The plan could be to watch the game in Wisc and drive and stay in Evanston, IL with a day trip into Chicago, watch the IL match, stay overnight and return on Sunday.
Clothing: Betty talked with Dave Dover and had a more positive conversation. She will explore several options with Gold Country on pieces to sell and pricing. If we sell things at the U 38% goes to the U and there is an 8% licensing fee. Scott suggested that she ask Dave what is in stock and see what she can get more quickly. We can also decide to have things on the web and members can order from there. Decisions will be made soon on how we want to proceed and the items that will be available.
Alumni Weekend: This is a weekend in conjunction with the U of M football team and mostly sponsored by the M Club. The M Club will be doing most of the work for this event so we can be a little low key. Alums will be invited to see the Purdue football game on Nov 8 and they will be able to attend the Purdue volleyball game on Nov 7 and the Illinois game the evening of Nov 9. We will probably have a reception after this game. M Club will provide seating for alums at the football game. There will be a flier available by August 1 and one to accompany the August 15th volleyball letter. Chuck will be working on old films and getting a DVD together. We will not have an Alumni volleyball match this year.
New Business:
JT will get the 2008 membership form ready and post it on the web site. We talked about setting up a Pay Pal account. JT wondered if this would be in compliance with the NCAA . We think that it would be a good thing – JT would have to list our fees and then the funds would go into out account. Pay Pal is a reputable account.
Larry was worried that he had missed his ticket renewal and was reassured that they are not out yet. We will ask Ron Lynch is we can include a membership form with the ticket renewal. Nao will send a membership form to alums’ when she e-mails them. At this point we will not change the cost of membership dues.
Fundraising: Larry worked with a group doing some fundraising and was interested to know if we would be interested to do something along those lines. He was interested in getting some ideas out there. Members suggested that we get some ideas and then discuss the issue again (after getting into the new stadium?)
A few things that we could be fund raising for are to help with a new Video board that is going to be quite costly, a trip to Europe for the team and some club room improvements. The video board is going to be super expensive and we will have to see what comes of that idea. The team trip to Europe is planned for the summer of 2009. Players will have to be fund-raising their trips. Is there a possibility that boosters will be able to come along and have their costs be higher to help subsidize a team member.
Mr. Mark Eastom: Mark is in a nursing facility awaiting a transplant. He is resigning his volley ball booster membership. We will see if there are members interested in being on the Board. Larry accepted reluctantly. We will keep up on Mark’s progress.
One other item is the Manship’s position on the Board and that they will probably not be members as they leave their Ball Girl duties. The new coordinator should have their position.
Larry asked if we wanted a 2007 DVD for early renewals and if it is available. Scott has not heard how it is coming and will check. Early Bird renewal goes through first practice. Scott also mentioned that there is a need for more students at VB camps as the numbers are down by about 75
Next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 29th at 7:00. Dave motioned to adjourn and JT seconded.