Portland St. Patrick Catholic School

The Athletic Association was formed in 1951 when St. Patrick’s High School opened its doors. The organization’s original duty was to raise the money necessary to operate the Shamrock athletic program, and its members have never veered from that goal. Currently the athletic budget runs over $130,000 per year, and every penny of it is raised by this group. Other than the Father Flohe Foundation, the Athletic Association is the largest revenue-generating group in the parish.

The income for the athletic program comes from these sources:

• The Annual Fall Festival held the second Sunday of October
• The Shamrock Auction held the third Saturday in April (The proceeds of the auction are split 50/50 with the school.)
• The Shamrock Sport Raffle which features four drawings each month
• Gate/Door Income at games
• Sale of concessions at game

The officers of the Athletic Association are:

Dan Lawless, President
Kristen Schrauben, Vice President
Neil Miros, Secretary
Amy Smith, Treasurer

Feel free to contact any of them if you have questions or concerns.

Though there are many groups, who do many things at St. Patrick’s, few of them are as much fun as the Athletic Association. There are approximately 25-30 active members who meet on the first Sunday of the month at 9:00 a.m. in Room 202. (You can enter the school through the center doors on West Street, which will be unlocked shortly before the meetings.) Membership is open to all St. Patrick’s parishioners over the age of 18. Members who attend eight meetings a year receive a complimentary season pass which allows them and their families to attend all home games free of charge. You are encouraged to stop in at a meeting or two to see how things are done. Hopefully, you’ll decide to keep coming back!

From the President

 Dear Parents, Students, and Friends of St. Patrick School,

My name is Dan Lawless and I am the current president of St. Patrick’s Athletic Association.  The Athletic Association is more than a “booster” group.  We provide 100% of the funding for the entire athletic program at St. Patrick School.  The work we do gives our students the opportunity to participate in football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, track, golf, bowling, cross country and competitive cheerleading.  The Athletic Association also provides financial support for the Shamrock Quiz Bowl team.  We are proud of what we do as a group, and I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a little more.

THE STATE OF THE SHAMROCK THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM 2010/2011

ACADEMICS, SPORTSMANSHIP & CHARACTER

Our Student Athletes continue to set the standard for academics, sportsmanship and character.  St. Patrick student athletes once again displayed the high character and sportsmanship that we have come to expect without question.  Let us not take this for granted.  If you attend sporting competitions, you can easily recognize how consistently our students display both character and sportsmanship.  The GPA’s of our student athletes continue to rank among the highest in the state.   As was published last year, St. Patrick students had the highest ACT and MME scores of all surrounding area schools.  In addition to this, our students/athletes are able to pray openly at anytime.  This combination is rare in our modern society, and this is a reflection of the commitment and dedication of our parents, teachers and coaches.

THANK YOU

• Thank you to our parents who set examples for our student athletes by supporting our teams as well as other local and area teams.  At away games, St. Patrick parents often out-number the home crowd.     

• Thank you to our teachers who tirelessly work with our student athletes, teaching them how to balance academics and sports, and who also consistently teach our Catholic faith. 

• Thank you to our business community who financially support our athletics year after year, we truly are blessed to have such a devoted group! 

• Thank you to our coaches who selflessly give their time to teach and coach our children.  What a special group we have who incorporate prayer into athletics. 

• Thank you to the entire Athletic Association for their hard work this past year.  With a budget of approximately $130,000 this group puts in a LOT of time.  What other group can generate this type of income without being noticed? 

• Thank you Pat Russman, our Athletic Director who has the incredibly tough job of setting all our sport schedules, maintaining cost control, scheduling referees, umpires, etc, scheduling gym/field time, balancing the needs and wants of parents, athletes, teachers, coaches  and does all of this part time while also teaching.

2009/2010 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Last year, in addition to the usual activities undertaken by the Athletic Association, there were some noteworthy accomplishments:

• We added youth football and cheerleading  for students in  5 ^th through 8^th grades.  A big thank you goes to Kristen Schrauben for organizing & running this new program. 

• Fall Fest added some new activities, including a euchre tournament and game room for teens. 

• Winter cheerleading was reinstituted.

• Working with the school, we began using the creative writing services of several student sport reporters.  Their Sports Reports appeared on the school website.

• A varsity girls basketball game was held in the Pit.  It had been several years since that had happened!

• We added local business sponsorship banners to the baseball field.

 

INSIDE THE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

As a group the Athletic Association handles many issues and attempts to balance the needs of all the sports.  In doing so, we encountered these situations last year:

• We clarified and defined the function and use of team accounts, to eliminate concerns raised by the past use of team funds. 

• In response to a parish audit, we began the process of turning over our financial records to the parish.  Business Manager, Mike Johnson, has set up separate accounts for our money, within the parish system.  So, while our money will be kept separate, and will still be used exclusively for the athletic program, all of our transactions will now be recorded and handled by that office. Amy Smith who has served as our treasurer for  many years, worked closely with Mike to make this a smooth transition, thanks Amy. 

• We entered the electronic age with the assistance of our Secretary Neil Miros.  Neil emails our meeting minutes to meeting attendees and also posts the minutes on the school web site.  Thanks Neil. 

• We had an unexpected opening for VP and Kristen Schrauben graciously volunteered to fill this position. Thanks Kristen. 

• Working with the school to reduce costs, we eliminated 4 subsidy positions.  These positions are now being filled by Athletic Association members on a volunteer basis, increasing our work load. 

• With the ever increasing cost of doing business we had much discussion about our season sport passes.  We finally decided to increase the price of these passes for the first time in at least seven years.  Beginning this year, a family pass will be $200.  A Family Season Pass allows any immediate family member (including any unmarried college students who graduated from St. Pat’s High School within the past 5-years) to attend all home games free of charge.  Even with the price increase, a family pass is still a bargain, and less expensive than most of the schools in our league, who charge as much as $300.  Individual passes are now $75 and staff upgrades are $50.  As always grandparents of athletes in grades 7-12 may obtain a season pass free by contacting the school office.

• We, as an organization, attempt to be good stewards, this past year we donated 3 family passes to various worthy causes.

• The Athletic Association, to show our appreciation for the use of their facilities, donated $1000 to the Portland Public School athletic program to use toward the upgrading of lights in the middle school gym.   

• The CMAC as a league voted to begin charging at the entrance for spring sports.  (Our sport passes will include   free entry to these additional games.)  You can earn a free family pass by attending 8 or more Athletic Association meetings during the school year.

• One item we are currently working on is the re-arrangement of Father Flohe Field.  We are working on a plan to convert one of the small baseball fields into a regulation softball field for our girl’s softball program.  This will allow our girl’s high school softball games to be played at Father Flohe Field along with our boy’s baseball games, adding to the spirit and enthusiasm of our games.  This will also reduce the need to use Powers Park, a city owned field, which has become more difficult and complicated to schedule games and practices in recent years.  One of the biggest obstacles for this re-arrangement is the cost to convert the field.  This is a cost not in our regular budget, and our funds were severely reduced approximately a year ago when we purchased the new school bus for athletics and school use.

 

NO PAY-TO-PLAY AT ST. PATS

St. Patrick athletic program has been blessed with a generous community and plenty of volunteer labor.  Because of this, and in keeping with our tradition, there will not be any fees to play any sports at St. Patrick School again this year.  Last year a fee was charged to participants in the youth football program, to help defray start up costs.  This year, there will be no fee to play.

We are the exception.  The Lansing State Journal had several articles this past year about budget cuts which affected school sports.  Most schools either added or increased their “pay-to-play” fees and many schools had to cut some sports from their programs.  

One article stated that East Lansing schools were so impressed because their sports boosters had donated $30,000 to their program.  At St. Patrick, our Athletic Association will raise $130,000 this year to fund our sports programs.  While most schools are cutting back we are expanding, last year youth football was added.  This 2010-2011 school year, we are adding men’s and women’s cross country to our sports program. 

This indicates that more than ever we need parents to step up to volunteer and help.  When your child participates in a sport, we need your help to work the gate and concessions.  Some sports need parents to run the clock and keep the books.  Please volunteer and help keep our sports program strong.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

1) Join the Athletic Association.

2) Help work at our major fund raisers (Fall Festival, Shamrock Auction, and Sports Raffle).

3) Help with game-day activities (operate the clock, clean up after the event, sell concessions, work at the gate, etc.).

4) Work on field and facility improvement projects.

5) Buy and sell the raffle tickets for all our fund raisers.

6) Buy a sponsorship sign for our spring sports, both individual and business sponsorship is welcomed.

7) Buy an Athletic Sports Pass and attend as many games as possible.

WHO ARE WE?

You’ve surely seen members of the Athletic Association at our sporting events!  In addition to working behind the scenes to generate the money necessary for our sport teams to compete, members are frequently seen cleaning up after football and basketball games.  They help maintain the facilities.  They go above and beyond because they love their Shamrocks!  “They” are you, “They” are us.  “We” are all the Athletic Association! 

Please consider attending one of our meetings and becoming an active member.  We’re a group of hard working, dedicated people, but we also have a lot of fun.  Many hands make light work.  Meetings are usually the first Sunday of the month at 9:00 am, currently in room 216.  You can enter the school through the middle doors on West Street.  The meeting schedule is posted on the school web site.  If you attend 8 meetings per year you will earn a free family sports pass for the following year.  Feel free to contact me by phone 517-647-1709 or e-mail lawlessdd@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns.

You can also find out more information about the Athletic Association on the School web site http://www.portlandstpats.com/ click on “Athletic Programs” then click on “Athletic Association”.                      

Thank you to everyone who supports St. Patrick's athletics!                                                                             

At St. Patrick School, We Pray, We Learn, We Achieve!

Dan Lawless

Athletic Association President

St. Patrick's Athletic Association is committed to providing St. Patrick's Parish and School with financial support to afford our students the opportunity to participate in a school athletic program.  In support of this, we will provide high quality coaches, uniforms, equipment and facilities.

Since the income from gates and concessions is such a big part of the athletic budget, parents of athletes are expected to work two times during most sports seasons.