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Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

22 Jan

Fast Break Club Executive Committee and Committee Chairs Meeting
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
7:30-9:00 PM
Law Office of Steve Rizzi

Meeting Called To Order by Steve Rizzi

Present: Steve Rizzi, Tim Fritz, Joan Maxfield, Mary Weisert, Jane Justice, Signe Rizzi, Jayne Gibson, Bob Collier, Kelly Collier, Mark Coffey

Treasurers’ Report: Mary Weisert shared a copy of bank statements and treasurers’ report showing the account balance is currently $5,483.07. Current budgeted items that have yet to be expended include the banquet, the long term project fund, coaching salary and food for the trips to Mankato and Winona. Once these budgeted amounts are subtracted a balance of $2783 remains. President Rizzi will look into setting up another meeting with the AHS varsity coaching staff to determine immediate needs for these dollars.

Game Day Committee Report: President Rizzi and all members in attendance acknowledged Signe Rizzi and Jane Justice for the outstanding job they are doing with the game day activities.

At this point, $205 has been raised for the upcoming Raffle. Tickets will be sold at the two home games scheduled to happen before the Raffle drawing. The Raffle includes prizes such as Timberwolves tickets, Twins tickets, Holiday Inn and El Mariachi gift certificates.

Once the Raffle drawing is completed, a booth for the Younkers Community Day fundraiser will be set up for pre-game. Sales are going on now for Younkers Community Day coupon books. Thee books are to be sold for $5.00 each – these dollars go directly to the club. In the coupon books, the buyer will find a $10 off coupon that can be used on March 2nd, Community Day, as well as a variety of percent off coupons that can be used at various times. See Joan Maxwell or Kelly Collier to purchase coupon books.

It was decided that all players grades 9-12 will be invited for Godfathers’ Pizza after the home game February 16th. Jayne will check on pizza prices. Signe will check on soda/water donations from HyVee and securing a location (the AHS cafeteria was suggested). Steve Rizzi will check this idea with Coach Fadness. (As a side note, Coach Fads did okay this idea when Steve talked to him.)

A Pasta Party to kick off playoffs was suggested for all varsity team members and their families. Those present liked the idea and discussed possible locations – the Nature Center was the favorite and Jayne will check on reservation and price. Bob Weisert will check with Hyvee about securing the food (spaghetti, garlic bread, and a salad). Steve Rizzi will check with Coach Fadness. The possible dates for this are Monday, March 5th or Tuesday, March 6th. (As a side note, Coach Fadness liked this idea and the date of March 6th has been set.)

Thank You Notes: Kathy Fritz has been doing a great job of getting thank you’s distributed in a timely manner. As Kathy has been receiving the names, she has been handwriting and mailing the notes (this was reported to those present on her behalf by Tim Fritz). Kathy was going to be sure that all program advertisers received a thank you note. All 3 point club donors, raffle donors and special requests have received a thank you note. Additionally, the company that donated the water and powerade for the Jamboree will be sent a thank you note as soon as possible.

Banquet Committee Update: The date for the banquet will be Sunday, March 25. The location is yet to be determined, but the Spam museum has been suggested. The committee is in the early planning stages, but as of now are thinking ice cream sundaes or desserts will be served. Kris Fadness will provide the names of the special award winners to the Colliers who will take care of plaques. The committee will take care of decorating the facility. Each team member, grades 9-12, will receive a memory book that includes pictures, stats and facts from throughout the season. If you have pictures to donate to this project, please contact Bob or Kelly Collier.

Three Point Club: Chairperson Coffey and member Tim Fritz reported that 233 letters were mailed, and 30 have been returned. They are currently seeking volunteers to make follow up phone calls. A tentative date has been set for Sunday, Jan. 28, 7:00-9:30 PM using Steve Rizzi’s law office. The committee will put together a script for the callers to use.

Tim Fritz was given the okay to spend up to $500 to purchase 100 ink pens containing basketball and the words “Three Point Club” inscribed on the side. He was encouraged to negotiate the price and request the set up fee be donated. These ink pens will be sent to all “top of the key” donors at the end of the year along with a wrap up of the season and the success of the club as a thank you.

President Rizzi did indicate that some commercial businesses have expressed an interest in supporting the club. The three point club will be modifying the three point club mailing to specifically solicit financial donations from local businesses including Sterling State Bank and other banks and businesses around Austin.

Other Business: Jayne is currently looking into grants through the Austin Public Education Foundation. She will report back once she learns more!

The meeting was then adjourned.

A Message from the President

10 Dec

Here’s a message President Steve Rizzi sent by e-mail to club members for whom he had email addresses.

I thought I would try to get a quick e-mail out (with Jayne Gibson’s assistance) to update as many of you as possible as to what has been happening with the Fast Break Club. I know there have been so many things happening. I’m sure that I will miss something, but here’s a quick update.

The Fast Break Club is a booster club that has been organized as requested by Head Basketball Coach Kris Fadness. The club’s goal is basically twofold. First, it is a hope that the club can raise funds to help support the high school basketball program in a variety of ways. Secondly, it is a goal of the club to create additional excitement about Austin Packer boys basketball.

Fundraising:

50-50 draw. At each home game you will see a table where you can purchase tickets for 50-50 draw. Obviously half of the money goes to the club, the other half goes to the winner.

Halftime Hoop Shoot. We are continuing the tradition of a shooting contest at halftime in order to raise additional money. Through the generous donations of a number of local businesses, prizes will be awarded to successful shooters from behind the 3-point line, they having paid $1.00 a shot. Jerry Maxfield has arranged for the prizes for the hoop shoot.

3-Point Club. There has been established a 3-Point Club. This is the major fundraising arm of the booster organization. It is hoped that a large number of $100.00 contributions can be solicited. The primary focus of the monies generated by the 3-Point Club will be to address the needs of the basketball program as requested by Coach Fadness. I would hope that many of you will give strong consideration to being a part of the 3-Point Club. Mark Coffey chairs this committee.

Advertising: If you attended Tuesday night’s home game (it’s always great to win, isn’t it?), you saw on the back page a number of advertisements have been sold on the program. (You should know that the advertisement for HyVee and Sundal Instant Printing was given to them for the outstanding contributions that they have made to our organizations and Austin basketball.) Tim Duren’s group continues to work on additional fundraising ideas through advertising.

Membership: Kathy Fritz is working hard to establish a database and solicit participating members into our Fast Break Club. Membership is obtained simply by being interested in the boys basketball program and being willing to help out with our activities and/or contribute to our various fundraising activities.

Other Items: Thus far, the Fast Break Club has provided the members of the Austin High School boys basketball team with water bottles to be utilized during the games, a sack lunch on the trip to St. Louis Park, as well as videotapes for the videotaping of their games by the coaching staff. We hope to expand these measures while at the same time reserving funds to meet the long-term goals of the program as was originally requested by Coach Fadness. Ron Felten is assisting with the planning of an Ellis night to be held Saturday, January 13th. We hope to attract a number of our Ellis students to the game that night and are in the process of putting together plans to make it special for them.

Ron is also coordinating Austin Youth basketball games during the halftime of the 9th grade game and some JV contests. Signe Rizzi and Jane Justice are coordinating the game day activities (50-50 draw, hoop shoot, etc.) and were very successful in their endeavors Tuesday night at the Mankato East game. The halftime hoop shoot and 50-50 draw netted
the club in excess of $200.00, thanks in large part to the unclaimed 50-50 prize. What a great result for our first effort! Obviously noticeable were the new programs.

Future enhancements are in the works. Club secretary Jayne Gibson has been busy keeping the various committees informed of activities and responsibilities. Plans are underway for an end of the season banquet, which includes all players and their parents, 9th through 12th grade. We hope to have high school, junior high and alumni bands playing during the games. Arrangements are also being made for various students to sing the National Anthem. A student draw has been put into place where one AHS student’s name will be picked for every home game. If the student is present, the student will win a $10.00 gift card. If the student is not present, the card rolls over to the next game and becomes a $20.00 gift card. David Stout did not claim his prize Tuesday night and therefore next Tuesday against Faribault the student’s name drawn will get a $20.00 Target gift card (thank you, Paul Swan) if the student is present at the time his or her name is announced. We are hoping to generate additional student excitement at home games, which was very evident Tuesday night against Mankato East.

These are just some of the activities that our club has put into motion thus far. There are a number of other things still in process and we invite all of you to find an area of the club that you are interested in and get involved.

Thank you for supporting Austin High School boys basketball. Go Packers!

Steve Rizzi, President
Fast Break Club

The Dream Team

29 Nov

We had our first training session for bloggers Tuesday night, where we learned how add video and photos to the site. Here’s a photo of the gang.

Dream Team

On the Packer Girls blog, we did a video upload.

More Preseason Photos

29 Nov

When we launched the blog a couple of weeks ago, we included a few photos from the 2005-2006 season. Here are a few more, as we look forward to the season opening on Friday.

Kevin Hermann Tyler Christianson

John MaxfieldWill Felten

Blogging 101 Session Tuesday Night

27 Nov

A training session for all who are interested in helping to maintain this blog and its “sister” blog for AHS girls basketball will be held Tuesday, November 28 at 7 p.m. at the home of Lee and Lisa Aase, 800 4th ST NW.

Please indicate whether you will be coming by email (laase@charter.net) or by leaving a comment below.