Booster Club offer

I just finished my last year as a member (sometimes officer) of our high school booster club.  We are not sports specific.  We help out all the sports by running the concession stand, selling tee shirts and hats etc. and helping with anything a coach needs.  Generally you will find the complaining parents do not participate in booster club activities.  However there is probably not a high school in America that will not have the complaining parents about the coach or kids playing time no matter what the sport.  Your decision as mine was is do i want to help out the kids and the athletic program. Best thing is at games to distance yourself from the complaining crowd.

I don't think you'll be able to change the culture. It is what it is. And if your son is a starter, all of the haters will think it's because of your position on the booster club. But you might still find the experience rewarding. We did (although I'm glad it's over). I was in charge of our printed program for a couple of years, outfield banners for a couple of years, and the last two I was the announcer and 2B dad kept the scoreboard. That was a blast. One of the best things about it was that we didn't have to sit in the crowd and listen to the other parents, so we remained delightfully oblivious of most of the drama.

With my son and daughter both involved in many activities, I've been frequently solicited to be involved in the various booster clubs at our school (baseball is just one of them).  I try as best as I can, and I do try to attend as many meetings as possible.  I've never heard of playing time / participation complaints during a booster club meeting.  What we concentrate on is fund raising to meet the needs of the program in excess of what the school district funds.  Uniforms, score boards, scholarships, student transport to/from events, awards, engravings, coach stipends, etc.,   these are the things that booster clubs are involved in , not coaching decisions.  If sports funding is of interest to you then get involved, there is a lot of work to do.

BackstopDad32,

I'm a fellow Texan & served on our booster club. That "parental culture" has been around long before your son got to HS & will be there long after he graduates. The only thing you have any power to control is how you respond to folks. I'd stay out of the gossip. Even then, a few folks are going to whisper behind your back about you, so just steel yourself for the backstabbing & let it go! Petty people are petty people!

As long as you follow UIL rules for boosters, that's all that matters. You are all there to support the team in fundraising & field projects. Dismiss the "I Heard Club", & the "Pet Player Club", as those have NOTHING to do with supporting the Coach, Team & School program.

Good Luck!

Thank you for the responses so far.  Very helpful.

To clarify our outgoing President told me that he received emails from parents regarding their son's position and playing time that is how I know at least he got pulled into these type of issues.  Course others have commented he is a bit of a pot stirrer so maybe that encouraged those types of communication.

Many parents have the opinion that their little Johnnie is the next coming of Nolan Ryan or Derrick Jeter or McGuire, or whomever! Play time is the Coaches decision, thus refer the person to the Coach! And remind them you aren't a card carrying member of the "Pet Player Club"...

I have to laugh a little. so typical...but pathetic...Offer them a hot dog & walk away.

I started the Booster Club at my son's school and our first and foremost rule was that we were there for the "program" and to "make the place better for the upcoming generations of players". Quite simple make it a better place to play and enjoy baseball than when you arrived. Set a rule that there will be no discussing of on field activities in any of the meetings and if you are ever asked about it just refer parents to the coach. All of the officers should have the same understanding. If you are all aligned you will not have a problem and will change the culture of the parent group. (at least out in the open)

In the four years I was at the school and involved I never discussed on field activities with any of the coaches and when we first started I was in contact with the head coach every other day. We ended up raising around $20K per year and in addition rebuilt one of the fields with donated labor and heavy equipment and made some pretty significant improvements to the infrastructure. I would encourage you to put in the time and effort if you have the time you will be very satisfied after you leave and come back and watch games. 

No kidding, but I got the same email/call from my sons HC and he also is a 2016.

I think the culture can be changed. It will take time, and you may not change the way most people think or what they feel. But I think you can change the way they act by making clear how parent/fans are expected to express themselves and how they behave.  The Boosters Club is a good platform for creating written program goals, expectations of behavior and etiquette, etc. A statement of behavior was announced at my son's playoff tournament game last weekend. It doesn't always work, but it sets a backdrop of expectation.

It takes a core group of like-minded folks that are willing to be vocally positive and actively create a supportive atmosphere.  Most likely you are not the only one who doesn't like the negative culture.  Make it so the negative people are the ones who feel like they need to leave (or change).

What is the most effective way that you all as booster clubs communicate to fans, fellow members, and the community?  

Set up an inexpensive team website. Be completely transparent in everything you do. Put up the bylaws on the website, publish meeting minutes from every meeting. If you have multiple teams (Frosh,JV, Varsity) set up team parents who get email and contact information for each team to share so they can get to know each other and this helps in arranging rides to away weekend games. The website helps in communicating games schedules and scores. If you get some active parents they can put up game summaries on each team section. You can always find someone who knows something about he web and can be your webmaster. Sometimes the coaches do a coaches corner, be creative but at the same time keep it simple. Good Luck.

Thanks for the feedback.  I joined this site to get direct feedback from individuals that do the tough work for teams. We have a business that builds iphone and android apps for teams to be able to "push" the updates instantly to smartphone devices.  We are always looking for non-biased feedback about what we are offering to ensure we aren't offering a square peg to a round hole.  My children are young and I've worked with coaches since 2005, so i get the coaches standpoint and I'm fixing to be one, but in regards to what the boosters feel is important, i assume we know what is needed, instead of asking boosters themselves.  With the advent of twitter and facebook do you all run the pages for those teams or does each team do it individually?  

From my perspective, don't let a few rotten parents stop you from volunteering and helping a program you feel strongly about. I am the volunteer (elected) president of our local PAL...and believe me, there have been times when I wanted to say goodbye, but my conviction that what I do for these kids always brings me back to why I volunteer in the first place. 

My oldest son is a 2016...primarily playing baseball, but played some hoops as a freshman as well. I decided about a month ago it was time to join the HS Booster club to see if I can be of assistance. First meeting I will attend is in June. Our son doesn't go to the local HS (he is an Academy student that is housed in another HS), so I basically know nobody...but I'll see what I can do to help out, particularly the baseball program, but all sports as well. 

Good luck. 

Just a follow up.  I really appreciate all of you being willing to share your experiences.

For what is worth I just fired off the email confirming I was in.  Wish me luck and thank you again.

I always stayed away from booster clubs.  Always did donate when they had a project or just needed support for the program. Always appreciated the Booster Club's efforts just never felt comfortable in that setting. Never considered the politics that might or might not be involved.

If everyone was like me I suppose Booster Clubs and all the fine work they do would not exist. Good thing there are people who feel differently.

At son's school, Coach set the guidelines at our first Booster meeting. I was on fundraising committee, so he & I worked out which fundraisers were most profitable. Then, I proposed we sell Rangers tickets, each player had X number to sell. My publicity/ PR campaign included PSA's on a couple radio stations, local Newspaper, Flyers in public retailers/businesses/ rec centers, inner-district email,  Ebay, etc. I contacted Rotary & several companies to do an employee night, etc. Real estate offices & Car Dealerships were great for buying 25-50 tickets to Yanks & Boston Red Sox series. As I recall, we netted $13,000+ just on that fundraiser. Do NOT hand tickets over to players!! I had them fill out an order form, collect funds, turn in 2/3 times each week (or sooner, if over $100), then I followed up with buyer to deliver/mail. I had to tabulate daily which seats were sold via email blast, so there were a few late nights! Treasurer & I were accountable for reconciling "books" weekly. Contact Rangers Baseball to see if they still do it. 

Others included Program advertising, garage sale, etc. 

Coach worked with Pres. & VP to set goals for field improvements. We all had schedules for duties needed on specific cleanup days. And phone chain followup. 

Good luck! 

Backstopdad -- I am in it with you. Same situation ... 2016. I reluctantly agreed to be the booster club secretary because no one else stepped up, and I'd unfortunately had a couple beers before the meeting (BTW -- you can't believe the jeers I got from my wife and kids over THAT title!). But really ... I did it only because I want more money for the boys. Here in Texas, football scarfs up all the big bucks.

We'll see how it goes. One thing I DO know ... if I ever hear a word from a parent about what happens on the field, he or she will regret the decision to even approach me. Grrrr..

I expect you will agree...

Good deal jp!  We can suffer through together. 

Maybe if our boys cross paths in the coming summers, which I imagine they will, we can commiserate together. Guess you get to take the notes