Dexter Spirit Club
2016-2017 Competitive Cheer Season
Parent/ Cheerleader Meeting Minutes Monday, August 22, 2016
I. Uniforms
a. Order by September 10- Pay for the uniforms and bow package tonight or you can send a check to Dexter Spirit Club 8111 Gingko Way, Dexter by September 10th.
b. Pay $200 for the uniforms and bow set is $25 - Fundraising money that your individual cheerleader earned can be deducted from the total amount due. We will discuss ordering new warm ups at a later date. We will not be wearing the same sweatpants and shirt as last year. At least not at the same time. We will have the girls wear white infinity indoor shoes for the season. You can use the same infinity shoes as last year if they are only worn inside. Girls will have 3-5 bows and a box to keep the bows in. No bows with rhinestones are allowed this year per MHSAA rules at this time. Checking to see if we can have glitter for 2017. 2018 you cannot have glitter.
c. Sizing Now- Please try on a sample uniform to confirm your size to order. Uniforms tend to run a size smaller than what you normally wear. We will use the same uniform for 3 years (unless it goes out of stock with the company and we are forced to change).
d. Seniors are able to sell back their uniform when they graduate to the new cheerleaders if they want. They can sell it for ½ the cost like we did for the black basketball uniforms.
e. Uniform color and style- Under Armor brand. Primary colors are maroon and gold with white or black accents. The girls voted on their top picks. A style was chosen and approved by the board members. More information about this will be provided at a later date.
II. Fundraising Balances
We are a non-profit organization so every penny earned goes back directly to benefit the team. We have 12 fundraisers organized and participation will lower costs for the cheerleaders. We are not having scholarships this year and want every girl to have the opportunity to participate. So please participate in the fundraisers.
a. Dexter Pub- Team Fundraiser= $75 earned for Dexter Spirit Club Team Account
b. Erin will give individual cheerleader balances after the meeting for the fundraisers they participated in so far. When it is individuals that work we divide the money equally between the girls that worked. Bottle drive earned about $45 for each girl and Bounce House earned $250 between the four girls that worked. We are still waiting on the money from Quality 16 fundraiser. Unsure if people participated in the letters to friends fundraiser and nobody participated in Bigby fundraiser.
When it is a team fundraiser (For example, dine to donate) we put the money back in the account to be used for team benefit. (For example, we purchased new mats this year)
c. Upcoming Fundraisers (Wednesday Emails) – We obtain Mike Bavineau Athletic Director permission before starting any fundraisers to work out the details on how these work with other teams and if they fit the rules around fundraising for team sports.
i. Aubree’s Dine to Donate Tomorrow Night- Please print out flyers and have friends, neighbors, coworkers bring them to Aubree’s for a percentage of sale to go to Dexter Spirit Club team account.
ii. Spaghetti Dinner – November 4- We will have the girls work at the spaghetti dinner. We will need to sell advance tickets. We may divide a pre-determined amount of tickets that each girl needs to sell for the dinner. More information to come about this. Everyone will have to participate. This is a big event.
iii. Bulb Sale (Jen Holly) - email her with your address to participate in the sale. Jen also has a paper to sign tonight to let her know if you want to participate. A lot of money can be earned with this fundraiser. It will run now until September 2nd. Money will be credited once the fundraiser is completed due to paper sales vs online sales.
iv. U of M Concessions- We have the opportunity as a team to sell concessions at the U of M home football games. We would need a team parent to assist the girls. This will be on Saturdays throughout the season. See handout for dates needed. Send dates to Amy ASAP.
v. Busches MyWay Card- By shopping at Busches you can earn money for your cheerleader. Register for this online and use your MyWay card for every purchase.
III. Competitions
a. Tentative Competition Schedule Available- Schedules handed out to families. Part of the SEC league now. This gives the girls an opportunity to earn patches, pins, scholarships. SEC competitions are mandatory and are on weeknights.
b. Hosting a Competition on February 4th at DHS- We will need everyone to volunteer for this. It is a big opportunity for the school to earn money. We hope to have 10 teams participate. We will have Varsity level teams only. We will have a photographer to sell action shots. We will sell t-shirts and bows.
c. New Banner Almost Complete- Erin is working on creating the new banner for the competition team. Parents requested grommets to hang the banner.
IV. Practices
a. Details- Practices are planned for 2-3 nights a week. Can only do this if the cheerleaders condition and practice at home. We also need the girls to work extremely hard at the practices leave all drama at home. They can discuss any problems they are having with the team or teammates with the coach as needed. Tryouts are November 7th and we will begin practices immediately after. This is a cut sport. However the girls will try out for each round and will only participate in rounds if they are ready and safe. The coaches will determine who participates in each round. Only a certain number of girls can participate in each round per MHSAA Rules. Round 2 is what triggers the numbers for Round 1 and 3. Round 2 mandated number is 10 for D2 schools. If we have less than 10 then we take a 10 point pentatly. If we cannot meet that number, then we can only have that same number in rounds 1 and 3. Example: we can only have 8 in Round 2 then we are only allowed to have 8 in Rounds 1 and 3. If we are able to have 10 in Round 2 then we can(if the girls are ready) a max of 16 in rounds 1 and 3. The girls can be different just the quantity has to be the same.
b. Plan on Practices on January 5-8 (January 9th Competition) - We will have practices at the end of winter break to help the team prepare for the SEC mandatory competition on January 9th.
V. Volunteering
a. February 4th Competition is mandatory for each family
i. Set up, running, shirts table, concessions, monitoring, directing, security, take down and clean up. It takes a large number of people to help run a competition and we need everyone we can to work at this.
b. Carpooling- Would like a parent to volunteer to set up a sign up genius prepared now. We will discuss this at future meetings once the parents have a chance to check their schedules.
VI. Food
a. Erin will be the food mom- she will shop before each competition to provide food for the cheerleaders.
b. Collecting $100 per cheerleader at the beginning of season instead of requesting donations at each competition. This process is easier. Last season a lot of food was wasted due to duplicates of perishable food items. The $100 is a one time cost at the beginning of the season. If there is any food left we will eat it at the banquet. If there is money left over it will go to banquet.
VII. Costs
a. See Handout for Breakdown of Costs. Please pay by due date so all items can be received by first competition.
VIII. Demerit System
a. Instituting a very clear system to outline when demerits are given and for what behavior, and the consequences of these demerits. This system was effective and used in the past with cheerleading.
b. Will have a detailed system in writing at the beginning of the season for cheerleaders and parents to review and sign.
IX. Rounds
a. Each round and tryout information will be posted on the website. – Vocals are needed- girls gave an example for the parents.
b. Round 2 needs a minimum of 10 girls with a front and back walkover. As a team we have 6 girls with this skill almost mastered. We just need to work on timing with them. We need at least 10 girls in round 2 so we can have 16 girls in round 1 and round 3 based off of MHSAA rules. Tumbling is on Monday nights at DHS until the end of August. For September and October we have discussed having 2 coaches from Premiere come onsite to teach tumbling or have the girls go to Champion Gymnastics for classes. The costs to have another company come is about $20 per girl per day. We have the commons reserved on Monday nights for classes.
c. We are hiring a company for chorography. They will design each round based on the skills of our team. This is $1500 plus mileage but worth the money to have a routine that supports the girls to earn the most points possible. This money will be paid out of the Dexter Spirit Club team account.
d. Coaches- Amy will be the head coach and Kori is the assistant coach for the team.