Perrys+Varsity+football+team+heads+on+to+the+field+for+their+first+game+of+the+season.

Chrissy Feller

Perry’s Varsity football team heads on to the field for their first game of the season.

Booster Club: behind Friday night football games

One thing is on the mind of thousands people every Friday night: football. With that many people walking through the gates, the action and entertainment is turned on to an ultimate high. The people behind the curtain of this show is the Perry Football Booster Club.

“Our relationship with the booster club is that they are to support us financially and support us positively,” head football coach Preston Jones said.

Without this financial support the football team would not be what it is, where it is today; as high school football has evolved to wanting the newest technology, the best uniforms, and the best environment for their supporters. With the Perry Booster Club spending around $220,000 a year, all of this comes to fruition.

Boosters create the culture of the sport by funding and organizing many of the show components such as fireworks, the Puma tunnel, and extra field paint for special games.

Every week, each Booster volunteer is assigned a job. An example of such being the Puma Wear trailer, bringing in over $23,500 per year. Additionally, they come in before the games, decorate the bleachers, put up the senior banners and help set up.

Boosters also put on the Pink-Out Breast Cancer Awareness game annually, raising just over one thousand dollars. They purchase the pink gear for the team and raise the money to donate to a Puma with a family member battling cancer.

The famous Friday night feel is largely created by boosters, however that is not their only impact on the team.

This year, the new technology has had a significant influence on the team, all provided by boosters. Sideline technology includes iPads, TV’s, drones, and around a $20,000 CoachComm headset system.

“We did some cool stuff this year with software,” said Booster Club president Damon Rosenhan. “After the plays, [the football players] can go over to the sideline and they have a big TV down there and they are literally watching the plays that just happened the series before, which is pretty unique in high school.”

Aside from the technological aspect, Boosters also provides funding for other developmental tactics such as camps and equipment.

Every year, the football team spends about a week in Show Low at football camp. The camp is entirely put together by boosters club and costs around $12,500. The club even offers scholarships for players who cannot afford to pay the fee themselves, spending over three thousand dollars in these alone.

Sleds and high grade training equipment also come from Boosters. Rosenhan explained that the Booster Club “donated quite a bit of money to help out the weight room.” With the use of approximately five thousand dollars to upgrade weight room equipment, the players had access to newer resources.

Where the school pays for the basics of each sports team on campus, in today’s football world, the basics cover little to nothing. Without Booster’s financial support of over $220,000, the team would not have nearly as many resources as they have now. With almost every dollar going back to the team, the Booster’s Club only made just over $14,500 last year. Aside from that, without Boosters, Friday night lights would cease to exist.

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