FROM THE PRESIDENT

Greetings Everyone,

Thank you for visiting the Elk River Girls Youth Basketball (ERGYB) website!  We plan on using this website to be our primary communication vehicle for those interested in ERGYB.  Come back often as the site content changes frequently.

Now that the regular season has ended, focus now turns to summer-time activities and some changes to the ERGYB Board.  I would like to provide a high level recap to everyone regarding the 2010 - 2011 season and the Board’s activities.

Our numbers for the 2010 In-House program remained consistent with the previous year’s numbers at about 220 girls.  We had 25 teams in 1st – 9th grade.   We also had 125 girls on 14 teams in our 4th – 8th grade Travel program.   

From a financial standpoint, we are on par with last year and ended the year at basically breakeven.  Just to give you an idea of where the money goes, our major expenses include:
• In-House expenses of $17,000 were made up of uniforms, referees, gym rental and trophies
• Travel expenses of $30,000 were made up of tournament fees, gym rental and the skills trainer.  
We also have to factor in background checks, registration software fees and shared support of a 9th grade coach.

The In-House Mid-season Jamboree, End-Of-Season Tournament and the Elk River Invitational Tournament remain our only fundraising activities.  The parent volunteers are what make this work so thank you for your help and support.  The ER Invitational Tournament this year was a huge success.  We used courts at 4 schools and could not accept any more teams as we were at capacity.  There were in the neighborhood of 146 games played Saturday and Sunday with 10 Divisions and 90 teams.

New this season for 6th through 8th grade Travel was the “Fundamentals Practice”.  This was 1 or 2 afternoons per week during the Travel season depending on grade level.  Based on parent feedback, this was well received and will most likely be continued with some minor refinements.  Coaches strongly encouraged players to attend and feedback from the coaches was that they could tell who was attending and who was not.  There will be more emphasis placed on attendance next season.  

Summer camps, clinics and activities: This summer ERGYB will be sponsoring a number of activities to keep the girls playing basketball.  We will again have:
• 1,000 minutes of dribbling club
• 10,000 shot club
• No Limits camp
• 3-on-3 summer league
• 5-on-5 summer league
• FCA camp.  

Check our website throughout the summer for more information on these activities.

Board member changes:  Our goal is that about 1/3 of the Board turns over each year.  We had a lot of activity this year with terms expiring and bringing the Board up to its maximum allowable size of 15.

New Board members that joined in May 2011 include Shannon Carlson, Chris Carr, Cory Barschdorf, Chris Johnson and Melanie Plautz.  Mark Person and Brian Gilbertson were also reelected for another 3 year term.  Members leaving the Board in May when their terms expired were Eric Hexom and myself.  At this point, the ERGYB Board is fully staffed and in very capable hands.  On a personal note, and I think I speak for Eric as well; it has been a pleasure being associated with the Elk River girl’s Board and girl’s basketball.  Parents, you have a dedicated group of people working hard for your daughters – support and help them as much as you can.  I have spoken with enough Associations and Presidents over the last 3 years to realize that the work this Board has done and the caliber of our program is one of the best out there.  

Amy Berg will be taking over as the new ERGYB President on June 1, 2011.  New members and Board position assignments are located on our website on the “About Us” page.

Board meetings continue to be held the second Sunday of the month at VandenBerge Middle School in the Food Lab Room 244.  However, they do move if they fall on a holiday weekend.  The meetings start at 6:30 pm and are open to everyone.  The only exception being the August meeting when Travel coaches are interviewed and selected by the Board – this is a closed meeting.

Any ideas, questions or suggestions that you would like to share with the Board can be sent to the In-House Director, Travel Director or the President.   Email addresses can be found on the “About Us” page or you can send them to president@ergyb.org

Have a great summer!

John Brayden
ERGYB President
president@ergyb.org