President’s Report for 2022-23

Kids and Kubs

The recent By-Laws Update added to the president’s responsibilities an annual report on the status of the organization.  Here is a summary of this past season’s events and my goals for the up-coming year.

Membership.  At the height of this past season we had a total of 59 regular players with 41 assigned to teams, 8 on Injured Reserve, and 9 in the Pool.  Additionally, there were 6 Alternate Players and 2 non-playing members for a total of 66.  It is fundamental that we continue to grow our membership for next year.  Members are the best source of new members.  Please refer your interested friends to Mike Vander Syde who is helping with member recruiting for next season.  Mike can be reached at 527-6223 and mvandersyde@msn.com.  We had 7 rookies this past year (Curtis, Draeger, Gora, Vander Syde, Callahan, Valery, and Bofman).

Budget.  Our Club operational budget for this past year was $16,343.  Actual revenue was $13,892 with expenses of $13,693.  Our operational fund balance at the end of February was $13,255 (includes carryover from previous years).  While the Board is still refining the budget for the upcoming season we expect it to be in the vicinity of $14,500.   Special thanks to Treasurer Dave Glauner for maintaining Club finances.

Brochure. The Club brochure helps publicize the Club but also raise money by selling ads to meet expenses.  If you helped get an ad this past year please recontact the advertiser about renewing this year, and everyone is asked to seek new advertisers for next season’s brochure.  Ad prices are 1 inch, $100; 2 inches, $200; 3 inches, $350; 8 inches (full page), $700.  Checks should be made out to “Kids and Kubs.”  Please contact Ed Asay for details (732-929-3185), and a big thanks to Ed for coordinating the brochure again this year.  Also, thanks to Lou Weidner for making a special effort to get ads for next year.

Trust Fund.  This past year we established a Trust Fund Committee chaired by Bob Kane to monitor investments in the Fund.  The Fund is an endowment established by past Kids and Kubs Members to assure the continuance of the Club well into the future.  It was established in 1981.  Under the terms of the Trust the principal cannot be used—only the income or earnings and 51% of that is designated for charities.  This past year has been a tough year for the stock market.  But thanks to the oversight of the Committee the total value of the Fund was only down 4.15% compared with about 7% for the DOW and much more for other indexes at the end of December.   As of the end of December the value of the Fund was approximately $85,000 (since increased).  The dividends this past year were $4,590, half of which was contributed to charities.  A special thanks to committee members Bob Kane, Dave Glauner, John Mason, and Darwin Schiflett for their good work.

Public Relations.  A special thanks to Jon Reynolds for serving as the Club’s Publicity Coordinator.  Coverage of the team this year included Fox, ABC, Men’s Health Magazine, and St. Pete Patch.  Jon also administers the Club Facebook Page which is updated weekly during the season (https://www.facebook.com/kidsandkubs/).  Jon also serves as our “field inspector” to determine if the field is wet from rain before games.

By-Laws Up-date.  This past year the By-Laws were updated.  The updates primarily involved adding two additional board directors for a total of five, and clarifying duties of the officers and directors.  The addition of two new board directors has done much to improve Club communications and stimulate ideas for improvement.

Elections.  The Annual Elections were held in March.  Will Michaels was elected President; Dave Glauner Treasurer; Bob Kane, Cubbie Kutchinski, and Ed Broomes Directors.  With the passing of Ed, Joe Hannah, runner-up in the elections, was appointed Director to take Ed’s place.  Also running in the election for director were Billy Barrett, Frank Sirois, Mike Hines, and Pete Calabrese.  It was great to see so much interest in serving on the board.

Rules Update.  As we did the previous year, again this year captains and the player coordinator met with the president at the end of the season to discuss ideas for improving the Club Game Rules.  Various ideas were suggested and then reviewed by the Board and some changes made for next year.  These will be detailed in a separate email.

Annual Banquet.  The Annual Banquet was held at Banquet Masters on January 20th and enjoyed a tremendous Club turnout of over 85 persons.  Our guest speaker was Marc Topkin, sportswriter for the Tampa Bay Times.  Special thanks to Terry Miller for making the arrangements and to all others who helped with this event.  We have already locked in Banquet Masters again for the upcoming year.

Special Games.  We had several special games this year including the 52-year tradition Mayor’s Game and a game with Tampa General.  As part of the Mayor’s Game activity, 252 pounds of food and $495 were donated by Club Members to the Free Clinic as part of our support of local charities.  Thanks to Cubbie Kutchinski for coordinating the special games and also Ed Asay for his special help with the Mayor’s Game.

Club Safety.  In order to further provide for Club safety a special training was held for volunteers by Dave Glauner and Ed Broomes (both retired EMTs) in use of the defibrillator, CPR, and other field first aide basics.  Thanks to all who participated.

Remembering.  This past year has seen the passing of several past and current members, including past president Andy Devine, Howard Seymour, Basil Whiteford, past president Ed Broomes, and Gene Bauman. A Club ceremony was performed for Basil at the family’s request. We appreciate all that they did to support and grow the Kids and Kubs.

Many Thanks!  This year’s success would not have been possible without the hard work of our many player volunteers several of which already have been acknowledged above.  Others include Tom Heidersheit for amassing all those player stats, Mitzie Hines for filling in for Tom as scorekeeper; Barb Ewald, Mike Vander Syde, and others who worked the scoreboard; Captains Walt Ewald, Gordon Norton, Cubbie Kutchinski, and Joe Hannah; Frank Sirois for taking on the thankless job of Player Coordinator; Rob Moorman and Erik Mathre and son for shooting player and team photos;  Walt Ewald for supervising the field; Walt again and  Terry Miller and Joe Hannah for coordinating off-season pickup games; and Lou Weidner, Cubbie Kutchinski, Doc Draeger, Debbie Budreau, and Dave Glauner for organizing the picnics .   My apology for anyone I have left out.

Also, thanks to this past year’s Board Members VP Terry Miller, Secretary Lou Kalergeras, Treasurer Dave Glauner, and Directors Ed Asay, Billy Barret, Walt Ewald, Bob Kane, and Cubbie Kutchinski. Your many suggestions for advancement of the Club and the many hours of work you have put in to making this past year a success is very much appreciated.  It has been a pleasure to work with you.

Without our many players pitching in to get the organizational work of the Club accomplished we could not do much.  If you are interested in helping out with any of these needs or if you have ideas to make the Club even better please contact me (727-420-9195).

 

Special Goals for Upcoming Season

Here are some of my goals for the Upcoming Year:

  1. Increase the Trust Fund by $10,000. Past Club members have given generously to establish the Trust Fund to sustain the Club far into the future.  It is time to follow their example and build upon the investment which they have made.
  2. Hold a Softball Skills Refresher for New Members and interested current players shortly before the new season begins.
  3. Recruit 10 new players.  Each year some of our players age out or leave for other reasons and need to be replaced.  At this writing we know we have lost three players who were active.
  4. Play 5 Special Games.  The Club has Saturdays reserved at the field.  Our goal is to have at least one special Saturday game a month during the season either at our field or another.  Challenging other organizations such as the Tampa General game is another way of supporting our community and raising our profile (and having more fun!).  Of course there is the Mayor’s Game and the accompanying youth “TASCO” game.  In the past we have had a “Family Game,” and it would be nice to bring that back.
  5. Participate in the St. Pete Christmas Parade.  The Club in years past has supported community events such as the Festival of the States and the Santa Parade.  This is another way of being a good neighbor and raising our profile at the same time.

 

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you will wind up somewhere else.”

–Yogi Berra