Dear Parents,

My goal as President of the Wildcat Program and more important a parent has always been to keep the seasonal fee structure as affordable as possible for all participants while continuing to having the best training staff, practice curriculum, and developmental equipment. 

On Saturday May 13th we are having our Third Annual Shoot-a-Thon in conjunction with our Spring Mid-Night Madness event.  The money raised in this years Shoot-a-Thon will go to the purchase of a “Catch and Shoot’ machine and the remainder will supplement the programs operating budget.  With this new shooting machine kids will be able to shoot 1000 shots in 40 to 45 minutes and thus would work great with the large number of partitions we have at each practice.  The Gun is a tool used at nearly all the local High Schools, Universities, and Colleges and many of our older kids are familiar with this shooting tool.  We have also had a wonderful parent pledge to match all donations up to $2,000.00 towards the purchase of this awesome shooting tool.  All the remaining funds will be used to supplement our budget, thus allowing us to continue to give scholarships to those who cannot afford 100% of the programs cost. 

You can link to the Shoot-a-Way website and see more about the “gun” at:  The Gun

Before you scream about yet another fund raiser,
this is really easy and the kids seem to have FUN.

Attached is a form that you and your kids can get pledges on.  Your child will need to get pledges from family members, family friends and neighbors.  The pledges will be for how many shots he or she can make from the free-throw line (we will let the Juniors shoot from a little closer) in one minute.  Last year pledges ranged from .25 cents per shot made to much more.  I believe that our best shooter made around 25 and the average was about 15.  Over the past two years we have raised and average of around $ 6,200.00 and I expect to do more this year with our matching sponsorship pledge.

I plan to have trophies for the top shooters and medals for the top six finishers in each of the different gender and age groups.  In past years the kids seemed really nervous and tight and their scores reflected it, thus this year I am going to give the kids two separate chances to shoot for one minute and count the highest score.

I believe that using the funds raised to purchase equipment that they will use to help build their fundament shooting will create a sense ownership in THEIR Wildcat Program.

The schedule for the Shoot-a-Thon and Mid-Night Madness will be as follows:

Saturday, May 13th

Junior Wildcats (4th, 5th, and 6th grades)

• Shoot-a-Thon                                              5:00 to 6:00
• Pickup games                                             6:00 to 7:30
• Pizza and Drinks                                         7:30 to 8:00      

Seniors Wildcats (7th to 11th grades)

• Shoot-a-Thon                                              7:30 to 8:30
• Pickup games                                             8:30 to 11:00
• Pizza and Drinks                                         11:00 to Midnight

All I need you to do right now is to start getting pledges.

Attached is a pdf file of our pledge form, I will also have this on the website and at practices.  I also have a sample form for your reference.

If you have any questions or comments, please DO NOT hesitate to email me.  If you would like to help with this event please let me know as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Darrel Smith
President
Austin Wildcats Basketball Inc.