Friend of Youth Volume LXIX Number 9 June 2017 A couple of months ago we held our club Oratorical contest in conjunction with the Grand Prairie Helping Hands Optimist club. The winners from our contests went on to compete at the Zone contest (there are four zones) within the North Texas (NTX) District. Winners from each of the Zone contests competed last month at the District Oratorical contest. The winner of the district contest moves on to the Regional contest being held in St. Louis this month. The regional winners will compete at OI International Convention in July. The winner of the district contest was Nabeeha Tahseen from the Grand Prairie Helping Hands Optimist Club. We have been fortunate to have many zone/district winners get their start by participating in our Oratorical contest over the years. CONGRATULATIONS Nabeeha and GOOD LUCK at Regionals. Speaking of winners, it s time to start building another award winning float for the City of Arlington Fourth of July Parade. Last year, our club won the Mayor s Award and moved up to parade position number one, right behind Mayor Jeff Williams. If you are interested in helping us build the float, please send me an email message. There are many opportunities to help. This year s theme is 4th of July - Texas Style Do you want to make a difference in the life of an area youth? There are many opportunities to be involved in the programs presented by Optimist Club of Arlington. Here are some of the programs we have that may be of interest to you: Baseball, Football, Cheer, Youth Appreciation, Teacher of the Year, Scholarships, Oratorical Contest, Essay Contest, 4th of July Parade Float, Respect for Law, Easter Egg hunt, and other community projects. Just let me know how you would like to make a difference. PRESIDENT oca.davidb@gmail.com Meetings on Second and Fourth Wednesdays - 6:30 PM J. GILLIGAN S BAR & GRILL 400 EAST ABRAM STREET ARLINGTON, TEXAS Published Mid-Monthly by the Optimist Club of Arlington Affiliated with Optimist International North Texas District - Zone Seven P.O. Box 1005, Arlington, Texas 76004-1005 See us on the internet www.ocasports.org www.optimistclubofarlington.org
minutes of the Board of Directors m e e t i n g May 1, 2017 Meeting called to order by President at 7:00pm Chaplain Mac Ledbetter led the BOD in prayer. Robbie King moved to accept the minutes as published, second Cheryl Erickson. Approved Cheryl Erickson, Membership Secretary/Treasurer, gave the membership financial report. Kevin Ailara, Youth Account Treasurer, gave the financial report. ACA has not paid the outstanding invoice from 2016 Football Season as they promised at the meeting and in an email. Will put together a list of outstanding amounts yet to come for baseball. Committee Reports Cindy King, Sponsorships, said she would call them if we get names to her for soliciting new sponsors. Concessions Chair John Palmarchuk said they are popping a lot of popcorn. Mac Ledbetter, Newsletter, said articles need to be turned in more quickly. We need to talk about what we are doing and put in the newsletter instead of just the minutes. Newsletter needs to be more about upcoming events instead of past events. Kevin Ailara, New Club Building, talked about the cheerleader coaches will become a JOI club. Michael Cheves, Oratorical, stated the District contest will be held May 6 in Lubbock. Kevin Ailara, Scholarship Chair, reported applications deadline is May 26th. Michael Cheves, July 4 th parade, theme is set and we have a design. Michael Cheves, YAC Chair, reported there was discussion on uniforms and changing 3 rd grade back to tackle. The minutes from the YAC meeting are elsewhere in the newsletter. He then presented the motion for approval to allow players to place their last names on the back of jerseys at their expense. Team must have 100% participation to do this. Passed Presented the motion to change 3 rd grade football from flag to tackle. Passed Kevin mentioned the table the club set up at the PTA event on Saturday April, 29. It was very informative and we need to do something similar at opening day. We also need to look into putting together a video to show and send out to people about our club and all we do for the children and the community. David mentioned the house across the street and perhaps looking to purchase the property in the future. Richard Jablon, Respect for Law, will reach out to the police association for support and sponsor of scoreboards for Football. Richard Jablon, Scouts, reported the scouts are going to present the colors at Gunn Junior High. He will reach out to them about the 4 th of July Parade float. Old Business Tom gave an update on the Library. Kevin updated everyone on the meeting with the ACA. We are getting positive feedback from our coaches but we have to keep the momentum going. We need to have everything set, NOW! Grand Prairie has expressed a positive interest in participating with us. We must continue to call teams and coaches. Need to be aware of what we put on our Facebook site and website. New Business Grand Prairie Optimist are having their Bass Tournament on May 20 th Robbie mentioned tournaments during the summer and establishing a seven on seven league. Richard mentioned skeet shooting as a fund raising event. Cheryl moved we reduce the number of dinners to one, the 4 th Wednesday of the month and have a social event/optimist Night out of something fun once a month/quarter. This would be at member s expense. Monica Decker second. Passed Cheryl will head up the committee to plan the events. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:52pm. J. Michael Cheves OCA Secretary
10pm
Optimist FOOTball Football Registration is up and running on our new website. Visit www.ocasports. org and click the Football menu then the Registration link to go to the registration site. If you don t have an account at SI Play, you will need to create one before registering. Returning players have until June 1 to register to be guaranteed their spot. New and Returning coaches need to register as well on the site. When you register, we strongly encourage you to sign up for the text alerts to receive real time info on game cancellations, etc. All coaches (including Flag coaches now) are required to obtain or recertify their USA Football Heads Up Football certification. The cost is $10. In order for coaches to receive the $10 certification price, coaches must type in the name of our organization (Optimist Club of Arlington) in the search organization field or in their my profile preferences. After they sign up or log in and go through the account migration they will be taken to their dashboard to purchase the certification. Returning Tackle coaches need only complete the module Youth Tackle Coach Recertification. All Flag coaches will need to complete two modules to obtain Flag Certification; 1) Flag Skills and 2) Flag Health and Safety. New Tackle coaches will need to complete three modules in order to obtain Level 1 Tackle Certification; 1) Coaching Fundamentals, 2) Blocking and Tackling Skills, and 3) Health and Safety. Certification must be completed before football practices start. Here s a quick summary of the football divisions: GRADE AGE FEE DESCRIPTION ====== ==== ==== =============== PreK-K 4-6* $ 40 5-on-5 Flag 1st 7* $ 60 7-on-7 Flag 2nd 8* $ 60 7-on-7 Flag 3rd 9* $ 95 11-on-11 Tackle 4th 10* $125 11-on-11 Tackle 5th 11* $125 11-on-11 Tackle 6th 12* $125 11-on-11 Tackle *Age not to exceed, prior to Sept 1, 2017. As with all of our programs, it takes many volunteers to make it possible. There are opportunities to volunteer, ranging from football coaches and team moms, to parents monitoring plays and holding the down and yardage sticks, to Optimist staff on the fields, and even volunteers in the concession stand. Without volunteers, we wouldn t have a program. 214-693-2204 oca.davidb@gmail.com
June 2017 Schedule of Events Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 28 May 29 30 31 1 June 2 3 4 5 6 7 YAC @ the Hut 8 9 10 BOD Meeting 7pm @ Hut 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Dinner Meeting 6:30pm @ J Gilligan s 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 July 2 3 4 YAC @ the Hut Dinner Meeting 6:30pm @ J Gilligan s 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 BOD Meeting 7pm @ Hut Dinner Meeting 6:30pm @ J Gilligan s Please support our sponsors! NOW YOU CAN FOLLOW THE OPTIMIST CLUB OF ARLINGTON ON FACEBOOK!
PRESIDENT PAST PRESIDENT PRESIDENT-ELECT VICE PRESIDENTS MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY/ TREASURER SECRETARY TREASURER GENERAL DIRECTORS OPTIMIST CLUB OF ARLINGTON Board of Directors (2016-2017) RICHARD JABLON CHERYL ERICKSON Brian Ballow Joe Harden Rufus Johnson Cindy King Johnny Sudbury TOM WARE CHERYL ERICKSON KEVIN AILARA Monica Decker ROBBIE KING Zina Lawrence JOHN PALMARCHUK Carl Presley Don Strother 817-896-1785 817-781-9357 817-909-3342 817-275-6512 817-274-9292 817-460-5233 817-296-2452 214-914-6492 817-891-6431 817-909-3342 972-647-7891 214-693-2204 817-642-8760 817-588-8104 817-320-9068 817-275-1173 oca.davidb@gmail.com rj1890@yahoo.com cheryl.oca@gmail.com Brian_Ballow@yahoo.com thehammer1608@yahoo.com Rnjohnson421@sbcglobal.net Cindyk@worthtrailer.com johnny.sudbury@dallascityhall.com tom_ware@sbcglobal.net cheryl.oca@gmail.com kailara@craftmade.com ocamonica@att.net robbiek@worthtrailer.com zinaoca@gmail.com johnpalmarchuk@yahoo.com carpre28@aol.com donstrother@sbcglobal.net SERGEANT-AT-ARMS CHAPLAIN YOUTH ACTIVITIES CHAIRPERSON AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENT CHAIRPERSON CHARLIE MCNUTT MAC LEDBETTER Mike Cheves Monica Decker 817-915-1368 817-726-1455 972-647-7891 charliemcnutt@att.net press@dpipress.net ocamonica@att.net COMMITTEE: BULLETIN EDITORS COMMUNITY SERVICE CONCESSIONS FELLOWSHIP FINANCE BUILDING MAINTENANCE HISTORIAN LAND ACQUISITION NEW CLUBS ORATORICAL/ESSAY ORIENTATION PROGRAMS PUBLIC RELATIONS PURCHASING RESPECT FOR LAW SCHOLARSHIPS SOCIAL MEDIA SPONSORSHIPS TEACHER OF THE YEAR WEBSITE YOUTH APPRECIATION MAC LEDBETTER JOHN PALMARCHUK KEVIN AILARA CHARLIE MCNUTT RAUL GONZALEZ DON STROTHER RICHARD JABLON KEVIN AILARA Cindy King MAC LEDBETTER CHUCK LAWRENCE ZINA LAWRENCE 817-726-1455 817-588-8104 817-915-1368 817-375-3999 817-275-1173 817-781-9357 817-296-2452 817-953-5208 817-642-8760 817-642-8760 press@dpipress.net johnpalmarchuk@yahoo.com kailara@craftmade.com charliemcnutt@att.net gonzalezr@passmonjones.com donstrother@sbcglobal.net rj1890@yahoo.com kailara@craftmade.com Cindyk@worthtrailer.com press@dpipress.net chucklawrence@sbcglobal.net zinaoca@gmail.com 4TH OF JULY PARADE SCOUTS YOUTH ACTIVITIES BASEBALL FOOTBALL JUNIOR OLYMPICS JUNIOR GOLF GROUND & FIELD MAINTENANCE RICHARD JABLON Robbie King 817-781-9357 214-693-2204 817-896-1785 rj1890@yahoo.com robbiek@worthtrailer.com ocagolf@gmail.com OPTIMIST HUT 817-801-0588 The Optimist Creed {Promise Yourself } TO BE SO STRONG, that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. TO TALK HEALTH, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. TO MAKE ALL YOUR FRIENDS feel that there is something in them. TO LOOK AT THE SUNNY SIDE OF everything and make your optimism come true. TO THINK ONLY OF THE BEST, to work only for the best and expect only the best. TO BE JUST AS ENTHUSIASTIC about the success of others as you are about your own. TO FORGET THE MISTAKES of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. TO WEAR A CHEERFUL COUNTENANCE at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. TO GIVE SO MUCH TIME to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. TO BE TOO LARGE FOR WORRY, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. -- Optimist Creed