MENTOR, Ohio — Michelle Farley is the president of the Redline club, which is the Mentor High School football booster club. She can often be found at a table filled with gear the club sells to raise money for the program.
What You Need To Know
- High school football booster clubs are eager to make up for losses during the pandemic
- Some clubs couldn’t have in-person fundraisers
- Mentor High School’s football booster club will have full stands to sell mechandise to for the first time since the 2019 season
“We sell it at our media the day before the season starts to all our families,” Farley said. “We sell it at every home game.”
Farley said the sales help the club pay for the gear that every player gets for the season.
“All of our players get the T-shirt, they get the pair of shorts, they get the Nike pants and they get the hoodie,” Farley said.
The booster club didn’t have as many opportunities to sell merchandise over the last two years. They scrapped fundraisers because of the pandemic. Booster members recently hosted their first in-person fundraiser since 2019.
“We really had to shift that to online,” Farley said. “So we didn’t have the ability to reach as many people.”
The booster club’s efforts are why the team has knee braces for its linemen. It also went toward the purchase of GPS trackers that players wear to track distance and their workload.
Coach Matt Gray said the team wouldn’t be able to afford this gear without the boosters, and it’s helpful to know how much strain players are putting on themselves.
“Do we gotta cut a guy down throughout a week and if he’s doing all the reps with the ones, maybe we can take it down to three quarters or half the reps just to be able to make sure they’re fresh and at their peak for Friday night on game nights,” Gray said.
The booster club also got a visit from NFL quarterback and Mentor alum Mitch Trubisky at a youth football camp. Farley said his presence helped get more kids at the camp, which raised more money for the program.
“He really does care about Mentor, and the things I heard him say to our players is, you know, Mentor is home to him. And the kids really look up to him,” Farley said.
This season, the stands will allow full capacity for the first time since 2019, giving the booster club the chance to sell gear to the student section.
“Last year we did fun things,” Farley said. “We had thunder sticks, so a lot of kids loved that. So they had the thunder sticks up in the stands. It is very helpful. They love to show their Mentor pride as well.”
