New uniforms for the Blue Jays
Two weeks ago we started a fundraiser for the Johns Hopkins Ice Hockey team (which I coach). In the process of trying to get the team turned around, I have made myself a checklist of things that needed to be done. In my experience with both Oakland and Richmond, there are a few things that a team needs to be successful, and taken seriously in the ACHA.
The on thing that bothered my about last year is the fact that we have each player purchase his own jerseys. This does not lend itself well to new players, as they don't know if they are on the team until September. This is usually high demand time for jersey manufacturers, so this year our new players didn't get their uniforms until second semester. Which meant that there were several games we played without matching jerseys.
Luckily at the ACHA meeting I spoke with OT Sports, who supplies the JHU Lacrosse program, and they were very interested in making jerseys for us. They threw together a pretty nice design. I figure we have to raise about $2500 for one set of these, plus socks. We started the fundraiser two weeks ago, and we're already more than half way there. Pretty good stuff.
I'm excited about the season already. We've got some tough opponents, but I think my guys are ready to step up their level of play.