01 DELMAR GUILD 10.pdf - Pirate CNY

The Spotlight January 6, 2010 Page 15
Swimming and Diving Booster Club makes a splash
Group raises $17K
for purchase of timing
system for BC swim team
By CHARLES WIFF
wiffc@spotlightnews.com
After a whirlwind fundraising
campaign, members of the
Bethlehem Central High School
Swimming and Diving team will
be greeted by a new addition
to their pool at their fi rst home
meet in January: an electronic
scoreboard and timekeeping
system.
The BC Swimming and
Diving Booster Club raised
more than $17,000 in a matter
of weeks to purchase the used
system at no cost to the district,
fulfi lling a longtime goal of the
organization.
“We got lucky,” said Booster
Club President Dwight Cheu,
who traveled to New Jersey with
club volunteer Bruce Ginsburg
to inspect the system.
The system itself cost $9,000,
plus another $2,000 for ancillary
equipment and a truck rental to
transport it. It’s an International
Sports Timing model that is fi ve
years old but saw only light use at
its former home in the Whippany,
N.J., Jewish Community Center.
The system costs $26,000 brand
new, a cost that has precluded the
district from purchasing one.
At a Dec. 16 meeting of the
BC school board, Cheu and
Ginsburg, who both have children
swimming on the varsity team,
proposed that the district accept
the donation of the system and
extra funds they had raised, and
the board voted unanimously to
accept it. Members of the booster
club and Schenectady-based
NCS Construction installed the
scoreboard on Sunday, Dec. 27.
With the new scoreboard,
times will be computed by six
electronic touch pads at the end
of the lanes instead of human
monitors using stopwatches.
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Not only will the system make
it easier to administer meets
by reducing the number of
volunteers required, it will be
more accurate and reliable.
“It’s nice for the kids to look
up and see their time when they
fi nish,” said Ginsburg.
BC Athletics Director John
DeMeo said that the department
has wanted a new scoreboard for
some time.
“At this point, we’re just
getting the necessities to run our
programs,” DeMeo said. “We’ve
obviously been very appreciative
to the boosters and all they’ve
contributed to the district … the
community support has been
very, very positive over the
years.”
In 2006, the lacrosse and
football booster clubs chipped
in for half the cost of a new
scoreboard at the football fi eld,
with the district footing the rest
of the bill.
Though the purchase of a
scoreboard was a goal since
the club formed four years ago,
fundraising for the board started
only in October.
“There were a lot of skeptics
who thought it couldn’t be done,”
said Cheu. “I was just impressed
with how the entire community and
the families stepped up to make it
possible in such a short time.”
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The BC Swimming and Diving
Booster Club raised over $17,000
in a matter of weeks to fund
the purchase of an electronic
scoreboard and timing system for
the BC High School pool.
LEFT: BC Swimming and Diving
Booster Club members Bruce
Ginsburg helped install the system
on Sunday, Dec. 27.
Dwight Cheu/Submitted photos
Ginsburg spearheaded much
of the fundraising efforts, and
while many parents made
donations, he largely focused
his solicitations outward because
swimmers and their families
already make a lot of sacrifi ces,
he said.
“Everyone agreed the kids
deserved it and worked very hard
for it,” Ginsburg said. “I didn’t
want to diminish the kids’ ability
to get the things they needed.
… A lot of people stepped up in
a very generous manner.”
The Delmar Dolfins Swim
Club chipped in with a $5,000
donation. The 120-member
youth swimming program is
where many varsity swimmers
at BC and Guilderland schools
get their first competitive
experiences, and the group’s
contribution will be recognized
with a graphic on the scoreboard.
The system will be used for
their competitions at the high
school pool, as well.
“This is our way to help the
school district out,” said Dolfi ns
President Chris Hettie. “With all
the fi nancial issues coming up at
the school district ... if you’re in
a position that you can help the
school district, it’s something you
should do.”
She added that with an early
outlet, many Dolfins go on to
compete in college and beyond.
“It gives these kids something
to aspire to,” she said. “It’s a sport
that you can really have for life,
when you think about it.”
Cheu estimated that
there would be an annual
maintenance cost of $500 to
$800 based on information from
the manufacturer and other
schools using similar systems.
The roughly $3,500 not being
used to purchase the system was
handed over to the school district
as a maintenance fund.
A full list of donors can be
found at the booster club’s
Web site: www.bcswimanddive.
com. A plaque acknowledging
contributors is planned to be
mounted at the high school
pool in January. The club is still
accepting donations to build up
the scoreboard’s maintenance
fund.
www.hvcc.edu/wdi
Call (518) 629-4235 or e-mail workforce@hvcc.edu