WSS Sportsbackers Bring Community Together

Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg jumped into the arena this year and started a membership drive for the WSS Sportsbackers in August and things have been going well since then.

"We started that right before school started," said Bob Schlechte, a member of the board. "Nikki Worman and Jenna Layton had the interest and the enthusisum and sought me out to get this going. We had in our minds what we thought this could be and we wanted to do it and wanted it to be really good.

"We called it a Sportsbackers vs. Booster club. We didn't want people to have to come to a monthly meeting. We have grown to seven board/commitee members and so far we have approximately 95 members."

Members of the Sportsbackers board are Schlechte, Justin King, Katie O'Dell, Layton and Worman. Layton is the secretary for the club.

Memberships are for anyone who wants to support the WSS athletic programs. Business membership are $50 per year and individual and family annual memberships are $35. A lifetime family memberhsip is a one-time payment of $500.

"So far we have approximately 95 members," said Schlechte. "We set up a year-by-year membership or a lifetime memberhsip. For that you get your yearly window decal. Of the 95 members, we have 18 lifetime members.

"When we started, we picked the brain of Teutopolis and Altamont folks and used that to get where we want to be. We feel good about where we're at."

The Sportsbackers have already been busy with banners.

"We wanted to get banners to hang in the gymnasium for the fall sports and we'll do the same thing for the winter and spring sports. We've already paid for those and have the fall banners hung up.

"We've supplied money for our junior high softball team that went to state. We opened an apparel store that was pretty successful. We wanted to increase the amount of apparel out there.

"We're still kind of growing as we go. Kind of the goal is to help the sports programs with equipment needs, and money that make things a little bit better. We're using this as an opportunity to draw people together and have the camaraderie that goes with it.

"We have a basketball tournament planned in January. We are working towards a reserve raffle. We might team up with the parent/teacher organization later in the spring as well.

"It's been good and we want to get enough people to help out. It's been well received and now the goal is to keep that membership and grow it from 95 to 195."