Strawberry Crest’s football team wants to win off the field as much as they do on game days. This year, they’re looking to pick up a “W” in April.
The Chargers are trying something new in their fundraising efforts. On April 14, they’ll host their first annual golf tournament fundraiser at Pebble Creek Country Club, 10550 Regents Park Drive, Tampa.
“We try to do something new this time of year, every year,” head coach Ron Hawn said.
Typically, the Chargers players will sell discount cards or spirit t-shirts to Crest fans to generate money for the team. The venture into event-based fundraising is a first for Hawn’s Chargers, though, and it will also be Hawn’s first golf tournament. While leading Tarpon Springs High School’s program, Hawn’s Spongers hosted silent auctions, dinner get-togethers and other fundraising events, but never golf.
Hawn said the program is using the golf tournament to help accomplish two goals.
First, the team is looking to raise enough money to buy a new sled for practice and, hopefully, have some left over to help with typical operating costs. A sled, Hawn said, will cost around $6,000. The team, he added, generally spends $15,000 to $35,000 in a year on field and equipment maintenance, technology, meals, uniforms and more. While much of this money is raised through the players’ individual fundraising efforts, the team saw an opportunity to try something new this spring.
Second, Hawn wants to build stronger relationships between Strawberry Crest football, communities and corporations. He’s hoping the team can find those supporters in the Dover, Plant City, Seffner and Brandon areas, as well as the FishHawk community — where many of the school’s IB students come from. Hawn said finding those supporters and building corporate relationships, as he had done while at Tarpon Springs, will help the team achieve its off-field goals in the short and long-term.
“I’m trying to look at this thing more big-picture, more long-term,” he said.
The Chargers are also interested in hosting a fundraising event during football season, though they haven’t formalized any plans yet.
At a cost of $85 per person or $340 for a team, golfers can play in the four-person scramble, eat lunch and snacks and compete in Longest Drive and Closest to the Pin events. There will also be raffles, a live auction and an awards ceremony after all golfers are finished playing.
The shotgun start is scheduled for 9 a.m., coming after the 8:15 a.m. check-in and the 8:45 a.m. call to carts.