Welcome to this month's UPDATE….A section of the web site that will have various authors featuring different topics. I thought I would take the initiative and begin with an editorial! Not that the Monthly Update section of the web site can't have a slant! Who knows?!

On behalf of the Web Site Committee, I want to officially welcome you to the new version of Club Communications. We hope its usage will be an effective and convenient way for you to stay updated and informed about regularly scheduled Touchdown Club activities and or any other circumstances related to Club Members which affect us all. The site also will allow us to safely archive the long and rich history of the club and for everyone to have access to it. It's really interesting material and it shows what the Club is all about!

Speaking of the Web Site Committee, I would like to thank the following members — Leo Doherty, Tom Reidy, John Leone and Ralph Canniff — especially Richard Cusolito for "sacrificing" his daughter, Cindy and her friend Laura Willis (www.Willis-Works.com) in designing and developing our Web Site. Anybody connected to such endeavors knows how much time, talent, energy, vision, and cooperation it takes to pull off something like this. It really takes a team effort to accomplish developing a web site and this committee fulfilled their role to perfection! The one thing I was taught by the webmaster on the very first site I worked on "years ago" that a web site is never finished. So true with our site! Sssoooo, visit often!

I was also pleased on behalf of the Web Committee to formally present, explain and discuss this web site by projecting it onto a large screen and reviewing each page in detail.This was an historical event that takes the Club into a whole new era! A point worth mentioning here about the expectations of the Monthly Update section, nor any other part to the web site is that it will not be an alternative source of information in lieu of attending a monthly meeting. Speaking of….

Attending monthly meetings, it is a Requirement and a Commitment you have so the Club can fulfill its mission to the youth of our community. To the degree in which members fulfill their attendance requirement, we provide services to one of our most valuable asset in town — the kids! The Touchdown Club can fulfill its mission of promoting the physical and social welfare of the youth of Arlington with you offering your most valuable assets to the Club — time & money. How much of each is a personal decision. Certainly it's understandable that circumstances exist where our time is stretched too thin or uncertainty with schedules affects your efforts in fulfilling the (Regular Member's) 7 of 10 meetings.

Overall, we really need some improvement with membership attendance. Tomorrow, I hope improved attendance records will provide the Club the opportunity to improve its level of support to the youth sports organizations because their (financial) needs are increasing and some of the Club's expenses are increasing. Your attendance does have an impact on the Club's Mission.

In conclusion, as the web site strives to fulfill its other purpose; promoting good fellowship and sociability among the members, you are not only encouraged to attend the meetings but to visit this site and use it as a communication tool with anyone on the Executive Board as well as any member of the Club. You can even use the link on the front page to make your dinner reservations. In the Membership section, you have access to only the member's email addresses. Additionally, by using the special password provided, you have access to a member's complete contact information which duplicates the Membership Directory Book you receive every other year.

I hope you enjoy the web site. Let's shatter this year's total attendance record! Let's be there for the kids when they need us! See you on February 9th!