Boat Sponsors for High School tournaments and other stuff.

[riverhawkluke]

I am a co-president of the Brentwood High School Bass fishing team, and we are currently planning on fishing some tournaments this spring. The tournaments would be against other high schools in Tennessee, as well as the Tennessee High School state tournament. If we win that, I believe we will go to a national tournament. All of this being said, none of us have bass boats. Some of us have boats, but not really suited for tournament fishing. I was wondering if any of you had bass boats, or other boats that we could fish out of for tournament. What you would do is have two of us (club members) in the boat with you, and you captain the boat and drive us to spots. Dont worry, you can fish as well , but we cannot keep any of your fish. I know this is asking a lot, but it can't hurt to ask. Also, if you know of any other Tennessee high school teams I could contact please let me know. Also if you have any tips, feel free to let me know. We plan on trying to get some company sponsors for rod, reel, and lure discounts, because we are on high school budgets . So let me know if you have any information that could help!

Thanks so much !

Luke Byerly

[SalmonDaze]

Luke,
This sounds like fun, but I have a couple questions that come to mind:

1) What kind of commitments would a volunteer expect? It seems likely that a "good" volunteer might find himself in demand and disinclined to retreat from a commitment made to kids. Do you foresee one or two Saturdays from April - June? Or would this be Saturday and Sunday March through October? Week days/nights?

2) Insurance . . . who's covered? Who indemnifies? Do I need a rider on my policy? Can this be construed as "commercial?"

3) It's unlikely, but have the high school teams or league administration considered a "volunteer pool" that could be called upon to provide volunteer services across other teams? Just thinking that if you're in need, it's likely that Murfreesboro, Mt. Juliet, Nashville, Franklin, etc would be too.

Sorry for the #2 reference above, but that's likely to be the first place an issue will arise.
In any case, I think this board is a good place to include in your search. Please keep us posted.

[riverhawkluke]

There would be a low commitment, maybe two or three tournaments in the spring and I think they are all one day tournaments, but I do not know for sure. We would might or might not fish the lake before hand for practice. The club is most likely going to join The student angler federation. For $25 each we fish all tournaments linked with SAF for free and we are covered by their insurance program. Their website goes into more detail but I am not sure about all of the details yet. We will be having a meeting on Wednesday and we could discuss these points. I know summit has a good team and we will probably contact them for some help and ask how they got darted tournament fishing.

[Pookie]

So, the volunteer would furnish the boat, the truck, the truck fuel, and the boat fuel?

You are searching for sponsors for tackle and lures?

Looks like to me, you need to solicit Shell Oil for a sponsorship. There are 5 of those in Brentwood.