August 2010 Update 08.12.10 To all Alumni and Friends of X-Men Football      When I was first hired as the Head Football Coach at StFX University, I quickly learned that there is more to this position than the X's and O's of football. I began to realize that in order to be competitive, both in the AUS and at the national level, fundraising is an important part of the equation. As an alumnus myself, I know first-hand the passion and dedication that all alumni of StFX and X-Men Football feel, so I knew that, when the time came, I would have your support. Throughout my first year as head coach, I was met with an incredible amount of support from alumni and friends of X-Men football, and for this I am truly grateful. Many of you expressed to me the desire to help the program in any way you could. Often times I held back on this request, appreciating your eagerness but not yet ready to capitalize on your generosity until I had a plan in place, and a solid vision in moving forward.      In researching the fundraising arms that this program has used in the past, I was amazed at the generosity of our alumni. Many of you reading this email were, or still are, members of past groups such as the 50 for 50 Club, Friends of X-Men Football, and the X Varsity Club. These were all great, but separate, attempts at raising funds for this program. My problem arose when I tried to make sense of the various amounts of programs and methods for bringing money into this program. I found it difficult to answer one simple, yet vital, question, which is “How much money are we bringing in this year?” I knew there was money coming in, but the amounts were difficult to add up. Additionally, I felt that I was unable to properly track who was donating and how much. This made it difficult to dole out the proper thanks that donors deserve, as well as, frankly, knowing when donation periods had ended and touching base to renew commitments. It was out of these frustrations and complications that the “X-Tra Yard Club” was born.      A big part of recruiting young student-athletes these days is the use of Athletic Financial Awards, which are, essentially, athletic scholarships. In the AUS, a single student-athlete can be offered up to full tuition and fees for every year he attends his university and plays football. Now, full tuition scholarships such as these are rare, but I have learned that at one point or another during the recruiting process, without fail, the question about how much money is being offered will come up. It is my job to decide how much to offer each player, based on factors such as our need for that position and how ready that particular player is to contribute to our team on game day. Now, many teams throughout the CIS have different means and capacities for raising money, and some are at a different level than we are. I am wholly convinced, however, that with your help this will not be a factor in our success on the field. I will attempt to explain this with an example. Say we are recruiting a blue chip player who is also being recruited by, oh I don't know, Saint Mary's. We will fly this player out and show him our campus, and on the last day of his visit I will bring him into my office and we will have the money talk. Now Saint Mary's, for example, is offering this player a $5000 a year scholarship. If I only have $1000 left to offer, that gap will be much too large, and we will most likely lose this player to SMU. If, however, I can close that gap, to say $3000, I believe enough in this school, this football program, and the people here, that I believe I can sell that player on StFX and he will commit to me. This is where we need your help. We need to close this gap in order to get the quality student-athletes we need in order to be successful on a year to year basis.      This is where the “X-Tra Yard Club” comes into play. It is my goal that the “X-Tra Yard Club” will bring in enough money to identify recruits, bring them to our campus, and offer competitive Athletic Financial Awards. The “X-Tra Yard Club” works as follows: To be a member, you must make a 5 year commitment of support to our program. The minimum donation to join is $200 a year for those 5 years, and donations can reach as high as $1000 a year or more. You can choose to pay monthly, yearly, or make a one-time donation to the program. Our progress will be monitored visually on our website with a graphic of our football field. Each yard on the field represents a 5 year, $1000 donation to X-Men Football. Our goal, as always, is to travel 110 yards and score a Touchdown. Once we achieve that, I will know that for the next five years, I will have $110,000 to put towards recruiting and Athletic Financial Awards. I am convinced that achieving this goal will turn this program into a national contender, and together with your help we will go the X-Tra Yard.      I am encouraging all of our supporters, whether you are currently donating, have donated in the past, or are just looking to begin, to join the “X-Tra Yard Club”. In fact, if you are currently donating I am not asking you for another donation, but rather, I would like you to transfer your existing donation into the “X-Tra Yard Club”. As I stated above, it has been difficult for me to make sense of our past and current donations, and please let me take this opportunity to apologize for anyone who feels like their donation has gone unnoticed. It is my hope that we can all move forward together as members of the “X-Tra Yard Club”. This email serves as the official national launch of this program. Much work has already been done behind the scenes, here in Antigonish, and I am pleased to say that we have already reached 17 yards towards our goal. My goal is to travel 25 yards in Antigonish alone, and the way things are going I know this will be achieved. If we can reach 25 yards in the small town of Antigonish, I know that our alumni spread across the country will do their part, and that this program will be successful.      To find out a little more information about this program, and to download a membership form, visit the following link: http://www.xmenfootball.ca/xtrayard/      Also, you may be contacted by some of our current players and coaches, along with Robert “Beaver” Cullen, as they all will be helping to move this program forward.      Finally, I'm very pleased to announce the following players as new members of the X-Men family: DB Jeremiah Hamilton - 6'1" 180lbs Chatham, Ontario - 2009 JMSS Sr. Football Team MVP - 2009 1st Team City All Star - 2009/10 JMSS Male Athlete of the Year - 2009 CK Cougars Defensive MVP - CK Cougars all time leader in Interceptions and Return Yards OL Colin Wicks - 6'5" 302lbs Fall River, NS - 2007 Lockview High Football Team MVP - 2007 NSSAF Tier 1 First Team All Star - 2 year starter at OT at University of Waterloo QB Andrew Hickey - 6' 205lbs  Fredericton, NB - 2004 Fredericton High Rookie of the Year - 2005 Member of Provincial Champion FHS Team - 2005 FHS Offensive Player of the Year - 2005, 2006 Provincial All-Star - 2006 Team and Provincial MVP - Transfer from University of Waterloo DB Zach Shuian - 6'1" 195lbs Blenheim, Ontario - 2008 and 2009 Defensive MVP of the League - 2009 Athlete of the Year at BDHS Hail and Health,