CAZENOVIA — For two decades, the Cazenovia Athletic Association (CAA) has been working to enrich, support, and promote all Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) sports teams through fundraising and fostering positive partnerships between athletes, coaches, families, and the community.

The independent volunteer organization evolved from the Cazenovia All-Sports Booster Club, which operated from the 1980s through the very early 2000s.

In 2002 and 2003, a group of dedicated parents of student-athletes rebranded the booster club into the CAA.

Among the founding members of the new organization were Conkie Sessler, Tracy Palmer, Bob Kasarjian, Katie Cannizzaro, Pat Vogl, Ray Ryan, Josie Glos, Jodi Lockwood, Darlene Pulkinen, and Diana Parker.

The CAA is comprised of students, parents, teachers, coaches, administrators, and community members, and it is led by a board of directors.

The current board members are Kate Ducey, president; Pamela Prior, vice president; Lorraine Lawson, treasurer; Lisa Berson and Anne Sayre, concessions co-chairs; Jessica Colby, secretary; and Shioban Reilley, public relations chair.

“We each came to CAA, as parents of student-athletes, with a collective vision of wanting to make a positive impact in our community and our students’ athletic experience,” said Prior.

The organization works closely with CCSD Athletic Administrator Mike Byrnes.

“I am so thrilled that our parent/guardian base has stepped up and led a CAA revival,” said Byrnes. “The break that COVID caused in the spring of 2020, and the entire 2020-2021 school year, created a crippling set of rules and killed momentum for growing the CAA base. The current group of CAA members and board of directors has done awesome work for our students, community, and athletic programs. I am so excited to see where the CAA goes, as I feel like we’ve just reached the tip of an iceberg. . . . Special thanks to our current board and several ex-board members who helped get CAA back on its feet. There has been some ‘blue and gold’ blood, sweat, and tears shed over the past few years, but all that hard work has paid off.”

The CAA is a resource for every sports team and program that Cazenovia High School offers.

According to Byrnes, CCSD currently sponsors 26 varsity sports, 14 for girls and 12 for boys, and many of those programs include modified and junior varsity levels.

“In recent times, the CAA has been making equal-sized donations, between $200 and $300, to each of the 26 sports programs for the coaches to use at their discretion for items like team spirit [initiatives], banquets, or other odds and ends that may not be included in the program’s budget,” said Byrnes. “This money is deposited in the CCSD Business Office into Extracurricular Accounts. The CAA is still here for all sports like it was back in the 1980 to 2001 time period.”

The CAA also offers support by funding special events recognizing CCSD’s current or future athletes and by fulfilling the coaches’ “wish lists.”

According to Prior, each team’s coach can submit a request to the CAA, typically for things that are not funded by the school and the CAA’s standard annual contribution. Wish list items can range from uniforms and supplemental equipment to celebratory ice cream after a big game and end-of-season events.

In recent months, the CAA has also been highlighting CCSD’s student-athletes through photos, videos, and an active presence on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram (@caz_athletic_association_).

The CAA’s most significant form of fundraising is through concession sales throughout the year.

According to Byrnes, the concession stands also help provide a welcoming atmosphere for spectators at home games.

The CAA generates passive income in the form of annual memberships, which cost as little as $5 and are valid for one academic year.

Members are afforded the right to vote on CAA initiatives, and the membership funds directly benefit the sports teams and help the CAA operate its concession stands.

“Anyone can become a member, and all are welcome,” said Prior.

Interested individuals can join online at cazlakers.com/joincaa. Parents and guardians can also join during the sports team registration process on the FamilyID system, now known as ArbiterSports.

This school year, the CAA will continue to look for ways to serve CCSD’s athletes while also focusing on the spectator experience, according to Prior.

“In that regard, we have added additional signage at our athletic fields and facilities,” Prior said. “With our new sporting facilities at Cazenovia High School well underway, we will continue to expand on the athlete and spectator experience, making it all that more enjoyable to support and participate in our various sporting programs. We will [also] continue to fund special events for our athletes and build on our ability to make donations to each sports program.”

In the fall of 2003, the CAA, in conjunction with the CCSD Athletic Department, founded the Cazenovia Lakers Sports Hall of Fame to honor past athletes, coaches, teams, and others who served the greater Cazenovia athletic community.

According to Byrnes, the CAA and athletic department are looking forward to inducting another hall of fame class soon, but doing so will require the formation of a new volunteer committee to reorganize and restructure the project. Anyone interested in joining the Hall of Fame Planning Committee should reach out to Byrnes at [email protected].

To learn more about the CAA and its work, visit cazlakers.com.