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General Features

Grant winners grateful for helping hand from USA Football

By Dave McMahon, Special to USA Football

September 9, 2008, revised September 11, 2008

High enrollment numbers can be one reason a youth = football=20 league faces financial strife, but with help from a USA Football grant, = some of=20 that pain can be alleviated.

As a startup project, the Metro Youth Flag Football Association in = Council=20 Bluffs, Iowa, was already going to have a sizable dent in its finances = with=20 balls, flags and cones.

When the registration numbers easily exceeded president Mitch Rueth's = expectations, the expense list was raised even higher. That's why a = grant from=20 USA Football used for balls, flags and cones came at the perfect = time.

"It saved us quite a bit of money," Rueth said. "We got 100 sets of = flags,=20 and with 215 kids playing, that's a lot of money. It made a heck of a = difference=20 in my pocketbook."

An Internet search for flag football led Rueth to USAFootball.com, = where he=20 found that the national governing body for youth football was providing = grants.=20 Applications for these grants are still being accepted and must be = submitted or=20 postmarked bySept. 30.

Rueth, whose association embarked on its first season in the spring = and=20 followed it up with another season that began Sept. 6, won't celebrate = his first=20 anniversary with the group until March. Flag football, it's safe to say, = is=20 going gangbusters in Council Bluffs. The league attracted 215 kids in = the=20 spring, and 197 players are in the current fall season.

Now, the local YMCA has inquired about adding its flag players to the = Metro=20 League.

"My first season, I figured if I could get 100 kids, I would be = happy," Rueth=20 said. "I'm happier, and a lot busier than I expected to be."

Rueth founded the league in order to meet the demands of parents.

"I've been coaching flag football for eight years, and the last seven = all I=20 heard was parents saying there's got to be something better," Rueth = said.

Metro provides teams to kids in four divisions: preschool and = kindergarten;=20 first and second grade; third and fourth grade; and fifth through eighth = grade.

"It's about a 50-50 split between parents who want their kids to play = flag or=20 tackle," Rueth said. "Some parents think fourth or fifth grade is too = young for=20 their kids, so they flag until they get a little older."

The fall season continues through Oct. 11. Teams will often play=20 doubleheaders and on one night during the week in order to play eight = games a=20 season. Most teams field 10 players. The registration fee is $50, and = about a=20 dozen financial scholarships have been provided each season.

Lenoir, N.C., league sees big growth

With the Gamewell Optimist Club's youth football program in just its = second=20 year, equipment costs continued to rise. A grant from USA Football = softened the=20 financial blow this season.

"We got Schutt shoulder pads and helmets, and it was a tremendous = help," said=20 Lawrence Kelley, Jr., who serves as the "football sheriff" for the = league in=20 Lenoir, N.C. "We spent every bit of $13,000 to $14,000 on equipment last = year.=20 We raised that money, and the grant surely saved us a couple of thousand = dollars. This year, it's going to be around $10,000, and hopefully we = can get=20 the budget down to maybe $3,000 to $5,000 a year after that. So yeah, we = were=20 certainly thankful to USA Football."

Like their national reputation, the Optimist Club provides youth with = a=20 variety of positive experiences in athletics in Lenoir.

"We started the league to give the kids an option other than soccer = in the=20 first grade," said Kelley, a North Carolina Optimist Hall of Fame member = who has=20 been making athletics fun for kids for decades. "We never did have an = organized=20 league in Caldwell County, and now we have four different Optimist Clubs = with=20 teams. We all formed Caldwell County Youth Football."

Divisions offered are first and second grade (Peewee); third and = fourth grade=20 (JV); and fifth and sixth grade (varsity).

The Gamewell Optimists saw participation expand from 95 kids last = year to 130=20 in 2008. The league, found at caldwellcountyyouthfootball.org, rose in = ranks=20 from 375 to 500.

Hampshire (Ill.) receives equipment assists from USA=20 Football

The construction of a new high school left the Hampshire (Ill.) Youth = Football and Cheerleading association in a lurch.

The youth teams had shared the school's football field and equipment = at the=20 old location. When the new school was built, however, all of the field = equipment=20 went to the new field.

"We're still able to use their field, but they took all the blocking = dummies,=20 the tackling spread. We had no equipment on the field," said Roger = Gross, in his=20 fifth year as president of Hampshire Youth Football and = Cheerleading.

You can imagine the financial headaches that were involved in trying = to=20 secure equipment for the youth program, which saw its participants = increase from=20 150 players last year to 185 in 2008. The grant from USA Football = provided them=20 with tackling pads from Gilman Gear: six tackling dummies, six = half-rounds and=20 six shields.

"Because we had more kids out, we ended up spending money on helmets = and=20 shoulder pads. We were strapped," Gross said. "We switched to the Schutt = DNA=20 helmets. We needed more blocking dummies. We needed more this and more = that. It=20 was one of those perfect stories. It couldn't have happened any better = thanks to=20 the grant from USA Football. It worked out perfect for us. It was = probably=20 $1,500 worth of equipment that we would not have had otherwise. Heck, = we've got=20 the coaches wearing the same shirts as last year."

Gross has seen the group grow tremendously since he joined. A park=20 district-affiliated program when he started, the league for players in = second=20 through eighth grades had 43 kids in the program. Still an affiliate of = the=20 local park district, the growth is being felt at the highly regarded = high school=20 level. Two years ago, the freshman team had 13 players. This year the = Whip-Purs=20 (a shortened version of the school colors of white and purple) field 30 = players=20 at the freshman level.

"The high school coaches offer their time to our coaches with a = clinic,"=20 Gross said. "They'll provide the coaches with the base plays, and our = coaches=20 ask them what they can do to make their lives easier when the kids reach = high=20 school."

As Gross found out, USA Football has a way of making the lives of = youth=20 football leagues easier, too.

"I was aware of USA Football, then did a Google search for football = grants=20 and it took me to the site," Gross said. "That's when I applied."

Story courtesy of Red Line = Editorial,=20 Inc.

Links related to this article:

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Grant winners grateful for helping hand from USA Football

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