in rec football do they have a offical organization they have to answer to? we the parents of our football league are not happy at all. bad equipment, old uniforms (5yr old)
if not older. we would like a change so how do we go about changing it the other leagues arround us are so much more advanced than us we loose kids every year to the other teams because of the quality of our teams

any ideals would be helpful.

Depends..if the League is part of the Pop Warner system then they have a Pop Warner HQ. But if it is just a locally organized league, they are their own bosses. Parents who think things are screwed up should be upfront volunteering to help the League instead of bellyaching about how bad it is.

iam very involved i raised 1000 dollars last year for the k-2 team and we never seen any thing from it
no we are not a pop team

the field is a mess no working bathroom seams like its going down hill the man over is very closed minded we the parents would love to be more active than he lets

If the man in charge is that much of an idiot why the heck don't y'all leave him and start your own thing? SOonds like you have some folks ready to work so go for it cause starting from scratch will definitely take some effort but it is nuts to let some guy independently screw things up for many kids.

Find out when they vote for new board members, get your group of supporters to attend, and be willign to step up to the plate when necessary. If things are really that bad, why not ask for a private meeting with all the coaches and ask to have the president of the league voted out... in either case, be prepared to assume this postion once the other person is gone.

Their problem seems to be they have no board. Therefore the "man in charge " truly is "Da Man." That is why I suggested the form their own group, with a board.

I missed that Mike... I agree with your suggestion then. Another thing they may want to do is to work with the local parks and rec department if they have one to help with getting a field lined out. That or talk with the local hs football coach and find out if he can give any suggestions to help the process get started.

If you want some ideas our local "little kids" league here in Oklahoma is the Indian Nations Football Conference. Web site is http://www.youthfootball.com/index.asp

This is a mighty mite (1st/2nd grade) to 7th grade (for some schools) league that has over 250 teams. The high schools are very good at supporting the league in facilities amongst other things. By laws are on the site as well. Give the office a call if you have any questions.

Why would anybody put a 1st or 2nd grader in FB? Developmentally, all the research says the body is not ready for contact until at least junior high age (bones not hardened). And why do all activities for kids have to be organized by parents? Let kids be kids.

When change is needed...
 

When change is needed be the person to effect the changes. Which is how I ended up being a volleyball coach when my two girls were 10 and 11. Ended up going to AAU nationals for a 17th place, many national Nike tournies and both girls ended up with VB scholarships.

In our area the Parks & Rec Dept handles the little guy football and do a great job. Start there or the city council if the FB program generates from there. Talk to council members, etc.

If you're really interested in doing something different, and I mean a ton of work, you can pull out of your current program, raise funds, buy uniforms/pads and begin your own team.

4-5 parents for coaching, support, car washes, raffles and and the initial cash outlay for their own kids equipment would be a starting point.

It has always been my experience there are one or two parents with good intentions, and the other parents want to be a chief without any of the work or responsibility.

To be successful, you'll be doing most of the organizing and work. It can pay dividends and I would do it all over again for my daughters.

The only thing I'd do different now is not purchase a Suburban to drive the team to games/tournaments myself. It would be a "Team Bus" with all of the parents owning a piece of the vehicle and splitting the gas. I can't tell you how many times my ex-wife and I drove 6-7 girls across the country with other parents "driving in" later... and then the "Mr. WyMike, my mom forgot to give me any money for...." yeah right... :rolleyes:

Good luck to you.

WM

I agree ForksRef. My 8 year old is not in the Pop Warner program in our area for that specific reason... Well and because he is too big for his age group and not old enough for the next level... 5' tall and 95 pounds. Sized like a 5th grader.

But that aside, I do think that it is too early to put the pads on those kids. I have him in rec flag football, and that's what I will do with the others as well. I plan on getting them into the contact version in 7th grade.

Just a short note to add that $40 per player does not go NEARLY as far as you seem to think it does. Say 15 players - that's 600 per team. Before you even subtract out uniforms, field usage, etc, you have $45 per game or so for that team's half of the referee fee - taking away about $450 of your $600.

Our youth league is very well run, with good facilities and good referees - it's $90 per player. Plus a fundraiser.

I agree $40 is nothing, most leagues are much more expensive.

Our association does the little guy games twice a week, Tuesday/Wednesday and works two games a night. We return 50% of the fee by donating it back to fund lighting for their new field, and take the other 50% to help out with our awards dinner at the end of the year.

WM

well here is the up date we have found out there is no board the man is the man!!! and i steped badly on his toes tonight! we started a booster club with about 15 parents from the different ages and he is so mad beond words at me. my question is why if its better for the kids why be upset.

also we are a small town the city is no part of the little league program i also started a news letter for the parents and he is not happy about it i cant win for loosing with this man.

but we are not given in on of the local teams we play brought in 10 thousand dollars at a bowl game(told to me by a board member from that team) the same teams at it were at ours but we have no idea how much our game feld made

[Edited by tonya on Oct 4th, 2005 at 09:59 PM]

Get the parents together and start your own team. Ask around and see if there's anybody willing to coach the team and take it from there.

well i talked to the man!! and he has made himself a board without letting the parents know and it is with his close budys no one knew this it something they done to kill the wild fire as he called it and i invited him and his board to our wild fire meeting/ booster meeting and he will send someone but not him. and when i told him we wish to have early sighn ups so that more kids could play he said why how many kids do you want to play we will have to buy more stuff.