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Learning experience
With almost 4,000 players on 140 teams throughout much of the southland, the PYFL is an independent, nonprofit football league for players ages 7 to 14. Even though volunteer coaches teach the basics of football, the league prides itself on providing a positive outlet for all players, even those that decide not to continue playing in high school. "I think, first and foremost, it teaches a lot of lessons to children that will help them for the rest of their lives, like dedication and teamwork, hard work and loyalty," said PYFL president Rett Hicks, who also coaches in the Santa Clarita Warriors chapter. Local teams include the Calabasas Raiders, Agoura-Oak Park Eagles, Thousand Oaks Titans, Newbury Park Steelers, Simi Valley Patriots, Moorpark Saints and Camarillo Roadrunners.
The Raiders have been among the fastest growing chapters in the league, which plays an eight-game schedule from September through October, with playoffs beginning in November and concluding with the league's own Super Bowl on the first weekend of December. After moving from the valley to Calabasas, the Raiders have grown from four teams to 11. The first group of players from the Calabasas Raiders helped the Calabasas High School football team end a 44-game losing streak with a 2814 win against Channel Islands on Sept. 20. "Part of our cause is to create a feeder program for the high school," said Raiders president Terry Blythe, who estimates about 100 of the 250 players in his chapter will attend Calabasas High. "Hopefully this next group coming in will be part of turning around the program at (Calabasas)." Blythe said he talks with Coyotes varsity head coach Lance Martin "almost daily." But Blythe understands that many, if not most, of the players will not play football past their time with the Raiders. "Realistically, maybe one out of every three kids go on to play high school football," said Blythe, who also coaches a Bantam and a Junior team. "For the kids who do play high school football, it gives them a good leg up. It's a physical game, and by starting to learn to hit and be hit, it's a huge advantage." The Raiders' president also talked about how football landscape is evolving. "What I'd like to see, and what I'm seeing, is that there's more youth football being played here," Blythe said. "Especially in the San Fernando Valley, it's pretty much 'Baseball USA.' Some of the best baseball in the world is played here. But what we're seeing is that more and more kids are playing tackle football, and just being a person who loves the sport, I love seeing that grow." Verne Merrill helped found the organization when it split with the Gold Coast Youth Football League over conflicting views on how players should be grouped, by age or weight. The PYFL keeps players together by age- although there are weight limitations- and the league tries to keep the same group of players together to build a sense of team and camaraderie. Although the split was acrimonious at the time, the end result was positive. "There's a lot more kids playing right now," said Merrill, who added that Newbury Park started with 48 players in 1992 before growing to about 160 players this season. "You can see the competition at high school is much better now than it has been. Ventura County is getting a lot of respect for football right now." Jim Kawamoto, president of the Camarillo chapter of about 260 players, has been involved with the league for 11 years. He has seen up close the positive impact the league has on his own children. Three of Kawamoto's sons played with the Roadrunners. Brothers Paul and Marc Kawamoto are coaching with their father in the league where they were introduced to competitive football, while younger brother Kevin is playing varsity football at Camarillo High. "It really prepares them for high school football," Jim Kawamoto said. "Another good thing is you make a lot of friends. "You get to know a lot of the parents, and then you go to high school with these guys so it automatically helps you when you're a freshman. A lot of freshman kids are lost in small circles of friends. Hopefully this helps them with their self-confidence." For many of the coaches and volunteers on the respective boards of each chapter, the work is a labor of love. "During football season, it's like having two full-time jobs," said Agoura-Oak Park president and coach Robert Espinoza. "We all have jobs; we all have families. We're all willing to put in the extra time for the benefit of the children." |
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