WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

Youth football leagues are the purist form of the sport in the eyes of many.  The young people who make up these leagues play for the love of the game.  The Central Carolina Youth Football League (CCYFL) held a jamboree Saturday, Aug. 20, at Carver High School.

The CCYFL includes teams from all across the state of North Carolina and the Youth Character Football League (YCFL), based out of Union Baptist Church, is one of them.  The YCFL was created to help combat childhood obesity and to give the young people something to participate in.  The league has been in existence for seven years. League Director Tom Brown seeks to make the league stronger from than ever than ever.

“Last year when I took over as director, I looked at the program and saw where it was at and where I wanted it to go, and we made the decision collectively to become a member of  the CCYFL,” Brown said.

There were four age divisions that the six participating teams competed in on Saturday ranging from 6 to 12 years of age.  Each team was able to play three scrimmages that gave the coaches an opportunity to asses the progress of their teams. There were multiple games being played at the same time on multiple fields.

YCFL Age 12 and under assistant coach Bernard Williams Jr. says he loves to see the passion the kids have and their desire to get better. Williams, a former player at East Carolina University, knows what it takes to make it to the next level and just wants the kids to continue to work hard.

“Today showed me that we need to work on some fundamentals like tackling and our blocking assignments,” he said. “I like how everyone came together in the spirit of sportsmanship. Everyone was out here competing and trying to get better and the biggest thing was that the kids had fun so that’s what I like the most.”

Sam Davis, head coach for the YCFL age 12 and under team, was impressed with his team’s performance and the effort they displayed Saturday.

“We are young and most of our kids have never played football before,” Davis said. “Overall I’m pleased with the way we played. I can’t downplay the significance because we needed to go against some other teams to get a chance to see where we are and now we know. We can now go back and make some corrections, and hopefully next Saturday we will be ready.”

Even with the blistering heat and humidity Saturday afternoon, the stands were full with parents and team supporters.

Brown said he continues to be involved with youth football because he gets so much satisfaction by “watching the glow in the young people’s eyes when they’re having fun.”

He says he sees young people he has coached everywhere he goes.

“I want the league to continue to grow and to have our parents continue to participate and support us, and I want to see our kids do well not only on the football field but more importantly do well academically and as citizens in our community,” said Brown.