The Largest Youth Football & Cheer Organization in the Country

AYF opens doors for program in Virginia

By Mike Scandura, Special to AmericanYouthFootball.com

There was no middle ground as far as the Charlottesville/Albermale Youth Football League (CAYFL) was concerned when it came time to discuss changing affiliations.

In fact, there also was no middle ground as far as middle school sports in Virginia were concerned - because there aren't any teams at this level in the entire state.

So, when the CAYFL board of directors decided to sign up with American Youth Football last spring, it proved to be a marriage made in football heaven because central Virginia's high schools also reaped the benefits.

"Because there are no middle school sports programs - period - in Virginia, there was a gap to be filled," said CAYFL president Gary Popovich. "Our high schools had no feeder programs whatsoever.

"Kids playing in (other organizations) were timid because they were used to playing against kids their own sizes. Most weren't playing at all, so they had to be taught the basics ... this is a three-point stance, that kind of stuff."

There's another problem that CAYFL is in the process of solving now that it's with AYF.

"There's a limited number of paid staff at the high school level," said Popovich. "Most high schools have one head coach and two assistants. You go to any practice and you'll see kids standing on the sidelines waiting for someone to work with them.

"Since a lot of kids weren't getting the work that they need, they were being turned off to the sport - so they quit."

Just the opposite has happened with the CAYFL. According to Popovich, the organization had "between 800 and 850 participants (including cheerleaders)" at the end of the 2001 season. At the end of September, the CAYFL had signed up nearly 1,300 youngsters - an increase of over 65 percent.

"All of our teams weren't filled out by the third week of August, so we decided to leave (registration) open one more week, until school started," said Popovich. "We were bombarded! I'd venture to say we've picked up an additional 500 to 600 (participants)."

Might this have happened if CAYFL had maintained the status quo? Perhaps not.

"This is my second year as president and one thing that bothered me last year was we were turning away kids who wanted to play football because of their weights," said Popovich. "One of the things we wanted to do was come up with a structure that would support more kids and not turn them away.

"Last year we had eight Junior Pee Wee, six Pee Wee, four Junior Midget andtwo Midget teams. That was disheartening because the Midgets got to play three games - total. The reason was the maximium (weight) we could go up to was 145, and we were turning away kids who were 155 and above."

Now, go back to the connection between the CAYFL and the high schools.

"I met with the coaches and athletic directors from the (seven) high schools in our area and tried to get a feel for what we could do to better provide the training for kids coming up," said Popovich. "They said if we could get kids to come out and teach them the basics, they would be most appreciative.

"We looked at several options, and AYF was one of them. The thing about AYF is we could adjust our program to fit the needs of the area. This is a rural area. If you want a major, metropolitan area you have to head to D.C. or Richmond or the Tidewater (Norfolk) area. We just didn't have the numbers to make it work within the strict guidelines of the organization we were affiliated with."

The numbers in the Middle School Division are almost off the charts.

"We changed the (weight) restrictions a bit and have 30-plus kids per team," related Popovich. "But we had to split up one team because 66 kids came out."

One of the Middle School kids is a son of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long, a boy who wanted to play but had run into a brick wall not unlike the one his father threw up during his prime with the Oakland Raiders.

"Kyle, Howie's middle son, never would have been able to play (in the previous league) because of his weight," said Popovich. "Howie Jr. was able to play, but not Kyle. Now that we've changed this structure, Kyle - who's an eighth grader (at Henley Middle School) - signed up.

"We were beginning to believe that football was dead in this area," said Popovich. "But when we got that spurt from the middle school, it led us to believe we have something special going on here."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.