I have been involved with youth football for many years and the bottom line is every team plays to win a championship. As soon as the score board lights up teams are going to try and win. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. I have yet to see a game where a team played every player on the team during a close game just to make sure they get playing time (unless it may be the last minutes of the game). Honestly, it wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team because the opponent is going to run or throw at the lesser talented player. The main thing to help youth football is to have good coaching that teach basic fundamentals of the game and keep the kids enthused about football.

 

As far as the Fort Thomas league I think they have the talent split up, but they are still playing to win the game.

Grant County chose not to go because the league they were and continue to be in is being run people who do not want to give up control. The President and Vice-President, who also ran the Grant County Booster program told them that if they left for Boone County than the Boosters would cut off all funding. These people have no kids at any level playing football in Grant County. On a side note, the Grant County Football Boosters chose not to fund the Grant County High School football team this year and also are not funding the Middle school this year. They chose not to fund it because high school and middle school parents were not volunteering to work bingo. Parents are staying away because no one on the Boosters Executive Board have kids playing ball at any level. 90% of the voting body of the Boosters do not have kids playing at any level. Parents are also afraid that the Boosters are not a transparent organization. The organization brings in over a million, yes I said a million, dollars at their bingo every year. After paying the bingo players their winnings and the rest of their bills they have about 90k left to fund the youth league, middle and high school programs. The Boosters do not have an accountant and their treasurer does all their tax forms. The Boosters treasurer was recently found guilty by the State of not keeping receipts for many so called food purchases and other expenses. This same treasurer is still the acting treasurer. Parents do not want to be a part of an organization with questionable accounting procedures and is run by people with no vested interest in football in Grant County. A sad time in Grant County for sure.

Please explain how the Ft. Thomas league is set up since you appear proclaiming them to be the "benchmark". Most coaches do their absolute best to teach fundamentals and yes there are some, and in some cases probably many,that only play to win superbowls. For this season and moving forward all NKYFL coaches will all be certified through USA Football's Heads Up program and while the focus is taking the "Head" out of football with regard to tackling there are a bevy of fundamentals and learnings that all coaches can enhance their coaching skills on. Will there still be coaches out there with the #1 goal of winning superbowls? yes, but the majority of coaches want to teach sound fundamental principles and make sure players have an excellent experience playing the sport.

I agree with everything said here.

i also don't look at Ft Thomas as being the benchmark etc. what some are misunderstanding when people talk about feeder programs is simply number of teams. Having fewer teams where the majority of players go to HS at 1 or 2 schools doesn't mean they are the benchmark, it simply means they have fewer teams that feed the local High Schools.

 

Cvb, don't mistake what a benchmark program is please. I don't know of anyone while I was involved with the BCPWFL for 8 years who ever said they wish they were more like what FT Thomas did or even the Ft Mitchell Spartans did, what they did understand however is that the majority of Spartans players went to BW or CCH and not split up among 4,5 or 6 different high schools.

 

Actually we really enjoyed BCPWFL because of the number of teams and the competition etc. So please don't confuse limited teams with being the "Benchmark" that other programs look toward because you couldn't be further from the reality of the situation.

The goal should be to teach the fundamentals and develop the players for the future period. However, even with all the break away programs that have been created this is not happening. There are still A and B teams within the programs that have broken off. The Bandits have players that are not all from Hebron and Burlington teams.

 

So, is the true goal to really build fundamentals and make sure the players are executing properly, or is it to win "superbowls", or middle school leagues. Time will tell. Union Raiders, Union Jags and the Bandits are not set up like Fort Thomas, nor is BCPWFBL. If that is the model that everyone wants to go by to be an elite program then there are still changes to be made on all fronts. And there is no denying that what they do in Fort Thomas works whether you like them or not.

 

I guess this all really just begs the question, "what role- if any- has the Ft Thomas league played in Highlands success?" Some on here make it seem like Highlands success wouldn't be possible without their youth league.

 

Having experience with Colonel Youth Football, I think it's incredibly tough to quantify. Here's How I DO think it helps.

1) I'm guessing just about every kid playing eventually matriculated to Highlands. So playing with those same kids helps to build chemistry.

2) Having no direct knowledge of the league other than what is said here, it sounds like they have fairly clear playing time rules. I'm great with that as well.

 

So that's two advantages.

 

Beyond that, I think it's on par with any other league. The coaching is likely the same- ie: a mixture of Dads and non Dads.

 

Now that BCPWFL has taken steps to align teams with High Schools, it seems advantage #1 is offset. Now it's just a matter of enforcing playing time.

 

So to me, at the end of the day, the formula seems to be:

1) Get solid coaches and teach fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

2) Align with a High School ensuring continuity in terms of personnel and terminology

3) Enforce playing time rules for grade school levels.

 

Football is not set up like AAU basketball- just not possible in terms of size, field availability, year round access etc. - and I think some people can't help but get into the mentality that the team their kid is on is like a hand picked, or invite only, AAU team.

I think too many on here are too quick to equate the success of a HS team must mean its because of the pee wee league team(s) in that area. Which I think isn't really the truth if everything be known.

 

There are a lot of factors that contribute to a High school programs success. From number of players, to open enrollment, to number of schools in the area etc. I think if the truth be told, those have a lot more to do with the success of a high school program more than the pee wee league I. That area.

I think some of the reason they don't play much varsity is because the play only in the 5th quarter. The usual situation is these are the same kids that get very few reps in practice. Coaches then claim they don't know or understand the game well enough to play in the real game, or that they aren't physically ready. It's a vicious circle. Too many kids standing around, eventually leads to kids giving up the sport. I've seen many kids that weren't a whole lot as 8 year olds, that become pretty good looking 14 year olds. Kids have to get reps in practice and then get opportunities in games. The 5th quarter is a waste of time. It simply gives coaches an out for not playing kids or giving them any attention in practice.

 

 

In the NKYFL all kids must play at least 8 plays.

I think too many on here are too quick to equate the success of a HS team must mean its because of the pee wee league team(s) in that area. Which I think isn't really the truth if everything be known.

 

There are a lot of factors that contribute to a High school programs success. From number of players, to open enrollment, to number of schools in the area etc. I think if the truth be told, those have a lot more to do with the success of a high school program more than the pee wee league I. That area.

 

I will disagree with you some. Looking back at the teams that have been in the finals the last few years look back to when those group of kids were in MS/JR.

 

Williamsburg, Bowling Green won MS state championships, Pulaski Co was runner up

 

Meade Co, Wayne Co Won their regions in MS and made it to the semi Finals

 

Highlands has the FTJL everyone talks about (and a track record that seems to back it up)

 

NCC was the NKY League MS Champion that year

 

 

So that's 7 of the 12 teams that had good MS success back in the day that funneled up to the High school. The Feeder team has to get some create for that doesn't it?

I think people are overlooking the obvious in why some programs are traditionally better than others and pee wee has very little to do with it.

 

Simply look at the schools in NKY who have traditionally been among the areas best more times than not over the past 30 years and you will notice one constant. That is the area and lack of other schools close to them which would cut into their player pool.

 

I think it's fair to say the most succesful teams in this area have been Highlands, Beechwood and I will even toss in CCH.

what do these schools have in common? They are the only school in their city or in the immediate area which means they will usually have a bigger pool of talent to choose from. You don't believe me just look at their roster size compared to other schools in their class in the area. Anyone ever go to a Dayton/ Beechwood game and didn't walk away feeling bad for the number of players Dayton had compared to BW? Anyone ever notice that HHS has more players than some 5A and 6A schools in the area? Why do you think that is? It's not because of their pee wee leagues, it's because of the players playing pee wee in the area have only 1 or 2 schools they will most likely be going to unlike other schools who will be taking players from their local pee wee leagues and dividing them up to 4-5 schools.

 

Its not that one pee wee league is better than another, it's simply because those High Schools will be getting the majority of kids that played pee wee all in one group instead of dividing those kids up to 4-5 different schools which means your talent pool gives you more of the better players to choose from.

 

Trist me, if one pee wee league was better than the others than that pee wee league would dominate in pee wee which they don't. If Campbell Co's pee wee leagues were as great as some want to think then why don't they dominate when playing against Boone teams etc.? In fact the last year my boy played Boone dominated in the all star game against Campbell and Kenton.

 

It isn't the league folks, it's where the schools are located more than anything.

I will disagree with you some. Looking back at the teams that have been in the finals the last few years look back to when those group of kids were in MS/JR.

 

Williamsburg, Bowling Green won MS state championships, Pulaski Co was runner up

 

Meade Co, Wayne Co Won their regions in MS and made it to the semi Finals

 

Highlands has the FTJL everyone talks about (and a track record that seems to back it up)

 

NCC was the NKY League MS Champion that year

 

 

So that's 7 of the 12 teams that had good MS success back in the day that funneled up to the High school. The Feeder team has to get some create for that doesn't it?

The feeder programs simply give more of the talented athletes to 1 school in the area is the difference.

 

When you have 1 or 2 schools that get the majority of players in a pee wee league that means those 1 or 2 schools have a deeper talent pool to choose from. That is all it means.

 

Put it this way. Say a pee wee league has 200 players mostly being divided up amongst 2 high schools and another league has 200 players being divided up amongst 5 high schools, which high schools do you think will have the advantage? The 1 or 2 high schools simply because they have 100 kids each to find talented players from than a school that gets 25 players from the pee wee league.

 

Or put it this way, say a pee wee (8th graders) league has 2 very talented QBs and 2 very good RB's

now that league sends the majority of its players to 1 school, now take the same league and talented players and say the majority of the players get split up among 5 schools, which school has the advantage of getting the best players?

The feeder programs simply give more of the talented athletes to 1 school in the area is the difference.

 

When you have 1 or 2 schools that get the majority of players in a pee wee league that means those 1 or 2 schools have a deeper talent pool to choose from. That is all it means.

 

Put it this way. Say a pee wee league has 200 players mostly being divided up amongst 2 high schools and another league has 200 players being divided up amongst 5 high schools, which high schools do you think will have the advantage? The 1 or 2 high schools simply because they have 100 kids each to find talented players from than a school that gets 25 players from the pee wee league.

 

Or put it this way, say a pee wee (8th graders) league has 2 very talented QBs and 2 very good RB's

now that league sends the majority of its players to 1 school, now take the same league and talented players and say the majority of the players get split up among 5 schools, which school has the advantage of getting the best players?

 

So its all about location and nothing more? If that is the case why hasn't a fayette county team done anything in years? Some of them have 3 MS feeding 1 HS team.

So its all about location and nothing more? If that is the case why hasn't a fayette county team done anything in years? Some of them have 3 MS feeding 1 HS team.

No it's not ALL about location, but that has more to do with it than pee wee leagues in the NKY area. I can't talk about Fayette co. Because I'm not familiar with the leagues etc.

 

What I'm saying is there truly isn't much of a difference when it comes to the pee wee leagues in the NKY area.

 

Its really not rocket science, the more talent to choose from usually amounts to the team being better more times than not. That has more to do with the success of a high school program than the pee wee league itself.

In the NKYFL all kids must play at least 8 plays.

 

Well - that's terrible. I wouldn't even admit that.

 

Eight WHOLE plays?!!

Well - that's terrible. I wouldn't even admit that.

 

Eight WHOLE plays?!!

 

 

Not too terrible if you are dealing with kids that won't show up for practice, or the kids that don't really want to play, but they are out there for mommy and daddy. Trust me when I say the kids that put in the work and accept the coaching of how to play fundamental football in a "safe" manner will get their 8 plays and many more. But as a coach I personally will never put a kid in danger for the sake of playing time.

Not too terrible if you are dealing with kids that won't show up for practice, or the kids that don't really want to play, but they are out there for mommy and daddy. Trust me when I say the kids that put in the work and accept the coaching of how to play fundamental football in a "safe" manner will get their 8 plays and many more. But as a coach I personally will never put a kid in danger for the sake of playing time.

 

You raise a good point in this post . If a kid is not ready to be put on a football field of competition, are coaches still obligated to play him in the NKYFL or FTFL?

You raise a good point in this post . If a kid is not ready to be put on a football field of competition, are coaches still obligated to play him in the NKYFL or FTFL?

 

I like to refer to it as Mandatory Coaching Time. This insures that all kids are safe to play.

Each level has Competitive and Instructional teams. Except Seniors.

8 plays is an average of a quarter of playing time.

Obviously this is the minimum, not the maximum amount of playing time.

It is not the best solution but it is going in a positive direction.