The Largest Youth Football & Cheer Organization in the Country

Things look rosy for Pacific program

By Mike Scandura, Special to AmericanYouthFootball.com

Craig Burris, who serves as the Pacific Coast Youth Football & Cheerleading commissioner as well as the Western Region Director for American Youth Football, may not be a fan of the hit TV show "Survivor." But Burris can imagine what it's like to be all alone on an island.

"We raised weights five pounds across the board when we joined AYF last April, whereas the other organization we were with had constraints," he said. "If we didn't play within those constraints, we would have been on an island by ourselves.

"We also dropped the older-lighter concept and didn't make older kids play even though they were lightweights. Coaches were getting older kids and squeezing them into sardine cans to play."

Not good. Even worse, by the end of last season Pacific Coast was "down about 1,000 kids." According to Burris, joining AYF has helped boost membership by nearly 24 percent — to the point where the program numbers more than 100 teams and some 3,000 youngsters in football, plus 1,200 cheerleaders.

In the process, Pacific Coast added three cities (Belmont Shore, Monte Bello and Long Beach) and now numbers 16. Virtually every association added one team, and some added more.

That's not all. Burris raves about the benefits of having "an NFL partnership" and the fact that each association saves over $1,000 when it comes to insurance, registration fees and the fact they're not required to attend various conventions. But the impact on kids was of paramount importance.

"I think what we were doing was unhealthy, with the older-lighter concept," said Burris. "We took them out and made them play within their own peer group. We've increased (the number of) teams, and going into the playoffs 75 percent of the cities participating have a team in the playoffs.