Privileged or Obligated?
Spring 2002
Tiger Ellison, Middletown High School's great football
coach, was the inventor of the run and shoot offense.
Tiger was also ahead of his time in character
development. He insisted on a pregame announcement before his team would
take the field:
"The young people you see out here tonight have
chosen to wear their school colors in competition. They come from many
races, different skill levels, yet strive to perform as one unified team.
With that privilege comes an obligation to accept being a leader.They may
get some bark scraped off their nose, they may fall during a difficult
cheer stunt. Their display of courage symbolizes America at its best."
Think of how those words from the 1960s may apply to
today's problems with youth. No social force is stronger than to seek
acceptance. Our "privileged" youth are those who get adult guidence in
sports.They could in turn help others with the constant pressures for peer
recognition. Perhaps we could eliminate school shootings, drug addiction,
and hate.
As coaches we could help to guide the "privileged" to
support victims of hate. The peer program already in existence in your
community would be glad to help give your team some guidelines. Schools are
more diverse than at any time in our country's history. There is an
important need for understanding our differences.
Talk to your team about hate, bullies, and ridicule.
Help your kids learn the value of listening to their troubled classmates.
Some youth won't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Bring out the character within your team -- it's your obligation to Tiger!
Give back as the excitement reigns!
Fall 2001
Jim Taft, AYF
vice president, was excited. At our semi-annual meeting, Jim was enthused to
say the least.
"Can you believe we have reached our five-year goal
enrollment already?" Since this was our fourth year, Jim had reason to be
excited. I am as pleased as Jim is. How did this happen so soon? Simply put,
it matched our new slogan, "Giving Back."
Thirty years ago, Jim and I had this dream to form a
true national youth football organization that would be non-intrusive to its
members and, best of all, kid-friendly. For the next 25 years, we both went
our separate ways, me to college and pro football coaching and Jim as
administrator with another national youth organization. However, we always
stayed in touch and, upon occasion, met to discuss our dream. We figured
that, for those of us involved in a sport that we loved, we should be
compelled to "give something back." Those volunteers who already give their
time and attention to kids for no reward should be our heroes. If we were a
business, we would be McDonalds: quality, service and price. Our customers
are the adult volunteers and kids.
American Youth Football, Inc., is user-friendly with
limited paperwork. We provide insurance and lawsuit protection with one of
the finest insurance carriers in America along with an outstanding National
Awards Program. We have NFL local grants, Shoes for Study, Anti-Drug
Program, All-American teams for football and cheerleading, Coach of the Year
awards for football and cheerleading coaches, and Volunteer of the Year
awards. The Volunteer of the Year award can be awarded to male or female,
one or both. Beginning with the 2002 season (Season V), we will have the
Hall of Honor, which is available for those who have served at least five
years in the AYF program.
Well, there you go! All of this for $15 per team, $5
per cheer squad and $5 per flag-football team.
Make my order two all-beef patties, special sauce,
lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion on a sesame seed bun! Now, more than ever,
our kids need those great people who "Give Back!"
Check out these past President's Messages articles:
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