Sunday, March 3, 2013

The death of youth football in Holly Springs? Is it near?

The town's parks and recreation department is proposing to change the youth football program (Yellow Jackets) from a competitive 11 man format to more of an intramural 8 man format. In addition, competitive games against other town programs is proposed to be eliminated. It appears that the department is basing this proposal on the results of a survey taken after last season. Now I am not a professional pollster, but the questions in this poll reminded me of those we often see during the presidential campaigns. As we know if Fox conducted a "random" poll of voters, the results would lean right, if CNN did a poll the results would lean left. The questions in this poll/survey appeared slanted in favor of elimination of the current program format, in my opinion. Like anything, people will have good and bad experiences. My son played in this program and it was positive and we enjoyed the travel to other towns with our "football family". The long practices grew tiresome, but we realized it was necessary. Coaching can have an impact on one's impression of the program, so can play time and parental expectations. I can tell you that the practice and preparation required for the Yellow Jacket football program is much different than rec basketball or soccer. There is a lot more game preparation, conditioning and discipline involved. Some parents are not ready for this, I have seen it. This may have had an impact on the survey. There is a group of parents who are contesting this proposal and I am sure the parks and recreation department will be digging in their heels on this. The mission of the department has always been around recreational and all inclusive athletics and not competitive. So it will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

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