Letter from Coach Adams

MESSAGE FROM OUR HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, RICK ADAMS

Parents,

With the end of the school year fast approaching, I’d like to wish you a safe and pleasant summer after what’s proven to be a very unprecedented spring.  As coaches this time of year we start to look ahead to next years football season.   In this uncertain time we are hoping for the best and that our kids, K-12, will get to experience a somewhat normal fall scholastic and athletic season.  

One of my goals for next year is to enhance our youth football program and offer our 3rd-6thgraders the option to participate in a travel football programthat offers various options from flag to padded flag and an exciting modern version of contact football called Rookie Tackle. In recent years there have been updates to youth football with new game types that have less players. In addition, this version uses a smaller field with rules that enhances safety, encourages significant participation for all players and acts as a “bridge” between flag and full on 11 on 11 tackle football.  

I have been working with one of the parents in our community, Joel Woods, who has experience coaching both varsity and youth football. We have been doing research on how other local area communities address youth football.  Our mission here is to encourage lifelong physical activity, total-person development, and prepare kids for excellence in high school on (all the sports they chose to play) and off the field that our assets to the city of Independence.  What we would like to do is develop a program that is not only supported and guided by our High School staff but also a national organization called USA Football, a group of medical, football and long-term athlete development experts. 

USA Football is a tremendous program that provides teams and leagues with up-to-date guidelines for practices and games as well as a youth football coaching certification process.   We strongly believe that our Independence kids would receive a huge benefit by being engaged in a program that is integrated with the USA Football guidelines and best practices for enhancing fun, safety, and skill development.

In addition, our schools conference, the CVC,is in the process of developing their own Youth Football League that will begin this fall.    This new league, which right now has 6 schools involved, will have 2 levels, 5 on 5 - 3rd/4th grade flag football and 7 on 7 - 5th/6th grade Rookie Tackle and will be associated with USA Football as well.  With the smaller number of kids per team the idea is that each city may have more than one team per level involved.   

We are excited about this opportunity to offer travel football to our community for those that would be interested in this path on their athletic journeys.  Our Rec Center will support this program as they can but in order to move forward we will have to create a separate non-profit organization to be able to participate similar to what the majority of the communities who offer travel football do.   We will need support from our community to make this happen, parents who are willing to help as board members, and coaching our various teams, etc.   We will be holding a few meetings over the summer so if interested contact Joel Woods at the email below.

We are planning on having a registration nighton Monday July 13thfrom 6pm-8pmat location TBA.  If you cannot make this event we will have a mail in registration option as well.    Costs will be $75 for 3rd/4th grade flag and $150 for 5th/6th grade Rookie Tackle.  There will be an additional one-time equipment fee for the padded teams as well.  We just found out that the Cleveland Browns will be supporting our league and will provide the Flag teams with uniforms/flags and the Rookie Tackle teams with helmets and possibly shoulder pads as well.   The Browns will also be hosting a virtual Parent meeting for the league on June 22ndfrom 6pm-8pm.

We are looking at starting practices the week of August 24th, which will be 3 x per week to start and 2 x per week during the season.  Our 6-week long seasons for the CVC league will start the 2ndweekend of September.

We will also be hosting our first annual summer youth football camp, called Victory Camp.  This will be for 1st– 6thgraders July 28-30thfrom 6pm-8pm.    We will be utilizing social distancing measures for the camp that will be prudent at that point in time.  Signups are through the Rec Center.  We also have plans for a Youth night at our 2ndhome Varsity football game this fall.   

If you are interested in learning more and supporting our vision for Independence Youth Football contact Joel Woods at independenceyouthfootball@gmail.com. He will send you more detailed information to help you make a decision if this program is right for your child. 

If are seriously considering in registering for this fall we need you to email Joel by June 10thso we can secure the necessary equipment from the Cleveland Browns as they need an estimate of our numbers at that time.

We have created a Facebook Group, Indy Youth Football, as well as an Instagram account @independenceyouthfootball to support this idea and post updates for parents and I encourage you to follow those platforms.  Also, we are working on website, www.independenceyouthfootball.com which we hope to have live some time in June. 

In closing, I appreciate your consideration for supporting travel football here in Independence.   I’m confident in the group of local parents who have stepped up so far to make this a possibility and I’m excited for all the opportunities your children will have to play football this fall.  

Wishing you and your families the best this summer,

Rick Adams, Head Football Coach – Independence High School