With the popularity of the sport of soccer combined with the eternally growing popularity of video games, and the growth of individual events such as the X-Games and other such spin-off extreme events of it’s ilk, it seems that most sports these days have seen a decline in what was once each sports steady growth.
Kids playing baseball on an open field in the summer, or for that matter playing any type of a pick-up game on any open field, are hard to find these days. When you ask a youngster if they play any sport these days, you will most likely get a frown and a question back at you something like; “You mean a traditional sport?”
Are you kidding me?
However, if there is any doubt that football and cheerleading are popular sports amongst this generation of boys and girls, one needs only to listen to this from Dave Gleason, Victor Blue Devils Youth Football and Cheerleading (VYF&C) President.
“We currently have 195 football players, 194 boys and 1 girl, Samantha Torlish, 11, of Farmington. Teams are based on ages and weights. The players are placed on 3 different teams at 3 different levels based on ages and weights. We also have 78 girls in our cheer program at all three levels this season.”
That’s a lot of kids to keep track of, let alone give direction and get positive results from. Something which is the norm at VYF&C. With plenty of support and volunteer help pre-season practices and the upcoming scrimmages this weekend seem to be right on track.
“Both the cheer and football participants have been practicing 4 days per week in preparation of our first game on Labor Day weekend when our Gold and White teams will play under the lights at 6 p.m. on Saturday September 4th on the campus of Victor Central School,” reports Gleason. “Our Blue team plays the next day against the visiting Brighton Jr. Barons”
Gleason also reports that his players have plenty of volunteer coaches available to help give meaningful instruction.
“Our seven different football teams are coached by approximately 6 volunteer coaches per team. Coach Kurt Albers of our C White team and coach Randy Johnson of our A Blue team are coaching without having any kids of their own in the program. Just the love of the game and the willingness to give of themselves to the youth in our community keep them coming back. Thank goodness for that. All of these coaches are really dedicated people who put a lot of their time into this program.
