YMCA, Eagles form league

Recently, the youth from the YMCA and Eagles football teams have joined together to form one big league.

They have the privilege of practicing and playing together on the pristine fields of the Highlands County Sports Complex.

The YMCA flag football program started about three years ago with 60 kids.

Dave Scheck, program director for the YMCA, said, "Since the merging of the two programs, 180 kids now play on the league. We have tripled the program by joining together."

The kids, ages 7 through 14, are about to wrap up their first flag football season as one large league.

Both organizations wanted to increase the size of their league. A 5- and 6-year-old age group was added to increase participation.

"The more teams, the more competition," Scheck said.

Scheck has been directing at the YMCA for over three years and he continues to strive to find ways to keep Highlands County's youth involved in some sort of athletics.

"I wanted to add something in the summer time," he said. "Flag football seemed like a good thing to do. I watched the NFL flag games on ESPN and we follow the same rules. We really appreciate the Eagles joining their league with ours so we can make our leagues stronger and allow more kids to play. I also appreciate the sports complex and what Vicki Pontius has done for us."

Historically the young athletes would have played on the Max Long fields near the YMCA, however the fields are being redone and it is good thing that the sports complex fields are available for the kids to play on.

Scheck is very happy with the arrangement.

"I like it; it's a great place to play," he said. "The staff keeps it up real nice and they are very accommodating. One of the best things about playing there is that we are able to keep all the teams together. We don't have to spread them out."

The season will come to an end July 16th. While enjoying the sport and playing with teammates and friends, the youngsters have a chance to play before moving into the "tackle" version of the game. It gives them a chance to play the sport, brush up on the rules, tactics and skills, improve their game and have fun in the process. The focus is on football education, participation and sportsmanship.

Cliff Howell, coach for the Eagles, also is very happy about the merging of the two leagues.

"I wanted to bring back the weight division league," Howell said. "Some of the smaller kids just couldn't compete against the bigger kids. Sometimes the game elevates to it's all about winning; but at the end of the day, an eight-year-old is still an eight-year-old and it should be about the sport not the score. We have had a lot of fun and good feedback from the parents. This has been a good mesh. We have filled all the teams and we have four teams in every age bracket."

Howell started coaching with the Miami Beach Police Athletic League. He tried to play college ball, but was undersized. But his desire to give back never left him.

Things turned around for him when he got married and moved to Sebring. When his son turned five, he decided to start coaching flag football. He gives his wife, Deborah Kay, much of the credit.

"She is the backbone of the team and the team mom," Howell said. "When I'm not hard enough on the kids, she'll speak up and the kids respect her. We have a great coaching team, too. We share ideas and bounce them off of each other. We have open lines of communication and I trust every one of them to do what they need to do."

Howell has always been athletic and he remembers some of the coaches that impacted his life.

"You'll remember coaches for years to come," he stated. "I want to leave my imprint. Some day I may be able to say, 'Hey, I coached that kid.'" "

Football is the kind of sport that teaches more than how to play a game," he said. "It's about camaraderie. Some kids just want to be a part of something and win or lose, when we go to Beef O Brady's after the games, its all smiles.

We are grateful for this complex. How can anything be bad when it is getting kids off the streets? This place is a great use of taxpayer dollars and it means the world to me and the kids. I wish we had another one just like it. It is so conducive for football. This is where we want to be. We take pride in this place and help clean up after the games. We walk and pick up all the trash we can find. This is our home and we want to help keep it clean."

Howell also has great respect for the YMCA.

"I think the YMCA runs a class organization," Howell stated. "For Dave to reach out to us, it made us feel good that another organization would join up with us. Dave's a good guy. Hopefully we can do this again next year."

Howell doesn't expect every kid to go on to play college or professional football.

"At the end of the day," he said, "they will not all go on to play college, but they may coach my son on these fields someday."