"The people I played youth football with back in the '70s have kids now, and we want our kids to play football in our town," said Club President Peter Masi.
The league has been well received throughout the community. After just three weeks of pre-registration, more than 70 boys have enlisted - good enough to fill three weight classifications. With another two weeks of early signups, Masi is forecasting enrollment to reach 100, giving the league the ability to have five weight divisions.
A selling point for the Nonnewaug Gridiron Club has been the league's ability to establish a cheerleading program for young girls.
"There are a lot of parents who have daughters that would like to be cheerleaders, but they have to wait until middle school, and even then they can only have so many girls on the squad," Masi said. "So by having youth football, we're providing the cheer aspect of it. That has excited a lot of parents. There is a lot more to us than just playing football."
Organization and fundraising have been the centerpieces for the Nonnewaug Gridiron Club's success. The Club's first fundraising project, a cocktail party held in November that displayed plaques, photos, jerseys, and posters of children playing youth football in the community in the 1970s and '80s, netted $28,000.
The organization held another successful fundraising gathering during the NFL conference championships. The Club plans to continue its money raising efforts with the help of a local veterinarian. The veterinarian is donating and performing rabies vaccination with all proceeds going directly to the league. A "battle of the bands" fundraiser, featuring former Miles Davis jazz guitarist Joe Beck, is also on the horizon for the Club.
With successful fundraising efforts, Masi and his crew hope to establish a football program at Nonnewaug High School as early as 2005. The school has never had football at any level; the Noonewaug Gridiron Club hopes to change that, as it has submitted a business proposal to the school district offering to fund the program.
According to Masi, football is much more than a sport played on a 100-yard field, and the reasons for instituting both youth and high school football in the community are simple.
"Football is the natural rally sport," said Masi. "As a community, you come out for football games on Friday nights. We're not huge a community, so we can still have that feeling that everyone knows each other. Football can open up better lines of communication between the town, the school districts and businesses, because we're now congregating at one central event. Right now that doesn't happen."
Two other towns taking steps to build youth football and cheer programs in their communities are Iola and Scandinavia, WI. The two communities have come together to establish the Iola-Scandinavia Firebirds.
Starting a new youth football program in your town? Tell USA Football about it. We'd love to include you in our next article. Send your information to Ed Passino at: epassino@usafootball.com