Youth football standards

Coach,

Our County league is an independent league that has belong to
American Youth Football, Inc
(www.youthsportsusa.com/ayf/ayf.htm) for the past three years. We
were looking for the benefits of a national organization such as
insurance for our coaches & athletes, education for our volunteer coaches;
tournament information; and general guidelines....yet permitted us to run
our league.

The AYF gave us everything we we're lookin for... the benefits of being
affiliated with a national organization yet freedom to run our league
based on our unique area. A one-size-fits-all age/weight guideline
doesn't work for everyone because of the difference in population
(suburban -vs- rural).

We are lucky that in our league, we don't want to turn away any
athlete who wants to play football. So we offer both an age/weight divisions
(65-lb, 75-lb, 85-lb, 95-lb, 115-lb) and and unlimited middle school
divison. It was difficult to find a national football organization that
would permit us to have an unlimited division. We also have a tougher
mandatory play rule than most leagues or national programs. AYF
gave us everything that we needed.

I believe AYF is listening to the thousands of programs that are
independent and would be a good source to create a national youth
coaches association.

Coach Ron