As many of you may already be aware, there is a new Youth Football and Cheer league forming in the Rochester Area. The new league addresses several of the concerns that our past and current board members have had - especially in the areas of age cutoff of 8/1 for both football and cheer, and ages and weight groupings for football.
Penfield Youth Football and Cheer has decided to move to the new league - Rochester Youth Football and Cheer for the 2015 season!!
We as a program have consistently communicated that we feel that age 7 is too young to participate in tackle football, that having 6th, 7th, 8th, and some 9th graders on the same team at the A-level is not right, and that it is more important that participants get to play and cheer with their peers in their grade as opposed to their age on August 1st. Several of our families also told us that the ages and weights were not optimal by not enrolling their 7, 9 and 11 year olds last season - we heard you!
This new league addresses all of these issues in the following manner:
For both Football and Cheer -
Flag - participants entering Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade in Sept 2015
C-Team - participants entering 3rd Grade and 4th Grade in Sept 2015
B-Team - participants entering 5th Grade and 6th Grade in Sept 2015
A-Team - participants entering 7th Grade and 8th Grade (and 9th Grade for CHEER ONLY) in Sept 2015
***FLAG***YES - I said FLAG***
If we can get enough participants for Flag Football and Cheer - then we will be participating in the flag program!! (I told you there were exciting changes coming!!!)
Football families may be wondering why there are no weights associated with each level, and that is because there are no weight limits imposed by the new league. Several studies have been conducted and they have found that football related injuries occur more frequently in programs with ages and weights similar to what we had last season then they do with programs that are grade based. Here are some highlights for you:
- Most returning participants will play / cheer at the same level they did last season (except older/lighters)
- Quarterbacks and Running Backs will be limited to 120lbs for C, 140lbs for B, and 170lbs for A
- All football players are weighed ONCE - at certification - that weight determines if they can play QB or RB. There are no weekly weigh ins - which means players can show up to games properly hydrated and fed!
- Current members of the RYFC are : Penfield, Fairport, Victor, Webster, East Rochester, Churchville, Gates, and Rush Henrietta.
- Cheer will participate in 3 competitions and football games; Football will have a 7 game regular season + playoffs; Championship games will be in Victor
I understand that this is a ton of information that I just communicated, and that many of you will have questions. We will be holding a RYFC Information Meeting on Thursday, April 9th at 7pm in the Community Room at the Penfield Community Center.
IF you have already registered, and plan to make this exciting journey with us, you don't need to do anything yet. We will place your child at the level of play based on school grade, and sometime before practice starts, we will ask you to fill in a new registration form.
IF you have already registered, and no longer want to participate in the program, simply email me, and we will remove your child from the program, and destroy your registration paperwork and check.
IF you missed registration (or didn't want your child to participate under the old ages/weights) - please email me to hold your spot.... and then EITHER bring your COMPLETED registration package to the Information Meeting on 4/9 or MAIL your COMPLETED registration package to:
PYFC
PO Box 141
Penfield, NY 14526
Thanks so much for your attention on this. The entire PYFC Board of Directors is very excited for the new league and the upcoming season!
Karen
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