In a barn south of the city, three former Seymour High School football teammates met several times to discuss starting a youth program.
Brad Boas, Clayton Darlage and Drew Storey, who were a part of coach Joe Goodman’s 12-1 team in the fall of 2001 and graduated in 2002, had talked about the idea for a couple of years.
In the summer of 2020, the Trinity Youth Football League came to fruition when Darlage reached out to the other two and said he would like to get football going again. Darlage is principal at Trinity Lutheran High School in Seymour.
“It was important to us to sit down and make sure the right pathway was there and the mission was there and all of the fundamentals, the foundation,” said Boas, who was named president of the nonprofit league’s board of directors.
“This was grassroots, kind of like, ‘How do you do this?'” said Storey, who is vice president. “What was cool is we knew that for a program to be successful, it had to happen really organic. Although we have a plan, we’re nimble enough to say, ‘We want it to be organic. We want it to feel like it’s the right amount of growth for our community, for the kids that participate.'”
The trio initially mapped out a four-year plan with the first season being flag football for boys and girls in kindergarten through second grade. It soon expanded to include third grade.
“We had an overwhelming number of parents come to us and say, ‘Hey, my kid is in second grade. They are going to go to third grade. We’d really like to participate,’ so we said, ‘OK, organically, let’s grow the right way,'” Storey said.
Player registration is open through July 15 online at trinityyouthfootball.com.
So far, the number of registrations has exceeded expectations, which the board considers a good problem to have since this is a new league.
“It is so thrilling. I don’t know how else to describe it,” Storey said. “I’ve been a part of a lot of action here in Seymour for a while now and born and raised here. It’s an influential area, but through TYFL, I have been overwhelmed with instant success and we haven’t even snapped a football. We’re certainly not cutting off registration. We’ll take on as many kids as are willing to participate.”
The cost of registration is $50 and includes a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, which players will wear on game days. The league will provide jerseys and flag belts on practice and game days. Players are responsible for their own cleats.
Once a parent registers his or her child, they will have access to a parent portal to receive communication from coaches and view photos.
A coaches/parents clinic is set for Aug. 7 at Trinity’s football field, and the first practices will be Aug. 10 and 12 before the first game Aug. 14. Then practices will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, and games will be at 9 a.m. Saturdays. Overall, there will be six games and eight practices.
The number of kids who register will determine how many teams there will be, Boas said.
When putting the league together, the board based all decisions on maintaining a faith-based athletic experience.
“At this level, we will be simply introducing the game of football — a lot of structure, a lot of mannerisms, character we’re trying to build all around that Christ-centered focus,” Boas said.
Storey said they recognize not everybody grows up in the same church environment and not everybody goes to church. They’ve been specific in saying they want it to be an athletic experience that has faith involved, but it’s a choice.
“Pastors have been helpful in trying to develop the devotional aspect of this and tying it back to something that’s relevant for K-3 and a children’s message,” Storey said.
Along with learning about football, the kids will be exposed to another important lesson: Philanthropy.
Following the game Sept. 11, Boas said there will be festivities related to a day of giving.
“When we sat down and did all of this, we put this schedule together, it was important to teach the kids a little about philanthropy, so having the kids know what it is to give back to our own youth in our community,” Boas said. “We’ve built in in the middle of the schedule a philanthropic idea to give back for the kids. We’re working on that piece of it.”
Storey said it would be nice to have a representative from the benefiting organization to attend and share information about their work.
“So that the kids really understand there is stuff happening here in Seymour and there’s a need,” he said.
Not only has the league had a good response in player participation, the board also has received interest from parents and others wanting to volunteer their time.
“All of those nights sitting in the barn talking about vision and how to pull that together, once we hit the ground running, boom, it was an explosion of people saying, ‘How can we help?'” Storey said. “We knew early on that it couldn’t just be the three of us. We had to come up with a volunteer army. We are a volunteer board. Everyone that we asked to participate said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to help.'”
Knowing not every parent wants to coach, Storey said the board is coming up with options for people to help so the whole family can be involved in the experience.
Boas said the league is a partner of USA Football, which is the governing body for football in the country. With that comes coach certifications, safety training and concussion and excessive heat protocols.
USA Football requires a program to have a league director to maintain affiliation, but Storey said they decided to purchase that experience for each coach and each board member.
“They get the opportunity to really learn ‘How am I supposed to teach football and what am I supposed to do, what’s the plan of action if there’s an emergency or some sort of football-related risk?'” he said. “That’s huge.”
A week after the final game of the season, players and volunteers will have an opportunity to walk in the Seymour Oktoberfest parade Oct. 2.
“At the end of this whole thing the first year, I can tell you we know that we’re going to have a great experience for the youth. It’s guaranteed,” Storey said.
“When you’re so passionate about it, you don’t accept anything else,” Boas said. “We want to make a difference in these kids’ lives.”
In 2022, the plan is to offer flag football for kindergarten through second grade and incorporate a tackle division for third and fourth grades. Then in 2023, a fourth and fifth grade tackle division will be added. Finally, in 2024, there will be a seventh and eighth grade tackle division.
“Each year, we’ll reevaluate what that plan looks like so that we’re growing organically,” Storey said.
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Maintaining a Christ-centered focus, the Trinity Youth Football League’s mission is to develop young athletes with the aptitude to become leaders and Christian servants both on and off the football field through lifelong values of teamwork, sportsmanship, respect and a superior work ethic.
Player registration is available online at trinityyouthfootball.com through July 15.
The board of directors consists of Brad Boas, president; Drew Storey, vice president; Katie Martin, secretary; Matt Johnson, treasurer; Chris Stahl, director of fundraising and new business development; and Jacob Corne, director of league division. Clayton Darlage and Ryan Cremeans are ex-officio members. There currently are two vacancies on the board.
To learn about volunteer opportunities or make a donation, email [email protected]. Information also is available online at facebook.com/trinityyouthfootballleague.
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