pinnacleyouthfootball.com Blog

Why spring football? Just ask the Rigby and Sugar Salem teams who played last year. Sugar’s fall season results were fantastic - they made the playoffs after not winning two games the fall before. Rigby won 2 more games and was also in the playoffs. Even Madison, who had a rough season in the spring, bounced back and made the playoffs as well. Not bad results.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you the only reason they all improved was because of their participation in Pinnacle Youth Football - the coaches and players made things happen - but the key to our youth improving in any sport is playing time. By doubling the number of games these teams played in year they were able to improve, and the results in the fall speak for themselves.

This year we are hoping for bigger and better things - and we’d love to have you join us. Let’s create the best league we can and get as many players as possible. Get your kids off the Xbox 360 and onto the gridiron, where they can make memories for real. Looking forward to a great spring season.

Pinnacle is teaming up with Upper Valley Grid Kid to create a fall league that will run from mid October to Thanksgiving Day! We want to express our appreciation to the directors and leaders of Grid Kid for providing us this opportunity, it is only going to get better.

I just want to go on the record now saying that the Minnesota Vikings will win their first Super Bowl next January. Also Adrian Peterson will flirt with 2,000 yards. I would guess a 14-2 or 13-3 record, wrapping up their division in mid-November and a run through the playoffs. Anyone man enough to disagree?

In the interest of moving forward the tone of future posts are going to be positive and while a close examination of how different leagues operate is discussion worthy there is no reason to cut each other down. Bear in mind that a lot of the previous blogs were written in response critical (and mostly untrue) comments made about the Pinnacle Youth Football League and its leaders. It was our way of bringing the conversation out in the open. But the bickering must stop and it will not continue in this forum. Our goal is to expand the opportunities for the youth in our area to play football, nothing more.

When we started Pinnacle last spring initially there was a lot of interest from Idaho Falls and most of the surrounding areas. That interest was quickly diminished for reasons that are known only by the participants and, in light of our new tone, lets just say we at Pinnacle were amazed how quickly coaches and others interested in spring football suddenly didn’t have enough players to move forward. Did we make some mistakes? Of course we did, the biggest was in not meeting with the leaders of Grid Kid and discussing what we wanted to do, and maybe teaming up with them to make it work better. That is our goal now. To work with IF Grid Kid.

Pinnacle is not interested in competing with Grid Kid during their fall season. It would be silly to do so. Our interest is in filling some needs that Grid Kid doesn’t, i.e., offering an All Star season that will begin as soon as Grid Kid’s games are over - ending just before Thanksgiving, growing our 2nd season of spring football to include all age groups and more teams, and offering a wider variety of camps and passing leagues next summer. Our goal is simple; we want to build better football players of all ages and create a “band of brothers” mentality, where the young football players grow to love and respect each other.

We will never be as successful as we could be if we spend any time at all focused on negativity. We will not focus on the weaknesses of other leagues or people but rather build on their strengths. This is done by sharing information, for example - you can now access the IF Grid Kid Football website through our website.

That being said, there are some keys philosophical differences between us and Grid Kid, to whit:
1 - We believe in the creation of A and B teams - for a more detailed description please visit our website
2 - We believe each community should be in control of their equipment and be closely tied to their high school program
3 - Each community should carry their own insurance
4 - We encourage teams to practice against each other often for two reasons 1) it will help both teams improve by raising the level of competition and, 2) it helps in the creation of long-term friendships as our youth interact with each other more often than game day
5 - We advocate an active board of directors that have the authority and responsibility to oversee the financial condition of the areas in which they serve - a director shouldn’t be able to spend any money at their own discretion, period. For example, she/he shouldn’t be allowed to buy dinner for their family with football funds! Times are hard for everyone and football cost are hard to pay for most families, so directors need to be overseen by their boards. We believe they shouldn’t be able to sign checks.

Now tell us what you think. Are we off base on the five ideas above? What other ideas or issues have we missed? Let us know, let’s start the conversation.

Depending where you live makes a huge difference on how much it costs to play football in the upper valley. In fact, if you happen to live in Rigby the cost can be more than two or three times higher than someone who lives elsewhere. If you register your son to play in Rigby the cost will be $125 and that won’t even get you equipment! You have to write another check for $100 or you won’t get a helmet or shoulder pads! And why has the cost increased from $90 to $225 in one year? No one knows because it isn’t the parents right to know according to the people in charge. Just write the check(s) and shut up.

For years there has been no accounting for the costs of football all over the valley, that needs to change. The equipment and supplies belong to the communities that pay for them - and everyone who has ever written a check to the “old school” league should be able to see how their money is being spent. Not in Rigby. Ask for information in Rigby and not only will you be told “no”, you could be threatened verbally in a parking lot. Don’t think it hasn’t happened.

In fact, if you coached in the Pinnacle Youth Football league last spring the Director in Rigby won’t let you coach for the “old school” league. Why? Because evidently you have been banned by the leaders in Idaho Falls. Is that crazy? It’s a punishable offense to work with the youth in the spring? To help them improve? Become better players? Better men?

Here’s an idea; lets focus on the kids and put our egos aside. It doesn’t do our youth any good when adults act like they have IQs of about room temperature. We here at Pinnacle would never ban someone from coaching in our leagues because they coached for another league. Godfrey, how about we all grow up. It is about the youth right?

Start a baseball or a basketball league in Eastern Idaho and no one even mentions it. No one cares. Just another league. In fact the guys from the other leagues will even help you market yours. Start another football league, or tourney, or even a new camp and you could get hammered by the “old school” guys.

People worry about a lot of things - like not being in control. Or letting something grow. Or change. Perhaps become better. Evolving. The fear of not controlling every aspect of youth football in east Idaho has lead some people threaten, defame, and lie about those of us who would rather have the youth program evolve than stay, “The way we’ve always done it.”

They mandate that if you practice (that’s right practice) with another team in your league the head coach will be suspended for a game. (No joke, I know of a coach that happened to last year. The funny thing was that there were three teams involved and one coach got suspended.) We feel teams should be encouraged to practice together. They want all teams in an area to be equal, we feel every player should be able to play at their skill level and not be forced to play against far superior or inferior competition based solely on age.

The “old school” league also won’t allow any of the teams to play a game they didn’t schedule. They would have everyone believe they own everything; including the right to play football.

Let’s say your son is on a team and has a cousin who plays in Salmon. They decide it would be fun to play against each other and you, as a good parent, try to set it up. You call Salmon and they tell you that if it will work in their schedule they’d be happy to do it. You call our “old school” dictators and they tell you no. They might even say they can’t let you because of “insurance reasons.” If you found out (like someone I know did) that you can play without affecting the “old school” insurance and that you could get your own insurance (like Salmon has) and told the “old school” dictators you were going to do it anyway they would lay down the law. Play against Salmon and you’re done. Why? For the simple reason that they wouldn’t be in control.

Salmon made the decision long ago to play against whoever they wanted, and that is why they cannot play any of the teams in the “old school” league. But they get to choose who they play. Why can’t we play in more than one league? I would like my son to play teams from Montana. And Blackfoot. Pocatello. Utah. I hear I’m speaking blasphemy, don’t tell the dictators or they’ll call me a troublemaker or worse - again.

I had a conversation today with someone connected with a youth league and they were very unhappy that some areas try to put all their good players on one team and the less experienced ones on another. He/she felt it was so unfair to the second team and you know what? Under our current system he/she is absolutely right because the “B” team would have to play against the “A” team instead of other “B” teams. My questions is this, “Why not have “A” and “B” teams in every area that has more than one team? Help me this is making my head hurt.

Youth football in Idaho needs to improve in both quality and quantity of games. Old mindsets of trying to keep all the teams “equal” while pretending to play for a championship is just silly. Basketball and baseball (two vastly inferior games in my opinion) figured it all out long ago. Create leagues and schedule games for the level of talent - either competitive or recreational. The entire concept of “A” and “B” teams was initially developed in baseball and continues with great success to this day. Basketball has also copied this model, the Premier League in Idaho Falls is not nearly the same as the local Parks and Rec leagues formed throughout the valley. So why not football?