A New Tone
Sunday, August 9th, 2009In 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.
