Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Tryouts for youth league football set

Players in the Prescott youth tackle football league will start the season with new helmets. Tryouts for the league will be held Aug. 25.

League director Steve Crow said the helmets used in years past had simply been used longer than was safe for the players.

"I took this job over in 2000," Crow said. "The kids were playing flag and wearing reconditioned helmets."

Crow said the helmets were handed down from the high school. Each helmet had been stripped, painted in the colors and designs of professional football teams, and put into use by the youth on the league.

"They're really pretty, but they're old," Crow said.

He said helmets should generally be used about 10 years. Those helmets were that old when they were handed down to the league players.

An even bigger problem than the age of the helmets was the size. Crow said the helmets were made for teenagers, and the youth wearing the helmets are in first through sixth grades.

"We've had kids who had to fold up towels or toboggans or whatever to keep them from spinning around on their heads," Crow said.

The new helmets come in a good range of sizes so that even the smallest players will have a better fit - imperative for safety.

Crow said he's hoping that some donations will help pay for the helmets.

The remainder of the cost will be passed along to the players. Crow said participation has cost $25 in the past, but could be more expensive this year to cover the cost of the helmets. The cost wont be known until all the donations have been tallied.

Crow said that he met some opposition from parents when he made the decision to change the program from flag to tackle footall, but said he did it at least partly for safety reasons. The fact that players play in full pads makes the game safer.

The league has served more than 100 children each year though Crow said participation is down since some of the boys participate in baseball and the seasons overlap. Crow said he believes the program serves an important purpose. He called the football league a "feeder program" for the junior high school football program.

"They have a better idea of what's going on when they get to the seventh grade," Crow said.

League play commences in mid-September and continues for about six weeks.

"I'm really proud of this program," Crow said. "I think it's a really solid program."

Registration information will be handed out to students at Prescott Elementary School and McRae Middle School on Aug. 21. Registration will be held from 4-8 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Prescott Parks Department, 120 East Ross. The office is located behind Fire Station #2 on Rosston Road.

Crow said children who want to participate and those who are moving to another age division must try out on Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. at the Prescott High School practice field.

There will be some renovations happening at parks around the city of Prescott over the next few months.

The city has completed the requirements for a grant that will pay for several projects.

Prescott Parks Department Director Steve Crow said the grants "have been in the works for at least a year."

The grant is being divided between the city park, Johnson Sports Complex and McRae Park. The last phase in the grant process was met with a public meeting to consider the potential environmental impact of the project at Johnson complex.

Crow said the fields at the Johnson complex are important because of the number of people who use the facilities. He estimated more than 250 players hit the fields between January and June.

"The number one thing is parking," Crow said. "When there are games being played on all the fields, the parking is terrible.

Part of the project is graveling additional parking. Crow said there have been instances in which vehicles got stuck after rains left parts of the parking area overly wet.

Bleachers will also be addressed at one of the fields, along with dugouts for the little league field.

Crow said members of the parks department also hope to build batting cages, but said that will depend on whether matching funds can be obtained from the school district and the city.

"McRae Park is going to have a lot of improvements," Crow said.

Bleachers is near the top of that list, though Crow said covering the dugouts was also a priority. There'll likely also be a new field built at McRae for t-ball, Crow said. He said portable fencing may also find its way into the budget so that existing fields can be used for younger teams.

Only minor improvements are expected at Livingston Field at the city park in the form of fencing, Crow said.