The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Big Pines and and the Marshall Youth Football League recently merged to form the NFL Youth League.

The Boys & Girls Club already hosts a spring basketball league, the Junior NBA, and is in the process of working with Marshall's Upward Soccer to create a soccer league for older children.

Football will mark the third sport the Boys & Girls Club will be involved in.

"Marshall Youth Football came to us and wanted to merge," said Bryan Partee, director of the Boys & Girls Club. "We did not just wake up and say, 'We're going to do football.' We want to work together and form those partnerships to best benefit the kids."

Under the merger, there will be two leagues , a flag league and a tackle league. Cheerleading will accompany the tackle league.

The flag league will accept boys and girls from kindergarten through fourth grade. Children will be placed on teams based upon the elementary school they attend.

"Flag was selected because we read way too many reports telling about the possible dangers of (playing) tackle (football) at too early an age," Partee said. "It is not likely that a kid will get permanently injured, but damage to their growth plates could occur."

The tackle league, meanwhile, will accept boys from fourth grade through sixth grade. Parents of fourth graders will be allowed to choose which league they would prefer that their child competes in.

Also, in an effort to encourage children to compete in school-sanctioned sports, seventh graders will be referred to the junior high team.

"Those kids that might be in it just to play for fun or that their parents don't want them playing junior high school ball will be sent back (to the NFL Youth League)," Partee said.

The tackle league will also hold a player evaluation and will enforce a weight limit at the running back position.

"We can't be a Boys & Girls Club and exclude bigger kids," Partee said. "Some kids are big because they have weight issues while other kids are just big. Either way, those kids need exercise and need to be part of a team. Plus, it is probably the bigger kids that will continue to play football beyond the NFL Youth."

Children will be guaranteed to play 50 percent of each game, unless there are discipline issues. Each player will also receive NFL licensed uniforms.

Cost will be $50 per child, but Partee said they will make sure that all children interested in playing will be able to play.

Changes from the previous Marshall Youth Football League will also include:

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Big Pines will be the final authority as far as discipline and organization.

All tackle leagues from Marshall Youth will be redrafted.

The league will act as a legacy league, which means that coaches will retain players from year to year.

All coaches will be submitted to background checks.

All coaches will go through a coaching clinic hosted by Marshall ISD Athletic Director Thedrick Harris and his staff.

All children will also be required to have a physical. Failure to obtain a physical before the season starts will result in being ineligible for games.

Partee said that Dr. Tex Houchen, of Marshall, has offered to do free physicals for children that have financial issues.

CHEERLEADING

Cheerleading will accompany the tackle league and will accept girls from third to seventh grade. The cost will be $30 per child.

Marshall High graduate and former Maverick cheerleader Tasha Parker will coordinate cheers for all of the girls.

KEY DATES

Sign ups will end July 11 ... Evaluations will take place July 12 ... The draft will take place July 26 ... Practices will begin Aug. 4 ... Games will begin Sept. 6.

Boys & Girls Club to host soccer league

The Boys & Girls Club is also in cooperation with Upward Soccer to form a soccer league available to children ages 11 to 16 next fall.

The KickIT league will be an 11-person soccer league and will be broken into appropriate age groups that are yet to be determined. Sign-up is set to end July 18 with evaluations following the next day and a draft to be held July 26.

Practices will start Aug. 4 with games beginning Sept. 6. Cost will be $40 per kid. Children will receive authentic national team jerseys.

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Contact Jon Dustin Brooks at jbrooks@coxmnm.com.