Keizertimes., January 31, 2020, Page 10, Image 10

PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 31, 2020
District offi cials met with
the high school coaches in the
Salem-Keizer area in mid-De-
cember to notify them of the
possible changes. According
to Gragg, coaches were unan-
imously in support of fl ag
football being played in grades
K-4 and a majority of the
coaches support the move-
ment towards fi fth and sixth
graders play at that level is way
too much of a jump.
“From I understand from
reading everything about it,
continued from Page A14
rookie-tackle is like tee-ball
for football. It’s the introduc-
tough to quantify enjoyment
tory level to tackle football.
or fun, but certainly sports
Are we really going to have
specialization plays a role, as
fi fth and sixth graders playing
well as the threat of being in-
at a tee-ball level?” Hughes
jured.”
said.
While the Ad-Hoc Com-
Wa l k e r
mittee
has
also had a
zero authority
major prob-
over the youth “ From what I understand from
lem
with
leagues, they reading everything about it rookie-
holding
a
put out their
public hear-
position state- tackle is like tee-ball for football.
ing at 9 a.m.
ment a little It’s the introductory level to tackle
on a weekday.
over a year
“The only
ago that fea- football. Are we really going to have
reason you
tured several fi fth and sixth graders playing at a
do a hear-
recommenda-
ing at 9 a.m.
tions that they tee-ball level?”
is that you
wanted youth
— Kyle Hughes, don’t want
leagues to con-
McNary Youth Football President
people
to
sider.
show up. You
B e f o r e
do it when
Gragg joined
the Ad-Hoc Committee, grade teams implementing people are least available to
come comment,” Walker said.
Gragg claims that he sent rookie tackle football.
Programs that played Tu-
Gragg admitted that he
some of the committee’s rec-
ommendations to personnel alatin Youth Football League wished that he had worded
at McNary Youth Football as (TYFL), which is the biggest the email differently.
youth football organization
“The way it was presented,
“food for thought.”
Gragg believes that if youth in the state, would be most which I totally get, it sound-
programs adjusted their model affected by this proposal. All ed like a foregone conclusion.
to fi t within the Ad-Hoc’s rec- six high schools have youth Because it was received that
ommendations, that programs programs that compete in way, I think it raised the ten-
would be safer and might start the TYFL and use the facul- sion level. I think this ambi-
ties of their respective high tious athletic director got his
to see more growth.
“It gives us the opportunity schools — even though each cart ahead of the horse a little
to provide an age appropri- youth program has no direct bit,” Gragg said. “It was way
ate, safe, environment for kids affi liation with any of the high too formal. The invitation was
way too formal. When I used
to be successful and have fun schools.
On Dec. 19, Gragg relayed formal language, people’s re-
playing football and hopefully
increase numbers,” Gragg said. this information about what sponse was that they needed
At an Ad-Hoc meeting the district was considering in to make their voices heard.”
Instead of having a public
during the fall, there was a dis- an email to all the presidents
cussion about how to reward of Salem-Keizer TYFL orga- hearing on the morning of
Jan. 9, Gragg met with Sa-
youth programs that align with nizations.
In the email, Gragg also in- lem-Keizer TYFL presidents
their position statement. Gar-
rett said that youth programs vited TYFL board members on Monday, Jan. 6, along
that comply with the Ad-Hoc to a public hearing with the with Kraig Sproles and Lar-
Committee’s position state- option of providing testimony ry Ramirez — who are both
members of the Salem-Keizer
ment, could be considered as on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 9 a.m.
The message did not sit School District’s cabinet.
“blue ribbon” schools.
“We had a very good con-
OSAA member schools well with people involved
with
McNary
Youth
Football
versation.
Our intent was to
also reserve the right to re-
go in there and just listen and
quire compliance from anyone for multiple reasons.
TYFL had just made the hear what people’s concerns
who uses their facilities.
In December, Gragg at- change in 2019 to have all were and where they were
tended a Salem-Keizer athletic third and fourth graders play coming from. We wanted to
directors meeting and suggest- rookie tackle football. Mc- get all the information that
ed that the school district con- Nary Youth Football President we could. It was a three-hour
sider using the Ad-Hoc posi- Kyle Hughes believes that long meeting, but it was really
tion statement as a conditional now making fi fth and sixth good,” Gragg said. “Tualatin
use for district facilities.
“I had made the statement
that this was something I
would like to do at McNary.
And that led to a discussion
where the majority of athlet-
ic directors said that this was a
good direction. I wouldn’t say
it was unanimous, but most of
the athletic directors said that
this made sense,” Gragg said.
“This wasn’t driven by me, but
it was suggested by me.”
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Valley Football is one of the
safest, if not the safest program
in the state. They already have
rookie tackle football at the
third and fourth grade level,
which is a safer, developmen-
tally appropriate model for
transitioning between fl ag and
tackle football. Safety is of the
utmost concern to them. They
do a fantastic job.”
At the meeting, the school
district agreed to put a pause
on the efforts to impose the
Ad-Hoc Committee’s recom-
mendation.
“We’re not that far off in
ideals between the two orga-
nizations,” Gragg said.
A press release on the Mc-
Nary Youth Football website
says that the area’s TYFL pres-
idents “had a good conversa-
tion with the school district
offi cials” in regard to the Jan.
6 meeting.
Walker, however, had a dif-
ferent interpretation of the
conversation that took place.
“We’re not close. We’re
not close at all. If Scott thinks
we’re close, he’s not reading
that meeting right.” Walker
said.
TYFL President Bob Mer-
win currently has no plan to
make changes to the structure
of the league. Merwin says that
Salem-Keizer offi cials are the
only ones in the state trying to
force the Ad-Hoc Commit-
tee’s recommendation upon
their local youth leagues.
If the Salem-Keizer School
District decides to enforce the
changes, it’s likely that TYFL
wouldn’t have a presence in
the area any longer, meaning
that local youth teams couldn’t
compete against teams from
outside the area until seventh
grade.
“We think that our model
is the ideal model. Nobody
in the country is doing rook-
ie-tackle at fi fth and sixth
grade, and very few are doing
it for third and fourth grade.
To me, it just doesn’t make any
sense,” Merwin said.
Even though safety is the
primary concern of the Ad-
Hoc Committee’s proposal,
Walker is more worried that
the potential changes would
make youth football less safe.
“When the the third and
fourth graders who are play-
ing rookie-tackle are learning
how to tackle, they are learn-
ing to tackle properly and
they can’t really do damage to
one another. They are hitting
each other so softly. So by the
time they get to fi fth and sixth
grade, and especially seventh
and eighth grade, the physics
of the game change and have
much higher speeds, but they
already know how to safely
play the game,” Walker said.
“When you delay that pro-
cess, they aren’t going to be
prepared. Because the com-
petition is playing 11-man ev-
erywhere else, I think it makes
the game less safe.”
Hughes, on the other hand,
is concerned about kids in the
Salem-Keizer area not being
competitive when they get
to high school and face out-
of-town competition. The
McNary High varsity football
team won the Mountain Val-
ley Conference for a second
straight season in 2019, but
they have lost each of their
non-league games over the
last two years by an average of
nearly 30 points per game.
“I think there will be a two-
tiered football system, which
I think is really unfortunate.
What some kids will proba-
bly do is join travel teams and
they will go set up an all-day
tournament up in Portland
or Vancouver,” Hughes said.
“When they get into the sev-
enth grade and start playing
against the other kids in Sa-
lem-Keizer that are just being
introduced to real tackle foot-
ball, they will destroy those
kids and they’ll never want to
go on the fi eld again and you
end up getting the opposite of
what you want.”
There are current varsity
head coaches on the Ad-Hoc
Committee that are hoping
to get other varsity coaches
in the state to jump on board
with the group’s message.
“Kids in the lower grades
don’t need to be playing tack-
le. They need to learn the fun-
damentals of the game, get out
and play some fl ag football and
just learn about the sport,” said
Bill Singler, the head coach at
MONTHLY RENT: starting at $2,855
South Medford — a program
that McNary has faced in each
of the last two seasons.
McNary High football
coach Jeff Auvinen admitted
that he has mixed feelings on
the situation.
“Both sides are a little ad-
versarial with each other,
which is sad because I be-
lieve they both want what’s
best for kids. I’m not usually a
fence-sitter, but I can honestly
see where both sides are com-
ing from. I think the district is
hoping that if they make this
arrangement, other areas and
leagues will follow. Participa-
tion has been declining for a
while now, but if you don’t
change anything, how will it
improve?” Auvinen said.
While there isn’t anything
set in stone past the 2020 sea-
son, Gragg believes that this is-
sue will eventually be resolved.
“I know that Tualatin Val-
ley and McNary Youth Foot-
ball want what is best for kids.
When we all have that as our
foundation, the outcome is
going to be good. It might
just take some time. With that
as the foundation, I think ev-
eryone will be understanding
of the end result,” Gragg said.
“My hope is that whatever we
are doing on campus here will
lead to an increase in numbers
and it leads to increase in kids
that are having a blast and will
continue to play football. That
is the outcome that I want.”
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