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Upcoming Dates
5/21 - UA Combine
Philadelphia, PA
5/21-22 - UA 7 on 7
Baltimore, MD
5/28 - UA Combine
Tampa, FL
6/1 - AYF Coaches Training available
6/1 - Sadler Insurance rates available
6/4 - UA Combine
Charlotte, NC
6/5 - UA, 7 on 7
Northern California
6/11 - UA Combine
Chicago, IL
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League Deals Contact Us Be Advised: this is the Exclusive Ball of AYF Regional and National Championships. |
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Take the Field Project
Does your community need a new football field? E-mail Joe for more information. |
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Protect. Perform.
With the season coming up, make sure your kids are protected. Call your local Riddell rep to ask about equipment refurbishing. Have questions? Click here to e-mail us.NAERA has announced that helmets 10 Years or older will no longer be reconditioned. |
| Injury Prevention
Make sure to stretch and warm-up before starting to play sports! Studies have shown that stretching and warming up before strenuous exercise will improve your physical performance and prevent sport-related injuries.
- John Andrawis
MD/MBA Candidate
University of Chicago
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AYF/AYC Staff
Click the name to e-mail Joe Galat President Jessica Abramovich Executive Director Dee Grayer Football Commissioner Elizabeth Bray Cheer Director & Member Communications Arielle Krieger Director, Marketing Operations Craig Heitczman Director, Social & Marketing Communications Shannon Shy Director, New Membership Kristin Walker Director, Events Diedrea Willis Step Coordinator |
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AYF is on Facebook
LIke AYF? 'Like' Us on Facebook!
Share our Page with your Friends and win a prize pack! Winners Weekly!
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Meet your 2011 AYF Regional Representatives
New England - Rick Pelletier
Big East - Craig Karahuta
Atlantic - Mike Fairfax
Southeast - Orlando Gudes
Midwest - Mike Bell
Southwest - L.E. Chamberlain
Desert Pacific - Rikki Kinsfather
Mountain Northwest - Mike Piha
To get in touch with your regional rep: please email us
In honor of our Regional Representatives, a scholarship will be given to an outstanding student athlete in their region in their name this season.
The new AYF Region Map on Google
 | | American Youth Football Region Tour |
Want to see more? Scroll through our Interactive Google Membership Map Yourself.
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Meet your 2011 AYC Regional Representatives
New England - Julie Mullin
Big East - Kerry Lorenca
Atlantic - Michele Kluttz & Nikki Wood
Southeast - Diedrea Willis
Midwest - Yolanda Bell
Southwest - Olivia Dominguez
Desert Pacific - Rikki Kinsfather
Mountain Northwest - Kathy Robinson
Cheers to our Regional/Technical Committee Representatives: Jen Eldridge, Tammy Gagne, Angie Summa, Don Carbeiner, Pam Cronauer, Nicole Martin
Please contact us to connect with a Regional Rep.
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 2011 NCAA Football Grants NCAA Football awards college replica product to deserving youth football teams. More information can be found at MyAYF.com. The grant application is available at
the NCAA Football Website.
Applications are due by May 31. |
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Extra! Extra! Read all about it! AYF News
Welcome to AYF's renovated News Page. This is your source for top news stories and press releases about AYF. Click here to check it out.
Want to share your local AYF news? Send your stories our way. Just e-mail them to services@americanyouthfootball.com. We have partnered with media company, Youth1Media, who will promote all the great things that you do.
Tell us your good news & we'll help spread the word.
Hosting pre-season events this summer? Let us know! E-mail Arielle Krieger with any pre-season events, we'd like to highlight your efforts in upcoming editions of the Huddle and help out if we can.
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Wilson helps you kick off the 2011 season in style
It is that time of year again. Wilson is providing an exclusive offer to AYF members on their suite of footballs, leather, composite and customized with the AYF logo and your team logo. Click to access the order form. Be Advised: The AYF Wilson Football will be the Exclusive Ball for AYF Regional and National Championship play.
If you have questions about this offer, contact us.
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Are you a Contender?
AYF's newest division of flag football, the Contender Division, devoted to youth with disabilities is launching for the 2011-2012 season. It is an all-inclusive program that was developed to foster a confidence and self-worth that extends beyond the gridiron and the mat, into school, family and community.
- To get a copy of the rulebook, visit MyAYF.com.
- Check out the grant section of MyAYF.com. There are Contender Division specific grants currently available.
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NOTICE: 2010 Memberships have EXPIRED!
Get your AYF/AYC membership for 2011
Click here to Join
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Want your dollars to last longer?
With gas prices soaring, AYF understands the need to make a dollar last. MyAYF.com now has more information regarding grants, budgeting tips, and fundraising information to help you and your team have a stellar season.
- Be sure to check in often, grant opportunities are date sensitive and new opportunities are posted regularly.
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IMG Summer Football Camps Heat up the Summer
IMG's Summer camp season kicks off in just a few weeks. Get in on the action to receive exemplary sport training from one of the best organizations in the country. Have questions, contact Arielle Krieger.
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Going, goi ng GONE!!!
Limited number of National Championship hoodies left.
Get yours now for only $29.99!
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Under Armour Combine Updates
With only a handful of Under Armour Combines remaining in 2011, check out how the AYF family is performing.
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What the kids are saying these days.
Here is a piece of action on AYFPlayers.com
How has football changed/helped your life?
Football has changed my life by getting me in shape more, help me face my fears and a good way to get noticed in your local area. ~Rambo
Why do you like going to Sports Camps?
I like going to sports camps because they improve the skill you are interested in. I also like them because you can compete. But the main thing I like about sport camps is that you get pushed harder. It builds up your footwork and it makes you think wiser. ~Allen
Tell us about your pre-game warm ups and rituals
Most importantly, I stretch before the game cause I don't want to get an injury if I get hit and I try not to eat any junk food to deactivate my strength or energy. ~Shaquan
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Joe's Presidents Corner
Many years ago, a young senator speaking to a young generation of college students at Miami University opened with, "I apologize for meeting you here in the football stadium. I hope and pray politics will never replace football in our society." Hey, I like this guy. Years later, that same senator, now known as U.S. President John F. Kennedy, gave an inaugural address with some additional insightful messages.
"The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans unwilling to permit the slow undoing of that which we are committed today at home and around the world." I liked that. I used the quote to my teams while coaching. Another quote I liked was, "We will bear any burden, fight, any fight, support any friend, oppose any foe, to insure the survival of liberty!" Wow! Now, that was a locker room pep talk I lived by.
I wanted to do my part for my community and my country. I played football, but never played in the NFL Super Bowl. I served my country in the Few, the Proud, the Marines, but never saw combat. I was equally dedicated during my coaching odyssey from youth football to the pros, but giving meaning to my life was another matter. I was always impressed with the peace of mind of those who helped others like youth volunteers. I should do that too. When I was appointed as the President of American Youth Football, I thought the torch had been passed. But no, there wasn't even a torch yet, just an idea of how to be different and meaningful to our members. How to explain this in a few words was a concern.
I continued to search for a message to describe the mission of American Youth Football. This was before the days of advertising, buzz words, Twitter and text messages. A simple guy like me can often find simple words. So it dawned on me - AYF Associations need a message for their community, like JFK's message to the USA. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." My idea was to ask AYF volunteers to "Give Back." Fast forward sixteen years later. Every marketing firm speaks of their company giving back.
If you go to the Google Earth American Youth Football members map you will see the world. Zoom in to North America and see the thousands of AYF placemarks that signify our Football and Cheerleading Associations. I am back from my spring visits to our associations from New Jersey to San Francisco Bay. I am not talking about people you see on reality TV. AYF associations are not comprised of The Real Housewives of Hollywood. AYF associations are real men and women dedicated to their children. The goal is to Give Back to build better leaders in their communities, not NFL players or cheerleaders. Look at your teachers, firemen, policemen and those who served in the military. On my visits around AYF's eight regions, I witnessed what exemplary adult leaders gave back to me years ago. New Jersey AYF Scholarship Breakfast was amazing. Those 32 associations' volunteers awarded high school seniors scholarships based on the recipients' academics AND volunteered time with the AYF associations that gave them their start.
Chandler AYF in Arizona hosted a spotlight dinner for their youth associations' now high school seniors who are accepting scholarships to universities. Each of Chandler's four high school head coaches paid special thanks to Chandler Youth Football for developing not just football and cheerleading skills, but academic skills as well.
Yes, I hear you saying, "Remember there are bad people, too." Jimmy Buffet was one of the first to alert us about the sharks in his song, Fins, we do have sharks to the left, sharks to the right. Yes, Landsharks are everywhere. The will suck the life out of the weak, and the naive. Did you get an e-mail that claimed you would receive three million dollars if you helped this descendant of Sheik simply by providing your bank account number and pin? Oh yeah, it is a scam. Too good to be true, most often is not true. How do we teach our youth to give back to the community, yet not fall into the traps of the sharks? Simple, by your example. It is said that a teacher teaches a subject, while a coach coaches the person. Remember, young kids don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. AYF volunteers are coaches. Craig Karahuta, President of NJ-AYF takes a call about helping a kid on his cell phone from on top of a 130-foot high loading crane on the Jersey Docks. L.E. Chamberlain steps outside the Senior Computer class he is teaching to help a kid in Dallas. Dean Pliaconis pulls off 18 wheeler Plycon Moving truck roadside on the Ventura Freeway to support a troubled youngster.
During my visits to AYF regions, I meet many caring adults. It brings back memories about those same good people who helped me in my high school days (before electricity, just kidding).
Life is a Giant Circle and all of us humans are in it. Most of the people you meet in life fall in the good category. If you are lucky, you know some great people. I am lucky I know many great people. Check out Google Earth and search the AYF members - they are all there.
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