Football: Spring youth league starts Saturday

Douglas Pop Warner recently welcomed a new spring football and cheerleading program to Carson Valley in the form of Excel Athletics.

The boards of directors from both organizations met to discuss their approaches to youth football and cheerleading.

"With similar core values and coaching philosophies, the two organizations easily recognized the benefits of working together to assure consistency and quality for our youth participants," Pop Warner president Jim Valentine said.

Excel starts Saturday at Jacks Valley Elementary School and runs to May 31. The league will run two practices a week and a game on the weekend, all in Douglas County.

Pop Warner and Excel will share coaching training, administrative systems, equipment and knowledge so the athletes get a better experience, learn a love of the game and have a lot of fun.

Valentine said he was excited about the possibilities for both organizations by the cooperative venture.

"The athletes will benefit greatly by the similarities, and paradoxically, the differences in the programs," he said. "The opportunity to play more than one season of football in a year is special. In each of our lives, there is a finite number of football games one gets to play ... and we never know that number until it's over. Our kids can now play more games while they are young and having fun."

Excel offers a chance to play and cheer in the spring in a less competitive and highly-educational environment then the fall Pop Warner program. It will help some athletes prepare for Pop Warner while helping others to stay in football shape.

The league runs an eight-man format with small rosters for maximum participation. Excel is for those players that have chosen not to play Little League baseball in the spring.

To sign up for the league, call 690-3663 or 315-4749.