Bulldog Youth Football

Hello Everyone!

WOW! What a great season of Bulldog Football! On behalf of the entire board, I would like to congratulate our two Championship Teams, Coach Lamberson’s Pac-10 Bantam White and Coach Gendron’s Mid-10 Bantam Team. Great job to all our players and coaches! In addition, our congratulations go out to Coach Nindl’s Mac-10 Feather team and Coach Alexander’s Mid-10 Feather team for finishing 2nd in their divisions. These two teams put up a great fight on the field and should be very proud of their efforts and dedication.

In only our second year as a member community in The Chicago Land Youth Football League (TCYFL) the Bulldogs had an unprecedented amount of success. The TCYFL is the largest youth football league in the Midwest representing over 10,000 boys and girls and 280 tackle football teams. We had an over all win-loss record of 91-70 (regular season) and 12 of our 18 teams made it to the playoffs. Of those 12 teams, 6 advanced to the divisional championship round, where we had 4 Bulldog teams advance to the Super Bowl. In only our second year to have 4 teams playing for championships is truly a remarkable accomplishment that we should all be very proud of. With our staff of dedicated coaches and our talented, driven children we can be sure that next year will be even more exciting. Congratulations to all our teams on a great season.

Our sincere gratitude goes out to all our volunteers from coaches to concession workers and all those wonderful people in between. Please know that without your unwavering help and dedication, this organization would not be where it is today. Special thanks to all our team parents who coordinated, distributed, collected, and organized to such a wonderful degree. Without your helping hands, this season would have not run so smoothly. Thank you for all the extras you took on and for braving the mosquitoes and the cold under the pavilion for all our Wednesday night meetings.

Thank you to all our parents who have supported this program and their children throughout this season. This is a long season that goes by very fast with a lot of running in between. For all the car pooling and snack days, fundraising and window painting, and sweating in the 90 degree weather only to end up freezing in the 20s at our last games, WE THANK YOU! We also thank you for lending us your children for the last (almost) 4 months (yes, that is how long we’ve been doing this…first day of practice was July 25 and our last official day is today, November 23). Your child, no matter what position is played, or the win – loss record they had at the end of the season, is an essential part of not only their team, but of the Bulldog family.

The sidelines would not have been complete had it not been for the voices of our enthusiastic cheerleaders who cheered on our teams, whether rain or shine. Thank you for leading our cheers and sharing your spirit. Our girls made us proud at competition as well! Bantam girls placed first while the other three teams brought home second place in their respective divisions. Once again, a true testament to the dedication and talent of our cheerleaders and their wonderful coaches.

Special thanks goes out to all our flag coaches whose patience and enthusiasm shows through in coaching our youngest of all Bulldog players. These wonderful people help to lay the groundwork and instill a love of the game of football at a very early age. You’ve done a great job this year and we hope to continue to see you year after year on the sidelines.

I would like to take a moment to announce our 2009 Executive Board: Executive Vice President, Brent Brenner; Treasurer, Tom Wischnowski; Secretary, Marie Wiltberger; Vice President of Tackle, Mike Gentile; Vice President of Cheer, Julie Kerkman; Vice President of Flag, Jay Bruski. We will be working very hard this off season to put together some new and exciting things for our Bulldog Families. One of the items we will be looking into is a spring flag football league. We will be putting together some comprehensive coaching clinics as well as looking into first aid training for our coaches and board members. If there are ideas or suggestions that anyone has, we would love to hear them all! Please feel free to e-mail any of our board with your thoughts on what we can do or offer to make the organization the best it possibly can be. E-mail addresses for all board members can be found at www.bulldogyouthfootball.com. If you are interested in coaching next season whether as a head coach or an assistant, please e-mail Mike Gentile so that we can make sure that you are contacted in the off season with important information. Please include your name, e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number. If you know what level you may be interesting in coaching, include that as well.

Just a reminder that we will still be meeting the third Thursday of the month for our Monthly Board Meetings in the off season. Meetings are at the Salem Public Library at 7:00pm and are open to the public. It is strongly encouraged that anyone interested in coaching next year attend the monthly board meetings in the off season. We would like your thoughts and suggestions on the program and what you would like to see offered for next season.

Again, THANK YOU to everyone who has had a hand in making this season and this organization the best it could be. It’s been great FUN! Happy Holidays and best wishes in 2009. GO BULLDOGS!

Julie Strasser
President
WKCYF Bulldogs