Ben's Blog
Sportsmanship - October 19, 2011
We found this great article on some other true Life CHAMPS:
Overt Sportsmanship, The Ultimate Sportsmanship Story
Written by Dave on January 12th, 2009
Overt Sportsmanship in Youth Football
When coaching youth football, you have a bully pulpit available from which to infuse your players with various character traits. One phenomenal Texas High School Football coach decided to do something from his bully pulpit in a game that would forever impact both teams.
A Very Compelling Story
In November 2008, Faith Christian High School located in Grapevine, Texas was to play the Gaineville State School. Faith Christian is a well-supported and very talented private school located in very well-off north Dallas. The Gainseville State school is located in Gainesville, is a maximum-security correctional facility for juvenile “throw aways” located 75 miles north of Dallas.
Faith Chrisitan vs Gainesville Prison School
The Gainesville team had just 14 players. All of them had been convicted of serious crimes ranging from assault, robbery or drugs etc. But each player had earned the right to participate by following a rigid set of guidelines. This teams record was a dismal 0-8 and this was to be the final game of their hapless season. They had scored just 2 touchdowns leading up to the match-up with Faith. The Gainesville team was also playing without three of the teams best players, as these three had been released from custody the previous week. As you can imagine, this is the ultimate “turnstyle team” players are added to and subtracted from the team weekly based on sentencing and release dynamics as well as meeting the strict eligibility guidelines within the Gainesville system.
Note that most of us youth football coaches whine when we are missing a single player for a game or a player or two starts out a few days or even a week late from the opening day of football practice. Imagine losing a third of your team during each season and having a third or more kids absent at the first day of football practice.
Gainesville travels to its games in a bus with bars over its windows and with 12 armed guards, They play all their games away, no home games and they rarely draw more than a 5-6 fans and usually suit up just 14 players. Faith on the other hand has a very supportive and enthusiastic fan base of 200 plus at each game. They were 7-2 going into this game and typically suit 70 kids or more for most games. Faith of course has the latest and greatest equipment and amenities, in stark contrast to their Gainesville opponents. It would be safe to say these two teams are worlds apart in almost every measurable aspect one could think of.
A Bigger Mission
But Faith head coach Kris Hogan felt he wanted to give some of what his kids had in their home life to the Gainesville players. He felt moved to do something special for the kids on the Gainesville team for this one game. He knew kids like the young men on the
Gainesville team. Coach knew the kind of family life they usually came from. He understood the lack of support many of them have had growing up. He wondered aloud how many of these kids had been given up on and how he could do something real to provide them each with some hope. Coach wanted his team and his parents to be that light, to let these “throw aways” know that not everyone had given up on them, that there were people out there that cared about them. Coach Hogan wanted the Gainesville kids to know there were people that were inspired by something greater than themselves that allowed them to love and support the “unloveable”.
Parents and Players Join In
Coach Hogan called a meeting of his supportive parents and shared his vision of what he was trying to accomplish, Together they came up with an idea to split the Faith fans into 2 groups. One group would root for Faith, the other for Gainesville. The cheering would not only be for the Gainesville team, but individually by player name as well. When was the last time you think someone had yelled “ Way to go Tommy, good play” to one of those Gainseville kids? The parents built a banner for the Tornadoes to run through and at games end put together a body-by-body “Victory Tunnel” for the players and coaches to run through. The Faith team also sent each player home with a sack dinner of a warm hamburger, fries and candy along with a Bible and inspirational personal notes from parents and players.
While Faith won the game 33-14, at the end of the game there were as many smiles on the faces of the Gainseville team as were on the faces of the victorious members of the Faith team. The Tornado players were astounded at the reception they received, as they are nearly always taunted by opposing players and fans with the most cruel and demeaning actions and words.
What Did This Teach the Faith Kids?
How about the Faith kids, what did they get out of this? How many of these kids now know about how fortunate they are to have supportive and loving parents, something most of them probably take for granted? How many of them now know what true compassion is?
What Then for Us Coaching Youth Football ?
Football is a game that can teach many life lessons, it’s up to you as coach to determine which lessons are important enough to be taught. The game is meant to be played to win, but you can do your very best, play to win, be a good sport and compassionate as well, they are not mutually exclusive goals. When was the last time you did something for your kids or opponents that left a permanent positive lasting memory into their memory bank, one that taught them how to be a better person? By nature I’m competitive. my youth football teams have won over 90% of our games over the last 11 seasons. But we feel very confident we can have a competitive program that also develops character and is a good experience for both our kids and the kids we play against.
It’s very humbling to read stories like this. We think we are doing great things by providing cold soft drinks to the other team after each game, being great sports, letting off the gas when ahead big or even on occaision letting the other team score on purpose when ahead by 4-5 scores. But by thinking outside the confines of the box, what other things can we do as youth football coaches to impact kids for eternity? How can we be more like coach Hogan?
Copyright 2009 Cisar Management, all rights reserved. Republishing allowed if links are kept intact. For 400 Free Youth Football Coaching Tips or to Subscribe to Dave’s free Youth Football Coaching Tips Newsletter go to : http://winningyouthfootball.com
2011 Season! - October 07, 2011
We are back in action this weekend with our 5th week of games. Expect some great weather for our fans and players with the forecast calling for sunshine and temperatures in the lower 80's. We are now half way through the season the teams and competition keep improving week to week. To hear all of you cheer on the sidelines is awesome! But remember there is still plenty of time to improve before playoff's, so don't be discouraged if your team may not have the best record. If you are out at Fellowship and watching games, don't forget that we have a HOT DOG and SNOW CONE vendors on the South side of Field 1 (Over by the POD) , as well as a concession stand at the POD itself. Don't forget to follow us on FACEBOOK...we will put up weekly pictures, have photo contests, and other Life CHAMPS news. Stay tuned for more info to come...
Our role "In the middle" - October 24, 2010
At Life CHAMPS, our role as a "middle man" is what we beleive to be our biggest asset, but can also be a bit confusing. What I mean by middle man, is the balance of parity, competition, fairness, playing to win, it's not all about winning, playing time, etc. This is where we try and be as direct as we can, but there is not always a perfect scenario or right or wrong answer.
In the NFL, you know what you are getting: a hard nosed win at all costs mentality, and the best players will play. If someone doesnt agree with this then they can take a hike. At a young age, many parents will enroll their young athlete in a non-competitive, very balanced, everyone plays the same amount, environment to give thier child a positive experience. Life CHAMPS is definitely not the NFL, but we also pride ourselves on teaching life, and competition is life. This is part of our philosophy. We use the term: Play to win, but it's not all about winning. So there is a lot of gray area there. That is why we try our best to call up great coaches with the Life CHAMPS attitude that "get it" They get what it means to be 5 years old, and you want to play every snap. And in our Freshman Flag League every kid should play about an equal amount.
Our leagues are progressive. In Freshman Flag everything should be fairly balanced. All kids should play about an equal amount, but as a leagues we are still going to compete to win. Keep in mind that each individual coach has a different sub-philosophy under the Life CHAMPS Philosophy umbrella. moving through Sophomore, and Junior things start to shape up a little bit, and we see better competition, better skills, and a lot more points scored. This is where we take pride in competing, because really life is a competition. The best players will probably play more than everyone else, but its still should be balanced and everyone should play a significant amount every game. In our senior tackle, this is as close to "real football" as we get. We want these 11 and 12 year olds to know what they are about to get into when they step into Junior High.
This year we added a little substance to our leagues by providing "Huddle Talks" to our coaches. These are short stories about former athletes who overcame a challenge or showed good character etc. This is what we want from all of our athletes at LC. YOu can check out the Huddle Talks on the website under each Team Page on the left side. Please always feel free to ask any of our staff questions about our philosophy as a league. We stand firm in our "experience", and it is by no means perfect, but we strive every year to get more and more out of each kid as a football player, and a young man.
SYBF
Ben Faires, LC Director
2010 Week 1 - September 14, 2010
Perfect weather and a great day to kick off the 2010 Life CHAMPS Season. Week 1 is in the books and is behind us but it is something worth cheering about. When you think about what happened Sunday, it was a huge success. We had some minor bumps in the road but as always we worked them out.
My whole goal this year is for every decision I make to be in the best interest of the kids. Our passion and goal at Life CHAMPS is to provide a safe, fun, encouraging, and competitive environment for 5-12 year olds. In doing that we know we have to deal with every aspect of running a youth football league: referees, parents, injuries, weather, jerseys, etc., but that is when I always go back to our core values. As an organization they are simple and complex at the same time... teach kids character through football.
CHAMPS is an acronym that stands for Character, Heart of a Champion, Attitude, Mentoring, Purpose, and Serving others. That is simply stated our goal as a football league. Football is way to attract kids and families and gives us a platform for this influence.
As a leader and director I will commit to seeing all of my decisions in the eyes of our youth to do what is best for the boys of fall!!
The boys of fall are what motivate me and gets me excited. They underscore the reason we are all in this program – to give our kids the experience of a lifetime. Youth football is something you remember for a lifetime and there is nothing sweeter than Sunday afternoon Life CHAMPS.
Thanks for supporting our 2010 season. Until next time!
SYBF
Ben Faires
LC Director
Football, Fun, and Food - September 03, 2010
Football is in the air, and so is fall food. Fall is football, fall is food, friends, and family. Fall is FUN and Life CHAMPS is the place to be for youth football in Central Arkansas (please excuse the alliteration). We are so excited about what this year has to bring, and we are excited about our new changes that we will follow through with this year and make sure this is our biggest and best year ever.
This year we will be playing at 4 different venues. All of our flag teams will be playing at the Fellowship Bible Church fields off of Rahling Rd. Our Sophomore (7-8) Tackle games will also be played at Fellowship Fields. Our Junior (9-10) Tackle teams will be playing on the incredible field turf at Pulaski Academy and Little Rock Central. These games will be scheduled one after the other all afternoon at these 2 different locations. Our Senior Tackle (11-12) teams will again have the experience of playing at the historic War Memorial Stadium (which is a true gift) and will be popping pads on the same turf where the Hogs play!!
The other very exciting news for this year is our ability to serve each location with food and drinks to provide a great football experience for the fans as well. Most locations will have a vendor each week to come out and serve food to the fans for regular restaurant prices but you get to eat it while watching your son play football. Krazy Mike's, Razorback Pizza, Tropical Smoothie, Burge's, and several others will be joining hands with us to help create an even better atmosphere for these kids to play.
We won't need as much field space at Fellowship Fields this year, so we will be able to space out the fields to give the fans more room in between to sit and mingle as well (while you are eating some wings, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, etc). It makes me hungry just thinking about Sunday afternoon food and football. We will also have extra room for brothers and sisters to come out and have fun while "the boys of fall" are out throwing and catching the pigskin.
We are just thrilled this year to catapult from last year when we launched our brand new LC website. "This site is amazing" says co-founder Steve Snider (and several other LC Coaches) "DNT Media did a perfect job, and we couldn't ask for a better communication tool and something that gives us the WOW! Factor". This year we are going to be able to post blogs, videos, podcasts, skype interviews, standings, results, and we think the most exciting thing about this year is all 60 of our Life CHAMPS teams will be able to have/manage their own website. What a perfect way to make the experience of playing Life CHAMPS football even better.
If you haven't already checked out the websites please click on "leagues and teams" on the homepage. When the word gets out and these coaches take advantage of this great opportunity of having their own team website, Life CHAMPS is going to give our kids the experience of a lifetime!
In the meantime, get ready for football, food, and fun. Also get ready for LC to take over and have the best year ever!
SYBF
Ben Faires
1st Annual Youth Sports Expo - May 13, 2010
If you missed the Youth Sports Expo at War Memorial this past weekend, then you need to go ahead and make plans to be there next year!
The event that featured football, soccer, golf, and basketball was a blast for athletes of all ages! And it benefited Youth Sports organizations throughout the Central Arkansas area. There were stations set up where the participants could show off their skills and even compete for the top spots in each category. The winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the end of the day.
Young athletes lined up from 9am to 4pm at the LifeCHAMPS station to demonstrate their punting, passing, and kicking abilities. The excitement was non-stop all day long! Directors Ben Faires and Anthony Lucas, along with several LifeCHAMPS volunteers spent the day encouraging and coaching the participants.
We hope to see everyone there next year! If you haven't signed up for the summer camps, make sure you do that as soon as possible, as the spots are filling up fast!
Anthony Lucas encouraging the young athletes at the Youth Sports Expo.
Spring Has Sprung - March 09, 2010
Wikipedia definition: Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Its days are close to twelve hours long with increasing day length, as it occurs near the time of an equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, spring runs from March into May.
Now everyone should really feel like getting outside.
We are excited that this weekend is our 4th Annual Spring Balling Tournament. We have 20 teams registered to compete this year even though we know there is a lot going on this weekend covering several sports here in Central Arkansas.
Life CHAMPS is so thankful for the weather here lately, and we hope that it will hold up for this weekend.
A couple of notes for this weekend:
I will be updating our website (as frequently as possible) with real time information, stats, and wins/losses for our games this weekend. I will be doing this through Ben's PODScasts on our website. Coaches, parents, grandparents, athletes, etc. please get used to checking this frequently and listening to what is going on between other teams in your age division. Just another way for a Life CHAMPer to have a great experience through this wonderful organization that I am passionate about serving in.
Another note that we are very excited about is that Life CHAMPS is going to be launching our LC Gear this weekend at the Tourney. We will have limited supplies, but we want to get the gear out this weekend, and show you what we have been working on since the fall. This gear is SWEET, and will help us continue to create our "brand". I know I am going to have my LC Gear on!!!! Please come to the tent out at the Tournament to check out the gear, and also continue checking the LC Gear link on the website as we will try and post this for purchase online as soon as possible.
I doubt we will see any leprechaun's, and I am sure everyone will be wearing their team colors (and LC Gear) this weekend, so save the green for the actual St. Patricks Day, and lets get out to Burns Park and have some fun this weekend!!
SYBF
Ben Faires
Oh, What A Night! - November 06, 2009
Well it wasn't late December back in 1963 and it wasn't written by The Four Seasons, but it was early November in 2009, and Life CHAMPS Super Bowls were in full force. It was one of the most competitive nights of Flag football I have ever seen and we did it LC Style!!!
I would like to personally congratulate all particiopants, parents, coaches, gmas, gpas, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends for coming out and supporting one of the more entertaining sports nights of my life. I represented Life CHAMPS out at Burns Park as we played the 5-6 Freshman Flag Super Bowl and the 7-8 Sophomore Flag Super Bowl both at 5:45pm. I got caught up a little in traffic, and to my suprise when I arrived at 5:15, the party had already begun. From music to face paint, tents to banners, kids to parents, and ATV's to chants and cheers, it was going to be a great night, and I could tell we were in for some wars.
The Eagles stopped the Vikings on about the 3 yard line with no time on the clock to win their Super Bowl by 4 points, and a great game it was as both teams congratulated each other after the game. I was very impressed with Coach Bob Silzer and the Vikings as they were dissapointed because of the defeat yet they shook hands with their heads held high. The Eagles went crazy and it was a night they will never forget. In the Sophomore Flag league the game was just as exciting. Coach Cole Plafcan and the Bears held a lead for most of the game as both offenses stalled in the second half. Until late half heroics by QB Zac White threw a Hail Mary pass to John David White that sealed the deal for the Pats as they pulled out an underdog victory and won the Super Bowl.
Funnest parts of the night: walking out of the bathroom and seeing a fan from the Bears (who originally had a gray beard) who was now sporting an orange one, praying for all four teams before the game, watching Coach Mike Cumming pick up and throw all of his players in the air right after he gave them their Super Bowl medal, seeing the Eagles and Vikings go back and forth (and back and forth...), correcting a fan on the sidelines for mouthing only to give him a hug 5 seconds later, and last but not least, seeing tears of joy and tears of dissapointment in each and every kids eyes because those are the things that build Character....winning AND losing. (more on the games later)
After both of the games and award ceremonies I jolted off to Pulaski Academy where we had the 9-10 Junior Flag Super Bowl. Anthony had already started the game and when I got there it was the second half. It was a battle and was 20-12 Eagles when I got to the game. The Eagles were driving to score and put the game out of reach when Justice Hill threw a pass to Jake Wingfield for a touchdown only to be called back because Hill had crossed the line of scrimmage before throwing. The Eagles then punted and the Bucs had one more shot. With time running out, Ely Caroom from the Bucs threw a DEEP Pass to Hunter Corbell for a 95 yard touchdown (of course the field is only 80 yds long so I guess a 75 yd TD.) The score was 20-18 and the Eagles had to stop the Bucs to keep their perfect season and win the Super Bowl. The Eagles knocked down a pass to win and the crowd went wild. After the game Head Coach of the Eagles Johnny Tollett addressed the crowd before he handed out his medals "We have played many tough games against Caroom and the Buccs, but tonight I was as proud of the Buccs as I am of my Eagles". That is what Life CHAMPS is all about.
Please listen to the PODScast as I do a vocal rundown of all of our games as well.
SYBF
Ben Faires
Let the Sun Shine - November 02, 2009
A weekend full of football, and a sunshine that was long overdue to be seen by our grass blades! I myself was doing a sundance instead of the typical "raindance" in hopes that our games would be played. My dance worked and God brought the sunshine in full force. It was a beautiful day for all Life CHAMPS athletes and parents as Anthony and I flew around on the old golf cart.
We could not be more impressed and thankful for how well this year has gone. As we wrap up the season we just want to express our thanks from the LC Staff for your patience with us during the season with all of the rain. I also want to thank all of our coaches for their time, effort, influence, and determination to complete this season with such great enthusiasm. We were very impressed with how everyone handled themselves this year, and hopefully we had an everlasting influence on these kids.
Thanks to all who have ever been involved and who were involved this season.
SYBF
Ben Faires
Here is a link that shows what life and football are all about. I encourage you to let your kids watch!! http://www.iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Colt_Sam/.
Crowning Seniors - October 30, 2009
Getting near the end of the season is always exciting, sad, fun, and long overdue for some. Life CHAMPS is so excited to be able to crown Champions over the next 2 weeks.
This past Monday we were able to crown the 11-12 year old Tackle Green Bay Packers under the direction of Coach Michael Hui. The Packers defeated the Raiders in the Super Bowl game by a score of 13- 0. Coach Hui says "it's always hard to close down a season, and my guys want some more. We felt like we jumped on them early, got a lead, and hung on as the clock kept ticking."
The Packers were able to squeak by the Raiders to salvage their perfect season. Raiders Coach Nate Stewart's thoughts on the game: "All of the guys played very hard, the Packers are physical, but Coach Nate says the Raiders never quit, and they gave 100% until the very end."
It was wet out there, but we could not be more proud of our "seniors". This age group is always filled with extremely talented athletes that are transitioning into their school teams.
As Anthony and I walked the sidelines of War Memorial, it was fun to reminisce with each other on times we played in the stadium. Anthony of course has more experience in the stadium then I do, but I remember when we (UCA) played there in 2005 against UAPB. It was our first game of the season and we were all excited to take the field. The play that sticks out in my mind was a hustle play. Our tight end caught a pass and was heading for the goal line when he fumbled on the 2 yard line. I had been trailing him looking for the ball. The ball popped out, and I scooped it up dove in for the TD.
Another great memory in War Memorial stadium, as Life CHAMPS tries to get our 11-12 year old "seniors" to develop their own memories of playing at War Memorial. Looking forward to the next 2 weeks as we go deep into the playoffs and crown more 2009 Super Bowl CHAMPS!
SYBF
Ben Faires
