Youth football program pays off for GSL
A decade after the founding of Grid Kids tackle football in 1998, a Spokane team won the State 4A football championship. Coincidence?
Perhaps, but when I was talking to Joe Roberts about his son Aaron for my prep feature story last week, we discussed whether there was any correlation. The evidence suggests so, because Grid Kids is where many in the graduating class of 2008 and beyond got their football start.
“That whole group played together the whole time,” Roberts said.
He was one of the founders of Grid Kids, along with Rick Seefried and Matt Elisara.
All had young children and the idea of having fifth-graders don pads and smack each other around germinated and was implemented thanks to infusion of cash from two local businesses and administration by the YMCA.
Seefried said the idea was to expose athletes early to football as they are to baseball, basketball and soccer. He saw kids in the latter sport staying as they advanced to the elite levels. They implemented rules that stressed simplicity, with the emphasis on blocking and tackling over winning, with imposed positional weight limitations while disallowing such things as motion and spread offenses.
Grid Kids is offered for third-graders through eighth-graders with more than 1,000 participants. Football in Spokane is increasingly popular. The Ferris football program has a turnout of 150 with a freshman class of 59. Shadle Park has 52 freshmen out. Football had an unprecedented two State 4A semifinalists last year.
“Quite frankly, there’s no denying getting kids involved (young) has had a huge impact,” Seefried said, pointing toward dominance by the Columbia Basin Big Nine which he said had something like 1,700 youth football players a decade ago. “There’s no question that it has impacted the league from two standpoints. One, they are introduced to football at an early age so they have the opportunity to choose before elite status takes them in a different direction. Two, they are learning fundamentals earlier and as they progress to more advanced stuff it’s an easier adjustment at the high school level.”
Winning, it appears, has been the by-product.
State allotments
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Assoc. has released state allotments, verifying expectations for eastern Washington.
Generally, 4A gets three berths each in five sports for GSL and Columbia Basin Big Nine combined and two for 3A. Great Northern League (2A) gets two, Northeast A gets one and the B leagues vary from three to four.
B-8 showdown
The defending state champions face the state’s current No. 1 team when Northeast B-8 powers square off Friday. Cusick, ranked No. 1, is at defending state champion Almira/Coulee-Hartline for the 7 p.m. showdown. Both are 4-0.
Cusick has outscored its opposition 186-18, including the 34-6 season opener over last year’s state runner-up Odessa. ACH outscored Inchelium 58-32 and nipped Columbia 38-32, but had a 102-6 advantage in its last two wins.
Wilbur-Creston coach Bill Grigsby faced Cusick and has seen film of ACH.
“We had (Cusick) in week two and I thought with a new coach, maybe that would be disruptive,” Grigsby said. “It wasn’t. In fact, they’ve grown.”
“ACH is pretty good, too. It will be for the whole shooting match and be a great game to watch.”
Friday’s games of note
Mead at East Valley, 7 p.m.: Greater Spokane League 4A-3A matchup looms large for each team’s playoff aspirations.
Pullman at Cheney, 7 p.m.: After last week’s one-point loss to Colville, Pullman’s Greyhounds need this Great Northern League game. A Blackhawks win would give Cheney a cushion.
Clarkston at Deer Park, 7 p.m.: If unbeaten DP prevails, it positions itself nicely in GNL.