Armstrong Indian Youth Football League Set For Big Kickoff

by Jake DeLuca

Started in 1966, the Armstrong Indian Youth Football League has been at the forefront for area youth football for over five decades.

The President of the Armstrong Indian Youth Football League, Ed Totin, said he was on some of the first youth teams in Kittanning.

“They have been playing football here (Kittanning) since 1966, so it’s a rich history. We were the original youth football in the area, then Ford City started a program, Shannock started a program, and other areas started programs; but we were the first in the area (Armstrong County).”

The Armstrong Indian Youth football league has three teams, and players are placed on those teams based on their age and weight. The three team names are (from oldest to youngest) the Warriors, the Braves, and the Redskins. The Warriors are eleven and twelve year olds who are less than 145 lbs. The Braves are nine and ten year olds who must weigh less than 125 lbs. Finally the Redskins are six to eight years old with a maximum weight limit of 105 lbs.

On July 19th, Armstrong held its first week of practice in which players and coaches took place in the mandatory heat acclimation days. The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) made these practices mandatory in order to get the players ready for the amount of activity they would be doing in high temperatures throughout training camp and the season.

Newly elected president of the Armstrong Indian Youth Football League, Ed Totin said “the first week of practice was our heat acclimation, so the next week (the week of July 25th) we were able to come in and put helmets and shoulder pads on and really start practicing. Those are WPIAL rules, so we have to do it (heat acclimation), but we would do it anyway because we are all about the safety for kids.”

Safety is first for Totin and the coaches, and the heat acclimation days are just the start. Totin went on to explain the steps coaches take to keep players safe.

“We have been very proactive. UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) offers a free base-line concussion test, we can’t make it mandatory but we do offer it and we make sure all the kids are aware of it. If they do get a head injury, then they can take advantage of the base-line test. The head physical therapist at ACMH (Armstrong Center for Medicine and Health) started a concussion program, so we’ve been working with them as well. We have a designated coach for heads-up tackling and we run drills specifically for heads-up tackling, which is part of USA Football’s program. That’s where it all starts, if a player leads with their head they are more likely to get a concussion, where as if you’re tackling with your head up (it is less likely). We will start it today (the first day of practice) until the last day. Safety is number one,” Totin said.

With all the new emphasis on proper “heads-up” tackling, the head coach for the Braves football squad, Mike Landgraf, thinks the days of massive hits are over.

“The day of the big boom (hit) is over. You want these kids to make it up on that hill (Armstrong High School) someday to play. If you are not coaching them right then they will get concussions and that will prevent them from playing their senior year or in college. We are definitely safety first, we take that very seriously. Football has changed, and we only really do thirty minutes of hitting a practice, if that,” Landgraf stated.

Ed Totin added “Back in the day, it was run twenty yards and then you would light each other up. If you look at Ivy League college, they have started no contact practices. It’s more about fundamentals and your motions.”

Mini-camp lasts from July 19th up until August 9th, but before the season starts, the Armstrong Indian Youth Football League has their event. In years past the program has just announced the players’ names in front of a small crowd, but this year they are hoping to do something bigger.

“I don’t know all the surprises yet, but I do know that it’s (kickoff night) August 12th at 6:00 PM. I have talked to the fire department and they will come and blow the whistles. I don’t know who, but there has been talk of (Jack) Lambert, and Rocky Bleier; we are trying to get a guest speaker, and we are putting calls out to some former Steelers to see if they would want to come to be a guest speaker. I don’t want commit, because I don’t know yet,” Totin explained.

While getting a former Pittsburgh Steeler player could prove difficult to achieve, Ed Totin is still confident that the kick-off event will be fun for all ages.

“We are trying to get the (Armstrong) high-school team to come out. We’re hoping to get the varsity team to run out with the kids when they get announced. We’re also hoping to do some sort of competition where we split the varsity team with the youth(teams) and have them compete in events like tug of war. We are hoping to have the varsity cheerleaders come too and make it more of an event than it has been in the past,” Totin said.

There are a number of expenses when it comes to running a youth football organization, and it costs even more if one wants to have a big event like the kick-off night. Luckily for Totin and his organization, they have received a number of local sponsors.

“Sheetz donated $500 for kickoff night. We’ve had some really nice donations this year. NexTier Bank donated $1,000, Peoples Gas donated $500, so we’ve had some good donations already. It’s nice to get that kind of money, and the Sheetz donation was specific to kick off night,” Totin said.

Along with the donations, Magisterial District Judge Gary Decomo, founder of the “Drugs Kill Dreams” program, reached out to Ed Totin. This season the players on all three teams will be wearing a small “Drugs Kill Dreams” sticker on the back of their helmet.

The kick-off event is set for August 12th at 6:00 PM in Kittanning, behind the West Kittanning Fire Hall located at 401 Arthur Street in Kittanning.

 

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.