Football is alive and well in the Sachem community. With the swirling sentiment that head injuries have tarnished America’s game, youth organizations around the country have bounced back brilliantly by offering flag football as a comparable gridiron option.
The Sachem Sports Club has tripled enrollment in its flag program with participation totals of more than 300 kids in 2016. In 2015 the organization fielded eight teams and in 2016 there were 28. The interest was so strong they had to expand age groups, which now ranges from ages 5 through 12 for both boys and girls.
With growing enthusiasm from both children and parents, Sachem Sports Club (SSC) has been proactive in adding other features to the overall flag experience. Whether it’s adding officials dressed in authentic referee garb or amending the on-field action from seven-on-seven to five-on-five for better open-field skill development, league directors are constantly aiming for improvement.
“Our goal is to provide not only a fun and non-contact environment but also to provide a football feel,” said Terence Dee, commissioner of the SSC flag program and a member of the SSC board of governors. “We set up the fields specifically for flag and the addition of the officials allows the game to flow better, and the teams get more plays off which, for the kids, makes the game more fun.”
According to Dee, flag has not pushed increased enrollment totals into SSC’s tackle football divisions yet, but he believes it will in time.
“Adding the older age groups and continuing to introduce more kids in general to the game I think will in-turn lead to kids making the transition to tackle beginning with the nine and ten-year-old age groups,” said Dee. “I do feel the game is going to begin to see the trend back up over the next few years as the flag game becomes more popular. Locally we are getting tremendous support from our high school programs which I do feel will lead to growth here at the Sachem Sport Club and at the middle school and high school levels.”
“Our biggest division was our junior division, seven and eight year olds,” said Jimmy Dee, a Sachem alum, coach and father of two playing flag. “We are expecting to see a big jump in tackle registrations at that level and at all other levels. The SSC flag program opened the door to football for hundreds of kids that would have never been exposed to the game. That’s an exciting thing to see for Sachem Football.”
The adjusted philosophy from SSC for 2016 allowed for children to have even more fun while developing football skills.
“We stressed organization, which lead to more reps, which lead to more plays, which lead to more kids having fun,” said Jimmy Dee. “Kids having fun while playing football with their friends is going to be the driver to tackle football. The SSC Flag program is giving the players and their parents the confidence they need to make the transition.”
It helps that varsity and junior varsity coaches from Sachem East and Sachem North participate with SSC in a number of levels, including coaching their own children on Saturday mornings at the Suffolk PAL Complex in Holtsville. Sachem North varsity defensive coordinator Dave Caputo has the pleasure of coaching his sons Anthony and David in the morning and then heads to varsity games that afternoon. The bridge to the future of varsity sports programs has its foundation in the youth leagues.
Countless Sachem football diehards simply want the Sachem community to thrive on the gridiron for decades to come, as it has since the early 1970s when playing for championships on the varsity was routine and became standard in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.
Sachem coaches at both East and North believe there will be an increase in participation numbers at the junior high and high school levels in less than five years.
“We are very excited with the turnout for flag football in our community,” said Sachem North head coach Dave Falco. “Sachem football has a rich tradition and flag football is cultivating interest in our great game.”
“Flag develops the love of the game without the risk that is involved with contact, and everyone gets a chance to throw catch and run,” added Sachem East head coach Mark Wojciehowski. “Football is a special game that in order to get the most out of, you have to have a passion for it. I believe that flag allows for that passion to start to grow at a young age.”
This year also saw the addition of the SSC Powder Puff program, a girls’ only division for 10-12 year olds. There were about 20 girls who participated in the coed junior and pee-wee divisions and they fielded an all-girls team in the 7-8-year-old division
“I had one of the most enjoyable seasons coaching in my career this flag season,” said Jimmy Dee. “My SSC Chiefs were sixteen, seven and eight-year-old girls that were football sponges. We had some hair braiding and the spontaneous cartwheel now and again but they loved playing football and it was pure enjoyment for them and it was fun to be around.”
With two full seasons in the books, SSC will look to make its flag football program even more impactful and engaging for kids and their parents for 2017.
“The flag atmosphere has a great sense of community around it, no other sport brings that feeling like football,” said Terance Dee. “Seeing 300 plus kids on the fields on a football Saturday is a great sight.”
MORE: SSC flag football building future of Sachem Football
-Words/Photos by Chris R. Vaccaro
