Kids Experience Another New and Innovative Way
to Learn the Game of Football:
Arena Football League and Youth Evolution Sports Launch New Football Skills Competition for Kids at ArenaBowl 2008 in New Orleans.
By: Scott Lancaster, Youth Evolution Sports
With rising obesity rates among children corporate America has attempted to capitalize on the crisis by creating marketing platforms to sell more products rather than associating themselves with programs that help solve the problem. This is not the case with the Arena Football League. Over the past 12 months Youth Evolution Sports has worked closely with the League to create an innovative set of programs that kids will be attracted to and want to continue to participate in long after an introductory corporate event comes to town. Over the next 12 months Arena Football take a leadership position in youth sports and launch free youth programs for communities in Arena Football League markets. The premise behind these community-based programs is the introduction of football skills and their association with the Arena game, along with a strong emphasis placed on fitness and athletic development. As a nation we tend to rush our children into organized sports without providing the proper introduction to athletic skills necessary to successfully execute sport specific fundamentals. How many times have we attended a youth football game where the young athletes awkwardly move around the field, not executing proper stances, running, throwing and catching skills to name just a few. As a result kids become frustrated and quit at earlier ages than ever before. With that in mind Arena Football has designed a skills competition through a kid-friendly experience that challenges kids to improve upon their overall athletic and football fitness.
This past Saturday, July 26th, Arena Football unveiled a new skills competition that I designed for kids, titled the Arena Skills Challenge, at the New Orleans Saints/VooDoo Training Facility. Unlike other sport skill competitions, where participants conduct one or two skill sets and exert little energy, this Challenge requires athletes to execute numerous skills that involve agility, balance, coordination, speed, and stamina. Over 300 individuals between the ages of 6 and 14 years of age experienced the competition this past weekend, with most attempting the Challenge several times.
The skills challenge is conducted through an obstacle course (see attached diagram of course) that is scored by combining total time and the overall accuracy of executing specific football skills. A unique aspect of the competition is the execution of multiple position skills (quarterback, wide receiver, running back, linebacker, defensive back, etc.). Unlike the NFL’s Punt, Pass & Kick Competition (that I grew from 250,000 total participants to over 4 million by the time I left the League in 2007) where you throw and kick for distance and accuracy, the new Arena Skills Challenge includes throwing (distance & accuracy), running with a football, footwork, multi-directional movement, hand/eye coordination, reaction speed, lateral movement, speed, and overall stamina. Every participant receives an overall score after completing the course with additional opportunities provided to improve upon their best point total.
The Arena Football plan is to implement the Skills Challenge with every Arena team beginning this upcoming winter 2009, taking the best scores in different age categories and inviting them to compete at next year’s ArenaBowl Weekend.
