Upwards football

Christian based program will teach football to local youth

sd_sports@yahoo.com

SIKESTON -- There's soccer, baseball and basketball but if your looking for a football league for any child under the third grade, you're out of luck in the Sikeston area.

John Vernon, of Miner Baptist Church, took notice and decided to fill that void with the help of the largest sports program for children in the world.

"We wanted to be able to fill that niche," Vernon said. "We've found that there are a lot of kids that want to play football and with Upward Sports we can."

Upward Sports is a Christian based program which is designed to give children from age five to the sixth grade a chance to play their favorite sports in a biblical atmosphere.

"It takes sports and it takes the gospel, and where they meet is what we call Upward," said Vernon.

The Upward flag football program is designed with balance in every aspect in mind. Every child that signs up is evaluated by a series of football related drills. Future players are asked to perform tasks such as a 30 yard dash, a cone weave, a shuttle run as well as passing and catching drills.

Each time, throw and catch is recorded and is deciphered by the Upward program.

"We wanted to see competitive teams," said Vernon, "and with Upwards, we have a situation where every kid is evaluated and we determine the skill levels of each kid and spread them evenly according to their talent."

Even while on the playing field, a rotation of players is enforced so that every child receives equal playing time over the course of an eight-game season.

"That's a big point," Vernon said about playing time. "Because, this is about the kids and the kids want to play. Upwards ensures that every kid gets to play the same amount of time. Every kid will average the same amount of minutes on the field."

While the Upward flag football league is currently stationed at Miner Baptist Church, any kid that attends church or not is invited to play in a faith-driven atmosphere.

"We are a church, but we want this to be a community league," said Vernon. "It's not exclusive to the church, but people also need to know that when they come, we're going to teach them a biblical principle. We're not pushing doctrine, we're just going to teach them a bible verse that the coach will share with them for up to five minutes. We want to give them some biblical truth while they are here.

"I personally want it to be teams filled with kids from multiple places," added Vernon. "Many of them may not go to church anywhere, but they want that football experience and that's what we want to give them."

As of this week, Vernon said that enough kids have signed up to field six teams. Each team could have a maximum of 10 kids per team with a minimum of eight. During a game, six players from each team are allowed on the field. Every player, except for the quarterback, is an eligible receiver.

Vernon said that one of the biggest reasons for the program is to teach kids the basics of the game.

"We're teaching them skills," he said. "We're teaching them running plays, passing plays and trying to learn the basic rules of football. Our hopes are, as they come up through this, this will make them better players by the time they hit the upper levels."

If cheering for a football team is what a child would like to do, Upward has that covered too.

Vernon said that the program offers a cheerleading squad as well.

"We have several young girls that have come out," he said. "They will have two weeks of practice and will actually come out and cheer for the teams during the games. They will have a halftime show they'll put on as well.

"That's one of the things we found unique about Upward is that it offered cheerleading. And we know how important cheerleading is to the Sikeston area and how great it would be if some of these girls had a chance to cheer on a regular basis at some point. We're excited about that opportunity."

Every child, whether playing football or cheering, will receive a full uniform with registration. The colors of the Miami Dolphins NFL football team are depicted as the scheme.

The last day for evaluations will be Saturday, Aug. 28 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Miner Baptist Church. The first game will be Saturday, Sept. 18.

"We want this to be a quality sports program but we also want the kids to learn about Jesus and about the way he taught us to live," said Vernon. "The two together is what makes it so unique and special."