Carbon Recreation Youth football ends another season

By Sun Advocate

Carbon County Recreation has completed another successful year of Youth Tackle Football. There was a sixth team added this season and over 130 boys competed. Games ended in mid October.
Carbon Rec’s League played games on Saturday mornings at Mont Harmon Junior High School and Tuesday evenings at Carbon High School. Having an opportunity to play under the lights at Carbon High was the highlight of the season for most of the boys. There were six teams in the league, four teams which consisted of children from Price and Wellington, and two teams that was comprised of kids from Helper and Carbonville. The team names were the 49ers, Raiders, Dolphins, Eagles, Cowboys and Steelers.
Each team had a number of volunteer coaches who gave many hours of their time to help make this league a success. The head coaches for each team were Paul Richey (49ers), Jack Byrge (Raiders), Bradley Shaw (Dolphins), Kerry VanDyke (Eagles), Brock Marchello (Cowboys), and Bill Martinez (Steelers).
The staff at CCR would like to take the time to thank all of the volunteers who helped with the program and acknowledge their hard work and dedication to the youth of our community. Without the volunteer help of the parents and community members this league would not be possible.
Carbon Rec tries to do their best to keep cost down to the participant. This year the fee was $100 with an early bird discount of $85. This included an eight game league schedule, plus one game with the Emery County Teams, use of equipment, uniform, and a camp provided by Carbon High (which included a t-shirt and lunch). The top team also received championship t-shirts for winning the league. Fees for similar programs across the state range from $450 for seven games in Orem to $65 in Emery for eight games. Carbon Rec’s fees are at the bottom end of the spectrum especially when early registration is taken advantage of.
Carbon Rec assumed responsibility of the youth football program in 2004. They strive to improve upon and increase participation. Equipment improvements have been one of the main focuses of the recreation department. Because of the overwhelming cost of equipment used for the program it is virtually impossible to replace everything at any given time. For example a basic youth helmet ranges from $55 to $65. Adult sizes are over $200 per helmet. Carbon Rec had to purchase two such helmets this season. Shoulder pads can range from $40 to $80 per pair. Pants range from $15 to $25 per pair. Jerseys are $30, and the pads that go into the pants are $15 per set. For every child that plays it costs a minimum of $155 to suit them up for a game.
In addition to buying new equipment, Carbon Rec must maintain all the equipment Helmets have to be re-certified every other year and must be thrown away after seven years of use. Fifty percent of the pants pads are replaced each year. At least one fourth of the inventory of jerseys and pants are replaced each year. Shoulder pads are replaced on an as needed basis. In 2010 Carbon Rec spent nearly $900 on helmet re-certification, over $2100 on new helmets and $1700 on new jerseys and pants.
Carbon Rec. plans to continue to offer and improve upon the program. Youth Tackle Football is available to any boy who will be in the fifth, sixth or seventh grade for the 2011-12 school year. Early bird registration for next year’s football league will be in late May. The league draft will be the first week in August and games will begin the third Saturday in August. Anyone interested in playing football is encouraged to sign up.