By Bonita Gooch/ The Community Voice
With signup for the 2025 Wichita Junior League football opening, more opposition to the plan is surfacing. Learn more about an upcoming meeting.
Opening of registration for the 2025 season of Wichita’s popular Junior League football program, has awakened opposition to the City’s planned reorganization of the historic program.
The new structure, announced ahead of the 2024 season, calls for elimination of the community-based structure the program has operated under for more than 60 years.It’s a plan that ends all the beloved teams – such as the Colts, Cowboys, and Bulldog –, that families have remained loyal to and supported for generations.
The new team structure will make team assignments based on the high school attendance area the student lives in. Now, players and teams will be Falcons, Blue Aces or one of the other Wichita High School mascots.
In addition to eliminating the team structure “built over 67 years by countless coaches, leaders, mentors and fathers who have selflessly dedicated themselves to nurturing the talents of our youth,” says Ulysess “Pops” DeShazar, a 34-year-volunteer with the league, says benefits of the new structure “are skewed heavily in favor of high school coaches”
“The proposal requires teams to pay fees, recruit players, purchase equipment and cover other expenses, all while the high school coaches reap the benefits without being actively involved in our community.”
Middle School Structure
The new structure will be operated as a partnership between Wichita Parks and Recreation and Wichita Public Schools. While the structure of the program is still unclear to most of those who expect to be involved in it, the ultimate goal appears to be establishing a quasi middle-school sports program, something Wichita schools don’t have.
Suburban schools in the Wichita area have middle school sports programs and the perception is that structure gives them an advantage. Playing together as middle school students makes for a natural transition to high school with players already familiar with each other, the coaches and the plays.
The arrangement with the school district will help align sports with academics. Students who don’t meet the academic requirements or are on behavioral disciplinary actions, will not be allowed to play.
Dr. William Polite, director of equity, diversity & accountability for WPS and founder of the Middle School Challenge Program that focused on academics for student athletes, says that has been one of his concerns with the existing structure.
“A kid could be the worst kid in the district and score five touchdowns and be the biggest hero,,” says Polite.
Polite says this additional accountability supports gains beyond middle school with the program preparing students for the rigors of football and academics in high school and beyond.
DeShazar and other volunteer junior league “directors” we spoke with, don’t have any problems with the proposed middle school structures as long as some of the existing team coaches are given fair and equitable consideration for the middle school coaching positions, which are paid. .
Elementary Program
It’s restructuring the elementary school program that concerns many of the coaches who’ve operated under the existing structure for years.
Logistically, they say, the program will be a nightmare, due to massive bussing of students for integration and for magnet schools, that has students attending school a long way from their feeder pattern high school or middle school, where football practices are scheduled to take place.
The time spent moving students around will significantly cut into their study time and have many of them arriving home well after dark. Plus, they say, where after school transportation is available, it often doesn’t drop students off at their door, but at their nearest community school, which could still be a long way from their home.
Existing coaches are still encouraged to volunteer and build teams, however, they will only be able to recruit players who live in the high school feeder district they’re coaching for. That sincerely limits the pool coaches can draw from.and end the practice of coaches cherry picking the best players from around the city.
Wichita District 1 Councilman Brandon Johnson wholeheartedly supports the change in the program’s structure from first grade up. He says the change will shift the programs away from building strong organizations to building strong youth.
“That’s what Junior League Football is supposed to be about,” says Johnson. “The focus overall will be to empower our children to be great athletes and great students as well.”
Currently, he says, the focus is too much on winning. Organizations focus on building strong winning teams – and youth who may not be as great athletes, but show up and do the work – often don’t get an opportunity to play.
“Coaches need to coach,” says Johnson.“They need to teach the fundamentals and help develop good athletes and not just focus on the stars.”
Davidson says this is what he’s hearing from parents.
“Parents wanted to make sure that kids had a good opportunity to play the sport, learn the sport, and be in an environment where it’s conducive for them to do that,” said Reggie Davidson, Director of Recreation for the City of Wichita. “This is what we’re trying to do with this, create an environment that’s going to help support the kids to be able to have a good experience moving forward.”
The Missing Part
At the elementary level, DeShazer says the existing program is about more than football.
“It’s about character building, about mentoring and building a relationship with a male role model, something a lot of these players don’t have in their home,” says DeShazar.
Too often, it’s also about providing players transportation to and from and even going into their own pocket when a player doesn’t have the money for fees, equipment or even a meal.
Johnson agrees, there are a lot of great men working in the youth football program who emphasize character, but he says. That’s not always the case. That’s why the City feels the need to restructure the program to make sure the system is built to make sure the right values are taught, learned and developed.
However, DeShazar says the City has fallen short in support of the program during the past 20 years.
“Rather than placing blame on the dedicated directors and coaches who have tirelessly served our communities, we should be focusing on building a more inclusive and equitable league that benefits all stakeholders,” says DeShazer.
This article was republished here with the permission of: The Community Voice