Marin Youth Football League Pushing Brains Ahead of Braun

Jose Valazquez sees a generation of youth football players, who along with their parents, have lost their way.

Valazquez, a varsity assistant and junior varsity head coach at Terra Linda High, routinely gets kids with a remedial-at-best understanding of the fundamentals of the game, teamwork and sportsmanship, and who are clueless about the essence of the game.

He's helped launch a new league that he believes can help set kids - and their parents - on their way to experience youth football the way it was intended to be played.

The Marin Youth Flag Football League, Velazquez says, will emphasize the important life lessons that were always an integral part of all youth sports before the intense pressure to win tainted a kid's game.

"With the way football fans are now, everyone is focused on winning and the fundamentals of the game have been sidelined," Velazquez said.

"A parent wants his son to start in a game and play a certain position but the child does not know anything else about the game, like team work, sportsmanship, and most important that the game is just that - a game."

Flag football drastically reduces contact, allowing the kids to learn about the game in a safer setting.

The league is open to 5-to 17-year-old boys and girls.

It's already holding practices and has already played scrimmages ahead of its Jan. 5 inaugural

"We hope that by participating in our league parents and kids realize that football in general is a fun, safe and exciting sport to play and to watch," Velazquez said.

For more information or to sign up visit the Marin Youth Flag Football League’s website: http://www.myffl.net/