[photo by Shane Allen] Lewisville Northside Air Conditioning owner Jerry Grote with some of the Lantana Wildcats Youth Football players.
The group recently signed Lewisville’s Northside Air Conditioning as its first founding sponsor. The three-year agreement will help students in grades 6 and under from Lantana’s Harpool middle, Eugenia Porter Razor and Annie Blanton elementary, private and home-schooled youth to begin competing in flag and tackle football in August.
“We’ve already had 100 kids show interest so we’ll be able to fill at least one team per grade,” said LWYFA President Greg Lewis. “Thanks to this sponsorship and others, I can say with confidence we’ll be able to provide helmets and shoulder pads for the kids.”
For Lewisville Northside Air Conditioning owner Jerry Grote, the sponsorship made sense since his son Parker has played under coaches Craig Mikolajchak and Paul Blachowicz in other area programs.
“The big thing for me is Craig and Paul know what kind of football they are teaching,” said Grote, a Double Oak resident whose children attend Rayzor. “I’ve seen what they do and like it. It’s a big thing for the kids.”
“It’s a good thing for the community and the boys and girls,” said Blachowicz, whose son Nate has played sports with Parker Grote. “The nice thing is it’s all here. We don’t have to travel all over.”
After previously competing in programs in Denton, Flower Mound, Lewisville and Lake Cities, the LWYFA will be part of the North Texas Youth Gridiron group. Other communities involved are Lake Dallas, Corinth, Little Elm and The Colony. About 11 Lantana youth competed last fall on a Wildcats team in the NTYG program.
Lewis said the program will emphasize teamwork and sportsmanship as much or more than football to help the youth grow. They will also offer youth cheerleading.
“Every one of the kids will go through middle and high school together,” he said. “You look at the other communities and they travel up through the systems.”
Player registration officially begins April 1 on the program’s lwyfa.org or lantanawildcatsfootball.org websites and at LWYFA events prior to the July 12 registration closing. Regular-season games begin Aug. 24.
Lewis said additional sponsorships starting at $100 also remain available. More information about any aspect of the LWYFA is available on the websites or emailing info@lwyfa.org.
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