Perhaps the best way to describe the Fall River (Mass.) Falcons is that the organization is a melting pot.
“We have a large multi-cultural population,” vice president Clint Cabral says of the city, which includes numerous families whose ethnic heritage is Portuguese or Hispanic. “Even though we’re a suburban city we have people who are well off and people who are not well off. Once kids come to the U.S., this is a whole new concept for them. It’s their first exposure to organized sports in general and football specifically.”
Obviously, that presents challenges for Cabral, board members and, of course, the coaches.
“We teach each child the fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship,” Cabral said. “Sportsmanship is number one. We want each child to be a good football player but he also must have good sportsmanship.
“Overall, our philosophy has been we want to teach kids about dedication and school work and life in general. We feel it’s important that they work hard here as a football player, come to practice every day and follow directions.”
Arguably just as important as the emphasis on sportsmanship is the emphasis placed on academics.
“We stress academics,” Cabral said. “You don’t have to be a straight-A student. But you must show progress so you can play. We reward kids who keep a 95 percent. As an organization we want to reward our kids that work as hard in school as on the football field.”
Rewards come in the form of U.S. Savings Bonds, gift cards, etc.
“We want them to know their hard work in school hasn’t gone unnoticed,” Cabral said. “Everybody’s going to recognize kids as a player. Hopefully, in turn, when they get to high school they’ll continue to work as hard in the classroom as on the field.”
The Falcons have been in existence for 18 years, but for the first 14 they were affiliated with the Hockomock Youth League. From a geographical standpoint, it wasn’t a good fit.
When Cabral became an officer nearly four years ago, he led a drive to move the Falcons to the Rhode Island/Southeastern Massachusetts League.
“The teams we play are closer to Fall River, which makes it easier for parents,” he said. “The Hockomock League went out to (Cape Cod). Plus, enrollment was down. In 2004, they could barely field four teams at the time. I said this was the best move for the organization. When I brought it to the board’s attention, they agreed.”
Since then, the Falcons have added two teams. The league includes two Mitey Mite teams and one each for Junior Pee Wees, Pee Wees, Junior Midgets and Midgets. Each team may dress up to 30 players depending on age (younger teams like Mitey Mies and Pee Wees are more likely to dress 30).
The Falcons also must hurdle two other obstacles: finances and field availability. League administrators in Fall River and in other youth football organization throughout the country can help streamline their processes by using USA Football’s administrative tips.
“We cut the enrollment fee from $150 to $75 (in 2004),” Cabral said. “I don’t care where you are, fees are always an issue. Being a non-profit organization we have to raise our own money.
“As for fields, soccer is the predominant sport in the area and baseball, too, to an extent because we start in August. Those organizations want to grab every field the city has.”
Fortunately the Falcons caught a break when Durfee High School installed a new field and allowed the organization to use it. And even though the Falcons aren’t the largest organization in the state, they feed three high schools: Durfee, Bishop Connolly and Diman Vocational.
“Diman had a football program back in the 1970s and then they dismantled it,” said Cabral. “Now the school is going into its third year with football again. Our kids have a choice to go to one of three high schools. We try to provide a service for all three schools.”
While the Falcons have approximately 18 volunteer coaches who, according to Cabral, “give up a lot of their time,” he, in turn, is on the go most of the year.
“For me it’s probably 11 months of the year,” he said. “But I have a passion for it. I try to make the program as sound as possible. We have a wide range of talent and economic status, but on the football field everybody’s equal. Nobody discriminates. Fortunately, we have great volunteers. If you don’t have support from the family members, the program’s not going to be as successful as it should be.”
At the risk of stating the obvious, Cabral notes the board of directors hasn’t lost site of its main purpose.
“Every board member knows we’re here for the kids and not for ourselves,” he said. “We want to have good structure for the kids so they’ll have a good understanding of structure that will help them in life.”
Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.