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Bears traveled far, wide for even more football
Recreation
Date published: 1/2/2009
By CARDEN HEDELT This past season, the Fredericksburg Area Youth Football League's Mighty Mite Bears have played football on whatever field they could find. In the spring, the 8 and 9 year old Bears made their field indoors, playing flag football. Through the fall and winter, the Bears practiced and played their games on fields that belonged to local schools, and on a few fields down in Florida, where they competed in the American Youth Football Championship Invitational Tournament. The Bears even had one practice on a field that was not a field at all. It was Brigette Washington's front yard. Washington, whose 9-year-old son C.J. plays for the Bears and husband Clarence is an assistant coach, said that she and her husband came up with the idea when they learned that the field the Bears were scheduled to practice on had been closed. "We rigged up lights right in the front yard of my house in Mill Run," Washington said. "It was very enlightening to see my front yard being used for something that beneficial. We did draw some funny looks and people were slowing down to try to figure out what was going on, but once they figured out it was just football practice they just drove on." The now-infamous front yard practice is just one of several memories that the Mighty Mite bears have from an outstanding season. Through the season, the Bears kept a perfect 13-0 record, claiming victories in the Virginia Area Youth Football Association Tournament and the FAYFL Harvest Bowl before heading to Florida to face the nation's best in the AYC Invitational. While in Florida, the Bears topped two teams, one from New York and one from Baltimore, proving that these youngsters were the best of the best. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Bears' season is not how far their season took them, but that they went the whole season without allowing any points against them. Even though the Bears had a season better than any team would hope for, head coach Anthony Robinson does not measure his achievements in wins. He measures it in the lessons he teaches his young players. "My thing is making sure that they have fun and building character through football," said Robinson, who has coached youth football for 15 years. "If there are 10 things to learn and each kid learns one thing from each year, I count it as a success. If they can get to the high school level and remember some of the things they learned here, that's a success." Carden Hedelt: 540/374-5440
Date published: 1/2/2009
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