Amateur Football Promoted by American Football Association
AFA To Help Promote youth and Semi-Pro Football Awareness THIS SEASON
“While this year’s USA Football National Convention on Amateur and Youth Football is geared firstly toward the youth level of the game of football, I have hopes that they will someday see the importance of helping the adult amateur level of the game too”, said AFA President Ron Real.
“we have (AFA) been waiting a long time for the professional football organizations such as the NFL and NFL Players Association to give their financial backing to non-profit organizations dedicated to what is known as ‘grass roots’ football. Now that they’re helping to bring youth football under one roof – it’s our job (semi-pro football) to emphasis to them that the ‘semi-pro’ football level of the sport is really just another name for ‘adult amateur’ football and our national association should receive consideration for advancing our level’s efforts as well”.
While the term ‘semi-pro’ football is often misunderstood, there are more players from this level of the game receiving college football scholarships each year, than there are semi-pro players who sign professional football contracts. The AFA has gone to great lengths over the years to show that semi-pro football players are full time adult amateurs and not part time professionals. this is designed to help keep their amateur status in tact should a college football opportunity come up.
The American Football Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt corporation that currently monitors (and ‘power rates’ on a weekly basis) 720 football teams playing in sixty-two different leagues from coast-to-coast. Those teams are divided into 2 seasons (spring/summer and fall) during the year.
The semi-pro leagues provide annual playing venues for more than 75,000 adult amateur players, coaches, team and league administrators, public relations people, equipment managers, trainers, officials and even cheerleaders . Most of them, at one time or another, were involved in a youth football program somewhere in the country when they were kids.
Recently the AFA president and the USA Football executive director Dave Ogrean came together at a meeting to discuss how the American Football Association could assist USA Football, Inc. in the advancement of amateur and youth football in the USA. Real pledged the support of the AFA national organization by helping with bringing awareness to youth football by trying to get more of his adult amateur (semi-pro) teams to help conduct youth football clinics and special youth football game day promotions in their local areas. The AFA monitors semi-pro football teams in Forty six different states during the year and can assist USA Football in networking Youth and Amateur football awareness across the country.
Read the first part of this article… USA Football’s commitment to youth football.