Parents and students,
As we head toward the end of the school year, football may be the last thing on your minds right now. However, I’d like to take a few minutes to discuss the upcoming 2010 football season. For those who don’t know me, I have been one of the coaches for the 7th & 8th grade Oak Grove/Park Christian football team for the last 5 years. Each of those years I’ve coordinated getting the information regarding next year’s elementary and junior high football teams out to the students from both schools, so here we go:
Oak Grove and Park Christian have co-oped to play football at the varsity level for several years, and the junior high (7th/8th grade) has done the same for 5 seasons. For the last two seasons, the students in the 5th & 6th grade have also played together. The schools want to continue this approach to cooperative play, as it gives the players the opportunity to practice and play football on Christ-centered teams. The Christian environment fostered by both schools is carried over to our approach to the game, both on the practice field and during games.
The Grovers football program for the elementary and junior high levels is run through the FM Athletics youth football organization. FM Athletics is an excellent program that has organized youth football in the Fargo-Moorhead area since 1972. Last season FMA had over 60 teams - - nearly 1400 players in grades 4 through 8 - - participate in youth football. The benefits of working with FMA include access to great equipment, an expanded game schedule (we typically play 8 – 10 games each season at the junior high level), and the opportunity to play one of the games in the Fargodome.
If you have never played football before I’d like to encourage you to join your classmates on the football field, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have. If you have played football before, I’d like to welcome you back again for another great season. If you currently play another fall sport, thanks for taking the time to read this far. (If you are interested in possibly switching to football, please feel free to contact me and I will give you the details about the program.) If you aren’t currently playing a fall sport but don’t think football is for you, I encourage you to look into trying another sport. Both Oak Grove and Park Christian are small schools, and teams need participation to be successful. Use the talents God has given you to work with your classmates and enjoy yourself in a team setting!
To be part of OG/PC football as a 4th, 5th/6th or 7th/8th grader, you will need to fill out the FM Athletics registration forms and submit the appropriate fees. Check the FM Athletics website (http://www.fmathletics.com) for the registration form. Print out the form, fill it out, and return it with the correct payment to the Oak Grove or Park Christian school offices. Please note, DO NOT send the completed forms directly to FMA as it instructs you to do on the form. We want all of the forms to be turned into the school offices so we can ensure all of the OG/PC players are assigned to the correct teams. If you have already turned in your forms to FMA, please let one of the coaches know so we can coordinate with FMA. Also, in the field on the form asking for the elementary school attended, please enter Oak Grove/Park Christian. This will help to ensure that all of our players are placed on the correct teams and not assigned to other teams outside of our schools.
If you have questions about the football program or anything in this letter, please don’t hesitate to contact me. And if you are interested in coaching at the 4th, 5th/6th or 7th/8th grade level, we want to hear from you! Send me an email or give me a call - - we’ll have a meeting with representatives from both schools to discuss overall goals for the football program at all levels. When all of the player registration forms have been received, we’ll have a better picture of how many teams we will be able to field at each level - - we’ve had record numbers of 7th and 8th graders playing the last two seasons (and many great dads volunteering to coach), and look forward to seeing big numbers again this year.
Thanks for your time, and may God bless your day!
Scott Eggiman
218.329.9541 (c)
218.236.1092 (h)
scott@marciltechnologies.com or
seggiman@hotmail.com
