You play a big role in helping BVFA achieve its purposes and goals!*

“The Child first, and the Sport second!”

That is the motto of BVFA. It helps reminds us to keep our priorities straight – the child first in everything we do at BVFA. When medallions and trophies are passed out every year what we hope to hear from the players on all teams – first place to last place – is that they had fun, made friends, became stronger and learned how to play football better.

The purposes and goals of BVFA (Article II. Sections 1 & 2) are:

(A) To teach the fundamentals of football.

(B) To develop good character within each player.

(C) To encourage the development of a physically fit body.

(D) To create a healthy competitive spirit among the players.

(E) To ensure the safety of each player.

Another way of putting this is that -- through the game of football our goals are to develop good character within each player, encourage the development of a physically fit body, create a healthy competitive spirit among the players and ensure the safety of each player.

It takes the involvement of a lot of people for BVFA to achieve its purposes and goals:

● Coaches -- They are selected by local associations and pass BVFA background checks. Many are parents, former BVFA players and former athletes who love helping children learn the sport.   

● Referees – BVFA refs are certified members of the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO), an independent organization, providing support, resources and training for Texas high school sports officials. With more than 150 local chapters serving 14,500+ members throughout the state, TASO is one of the largest professional organizations for sports officials in the country.

● Local Association Officers and Directors – Only non-profit organizations are members of BVFA. All of the people that run these organizations are volunteers.

● Town Representatives -- Members of the board of the local associations and also a member of the BVFA board of directors. They are the key link between all of BVFA organizations.

● BVFA Officers – BVFA President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer and Rules Chairman. They are also volunteers and are elected to serve one year terms by the BVFA Board of Directors. They have all been involved in local associations and coaching for a long time and have lots of experience behind them.

● Parents – You are the most important because your participation makes it possible for our teams to exist. It takes a big investment in time to transport players to practice, games and other team activities. You are the primary role models of all our players.

● Fans – Everyone that has ever been involved in a competitive sport understands the power of the fans. The number of fans may be very different, but the experiences on the field are very similar when players hear the fans respond to a play. You play a very important role in making BVFA games enjoyable, rewarding and teaching the players what “a healthy competitive spirit” is.

When it comes to achieving success in accomplishing two of purposes and goals -- developing good character in every player & creating a healthy competitive spirit – it takes all of the people listed above.

Kids pay close attention to and mimic adults. They learn from the words, behaviors and actions of the adults around them – even when those adults are strangers. Sometimes in the “heat of the game” it is easy to forget that the players on the field are all children – on both teams. They are not high school, college or NFL players. Our Super Bowl games will be played at AT&T Stadium, but there will be lots of empty seats and the media will not be there.

For the majority of BVFA players, their football careers will end when they play their last Major Division game. But, 20 years later many of them will be still be friend with people they met while playing BVFA football – and they will still be talking about games they played together.

 I will leave you with a modified version of a saying that most will probably know very well. I have used it for many years – especially when my grandkids were and my great grandkids are on the field playing BVFA Football:

Do unto the players and fans on the other side,

as you would have them do unto your players and fans!

Enjoy your games tomorrow and thanks for playing a big role in helping BVFA achieve its goals.

Jim Myers

Advisory Director BVFA

*The above are thoughts are strictly mine.