Sussex Lions Flag Football Program Additional Information about the Program

Sussex Lions Flag Football Program
Additional Information
about the Program.

Each player is required to wear a helmet, mouth guard and team jersey. The mouth guard and jersey are supplied by the program. At registration we usually have coupons for a discount on a new helmet, and there are usually people selling used helmets that their kids no longer use. Spikes are optional, and there is often some people selling used spikes at the registration.

There are three different grade levels in the program. (1^st & 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th, and 5^th & 6^th) After registration, we divide the players up into teams that are picked randomly by the computer. The computer will put the same number of players that are in the older grade for that level on each team, and will distribute the players so that each team has some big kids and some smaller kids. The number of teams in each level, and the number of players on each team will be determined by the number of players that sign up.

Although the program is organized by the Sussex Lions Club, it is only possible with the help of parent volunteers. The program is run by the many parents who volunteer their time to coach, ref, work the chains and down marker, and help out at the end-of-the-year banquet. We encourage all parents to volunteer to help in some way.

A couple of days after the last registration day we will have a coach's meeting and will hand out the team rosters. The coaches will then contact the players on their team within a couple of days to let them know when and where the first practice is. Practice times and places are decided by the coach. Most teams will start with 2 practices per week. (Once school starts, the teams are limited to 2 practices per week.) Some coaches will switch to one practice per week part way through the season. Each team plays one game per week. The games are in Sept. and Oct. 1st & 2nd graders will play all of their games, except the last one, on Saturday mornings. Their last game will be a night game under the lights. Grades 3 - 6 will play all of their games in the evening, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Games are played at Sussex Village Park and at Hamilton High School.

This program is designed to be a fun activity for the kids. It is also a program that teaches some valuable lessons to the kids. (Examples: Good sportsmanship whether you won or lost, team work, responsibility of doing your job, being respectful of their elders, respecting other players, working hard to be successful, and most important, self respect.) We do not allow parents or coaches to yell at the refs if they don't like a call that was or was not make. This is not a WIN AT ALL COST type program. Each player will have a starting position on either offense or defense and will play at least half of the game. 1st and 2nd grade is set up to be entirely a learning experience for the kids. We do NOT keep track of wins and losses at that level. At the banquet, each player in that level will receive a trophy and a certificate for participation. In grades 3 and up we do keep track of wins and losses and at the end of the season we will have a Super Bowl game for each of those levels. The Super Bowl games are played in the Football Stadium at Hamilton High School. The players in grades 3 and up will all receive a certificate at the banquet, and the teams with the best records will receive trophies. The number of teams that receive trophies will depend on the number of teams that we have at each level.

We have a photographer that will take team and individual pictures. It is up to each parent to decide if they want to purchase pictures from that photographer. We do ask that all players be in the picture even if they are not buying any. The photographer supplies the program with a picture of each team to put on the web site, and to put on the certificates that each player gets at the banquet.

Each team has a section on this web site, which includes a team picture, a team roster, the teams schedule, any pictures that parents submit, and a place for parents, coaches and players to read and write stories or comments about the team. For grades 3 and up, we will also post the wins and losses for each game and the current standings for each team.