by Lisa Reisman The New Haven independent
The rain came in torrents. It kept coming. None of the 26 12U New Haven Steelers of the Pop Warner Youth Football League practicing on Bowen Field appeared fazed. Nor did their coaches.
These were the undefeated regional champs for the second year in a row, after all. These are New Haven’s representatives for the national championship tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina next week. These 12- and 13-year-olds know the tenacity it takes to succeed.
Now they face a daunting challenge: to find the funds they need to get to nationals. The Community Development Block Grant from which they annually receive $20,000 in U.S. Housing and Urban Development funds was cut in half this year. For each player, the cost for transportation, hotel, and food, during the nine-day trip is $1,200. And as Daryel Barros, Pop Warner Youth Football League president, put it, “every bit helps.”
The New Haven Steelers going through offensive formation during practice Tuesday night at Bowen Field.
Not that they’re unfamiliar with adversity. Since August, “we’ve played in 95-degree heat, downpours like today, and windy days, but we’re out here,” said “team mom” Shatea Threadgill, as the players, clad in yellow-and-black jersey and pads, did tackle drills, danced between cones, and went through offensive formations in the driving rain last Tuesday night.
That wasn’t the only obstacle. “The home games are at Winslow Field in Rockview Housing,” said Barros, referring to the Rock View Circle public housing complex. “The rest of the teams don’t want to come unless we promise them they’ll be safe, so we had to cover the cost of security and police.”
The team just kept winning.
“No matter the challenge, there’s no quit in them,” said Barros. “These kids are talented, they’re determined, they’ve got a great work ethic, and they understand that playing football is a privilege. You gotta earn it. To play football you have to go to school and you have to do well in school.”
Barros has been involved with the Pop Warner League for 32 years. “I’ve seen a lot of positives,” he said. Last year, three players who had come up as New Haven Steelers were in the NFL draft, including Tyler Booker, Teron Mallory, and Prince James Boyd. More than that, he said, “a lot of my kids went on to good schools, and they’re now productive men in society. We’ve got firemen, police officers, teachers.”
He pointed out LJ Howard, the team’s star receiver and linebacker.
LJ jogged over. “I love everything about football,” he said, rain dripping off his helmet. “It’s one way to release my anger and not get in trouble for it plus it teaches you teamwork and really disciplines you and it’s good exercise,” he said. “Also helps me focus at school because if I don’t do well, I’m not playing.”
Team Mom Shatea Threadgill spreading the word on fundraising efforts to get the New Haven Steelers to nationals.
“That’s right,” said Threadgill, the team mom, whose son Jay plays wide receiver and linebacker. “Life lessons.” Of the 25 kids on the team, she said, “25 out of 25 are scholar students, and eighteen of them have been playing together since they were six, so it’s kind of a brotherhood, they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they’re good influences on each other.”
New Haven Steeler Jayden Greene with Yale mascot during Steelers fundraising efforts at Yale-Harvard game.
For her, it’s simple. “We need more people to rally behind our youth, to recognize them doing good so they keep wanting to do good and not wait until it’s too late, when they get in trouble or worse,” she said.
“This is an experience that can shape them for their lives, and more than anything, a way for us as a community to say to these kids, ‘we see you, you matter.’”
“Let’s go. Let’s go,” a coach was shouting, the pounding rain muffling his words. “Buckle down. Buckle down. You got this. We got this. We got this.”