Football league set to kick off in Los Altos
By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer
 photo courtesy of Vince Giocomini An intermediate school flag football team based at Egan Junior High prepares to snap the ball in a league game last season. Coach Vince Giocomini, along with Jerry Sorensen, are now bringing flag football to the Los Altos School District’s elementary schools. Practices begin later this month. |
The flags you will soon see hanging from the belts of local elementary-school students are not a new fashion trend for the fall. They just go with the school T-shirts, shorts and mouthguards required to play in a flag football league debuting in Los Altos.
Los Altos School District parents Vince Giocomini and Jerry Sorensen are launching the league, inspired by the scores of youngsters they’ve seen playing pick-up football games.
“We just noticed the one sport almost everybody plays is football - we see kids playing the game all the time - but they had limited choices,” Sorensen said. “Pop Warner is more intense and more of a commitment than a lot of them want to make. We felt there was really a need for this.”
It was about a year ago when Giocomini realized just how much of a need there was for a flag football league. Needing 15-20 players for a junior-high team he started, Giocomini posted a sign-up notice in a daily newspaper. The response was overwhelming.
“I got over 100 calls from the South Bay,” Giocomini said. “I was turning them away. Parents were begging me. There were no other options.”
There is now - at least for Los Altos School District students in grades 4-6. Giocomini and Sorensen said their new league, under the name Afterschool Athletics, will have teams at each of the six elementary schools in the district. Although the LASD is not involved with running the league, it did endorse it after Sorensen and Giocomini received support from the PTA presidents and principals at all six schools.
“When we presented it to the district and fashioned it as a chance to play for your school, they liked it,” said Giocomini, who has coached youth baseball with Sorensen.
Based on early registration numbers, students and parents do, too. Giacomini said almost 100 children had signed up by last week, and “a good percentage of them are girls.”
The league founders hope to have enough participants to make three divisions, with each school fielding fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade teams. If not, there will be varsity (primarily sixth-graders) and junior-varsity (fourth- and fifth-graders) divisions. Sorensen expects to have 10-20 players on every team, with the roster size dictating if games are seven vs. seven or nine vs. nine.
Sorensen said the afterschool league will “stress fun and fundamentals - not the tackling or collision nature of the game.” There will be blocking, of course, but the rules limit the amount of contact. The emphasis, Sorensen said, will be on “passing, receiving and running.”
Practices are set to begin once school starts later this month. The 10-game season will kick off in September and end in November. Each team will play one game and hold one practice per week.
Although field space is at a premium with soccer in season, Sorensen and Giacomini believe they’ve found a resolution by scheduling games and practices right after school, before soccer begins. This also allows children to play both sports.
“The kids in soccer will be minimally impacted,” Sorensen said. “We’ll be very lenient to those who can’t make practice. They can learn the skills from their friends who were there and come and play.”
Giacomini added that the league is “completely recreational and everybody plays.”
The league’s biggest concern may be finding enough coaches for what could potentially be an 18-team league. Several parents have volunteered, but more head coaches and assistants are needed. Giacomini said the league is also seeking high school and college kids looking to serve their community. League board members John Ralston, former coach at Stanford University and San Jose State, and Foothill College coach Marshall Sperbeck will lead coaching clinics.
If the league is a success, Sorensen said it could be expanded to surrounding cities like Mountain View, Palo Alto and Cupertino. The nonprofit Afterschool Athletics may expand to other sports as well, “but you have to crawl before you walk,” Sorensen said.
Registration is $175. To register, coach or for more information, contact Giocomini at (408) 892-9193 or vince@ptsi.com, or Sorensen at 906-0491 or gjsorensen_1999@yahoo.com.
