Congratulations to 6th Grade RYCA Youth Football All-Star Selectees

As the regular season closes and playoffs begin, the RYCA Rockwall 6th Grade Youth Football All-Star team has been announced.  These players have been chosen for their commitment and high level of play throughout the football season.

The selection to the All-Star which determined by the coaches of each 6th grade team was based on teamwork, sportsmanship, offensive skill, defensive skill, and overall football knowledge. These players were determined to be the best of the best from the RYCA Rockwall Jackets Premier Football League.

The RYCA Jackets 6th Grade Football teams had roughly 75 players who were originally awarded the right to wear the Jackets uniform. Each team played 8 season games, and went up against some exceptional talent. The following players have been chosen to play on the 2013 RYCA Rockwall Jackets All-Star Team. The tournament will be held November 23rd and 24th (23rd in Rockwall, Finals on the 24th in Hurst). Make sure you congratulate these players when you see them!

Tyler Ashworth- QB/Strong Safety

Joseph Schaefer- H Back/Middle Linebacker

Tanner Webb- F Back/Strong Side Linebacker

Chace Burkey- Z Reciever/Cornerback

Lake Johnson- K/Defensive End

Carson Routen- Center

Ben Tschoerner- RG/DT

Brendan Murray- Y Back

Cody Rollins- X Reciever

Zach Henry- QB/Middle Linebacker

Marshal Frost- Y Back/Weak Side Linebacker

Kade Klinkovsky- F Back/Defensive End

Ethan Fossier- RT/DT

Caleb Neff- LT/Middle Linebacker

Drew Schultz- H Back

Ryan Salter- Y Back/Weak Side Linebacker

Matthew Hornsby- LG

Drew Page- RT

Brandon Langley- C/Defensive End

Jackson Brimlet- LT

Rockwall has the best fans in the country, and some of the strongest support in youth football today. The RYCA Jacket Football program has built the largest football organization in Rockwall County. It is the largest grade and school pure organization in North Texas, and the only organization in Rockwall that is vertically aligned football program with the Rockwall High School Varsity Football program according to Head Coach Rodney Webb. “All good high school football programs in the State of Texas are built at the elementary level and my goal is to bring this type of football to Rockwall” states Coach Webb.

The Rockwall Youth Community Athletics (RYCA) Jackets are proud to be a part of the Rockwall County Community as a premier youth sports program. The RYCA has a strong commitment to principles and strives to be a community-driven organization with the genuine participation of athletes, volunteers, parents, family members, teachers, school administrators and local businesses. We encourage the RYCA Family to attend community and district events and to always support our community and display our Jacket Pride.

For more information on the RYCA Rockwall Jackets visit the RYCA Jacket Facebook or Rockwall Jackets Football RYCA News Site.

Hats off to the Coaches who volunteer their Time for Rockwall Jackets Youth Football

The true story goes like this.

Five year old son tapping on his father’s shoulder while the father is signing up his kid to play, and accepting the responsibility of coaching his son and whoever is put on the team his son would be playing for. “Daddy, I don’t know if I will be a very good player for you” as the first grader prepares his father/coach for what could be a disappointing season. The dad seeing the anxiety on his young son’s face and worry in his eyes responds, “Well son, I don’t know if I am a very good coach either, but we are in this together and we will both do our very best.” With that, a youth coaching opportunity was born and a strong bond was developed between father and son. They experienced wins, losses, triumphs and challenges over the next six years. However, more importantly; they had the opportunity to build life lessons and memories that will be able to be passed on for generations to come.

Most youth coaches today stopped playing competitive sports in high school.  Some never experienced playing any type of varsity athletics, and some had limited success in college athletics.  Very few youth coaches created a big name at a high level, and decided to pass that experience on to today’s youth for free.  Most youth coaches today are fathers (or mothers) of a player, and almost all of the youth coaches have full-time jobs.

Coaches of the RYCA Rockwall Youth Football league are business owners, police officers, corporate executives, salesmen, computer programmers, repair men, and managers.  Many of these coaches work 40 to 80 hours a week at their “normal” job, and some even coach their other kids in other sports.  They have the same family issues that everyone has.  They worry about paying bills, taking the kids to school, spending time with their spouses, cleaning their houses, and mowing their lawn.

The RYCA Rockwall coaches of youth football have committed to teaching the game to young boys ages 5 to 12 trying to bring the spirit of competition and balance winning, losing, and instruction.  These youth football coaches have gone to coaching clinics put on by Coach Rodney Webb of Rockwall High School to learn the philosophy the high school has as well as game day strategy on offense and defense.  They have formed a board to help create a fair competitive environment for the boys to be able to compete against teams from across town.  They have coaches meetings every week, and watch game film to evaluate talent for upcoming games.  The volunteer coaches spend time with each kid and try to put them in a position of success and do their best to explain the reasoning of failures.  The coaches have helped put on parades and fundraisers for the organization to enjoy.

The Rockwall youth football organization is built upon men and women who dedicate no less than 20 plus hours a week to coaching, recruiting, fundraising, field preparation, speaking, teaching, disciplining, celebrating, developing game day plans and socializing in order to provide the best experience for our kids.  Weeknights, Saturdays, and Sundays are dedicated to the RYCA Youth Football Organization.

In addition to building an organization that is very strong which will feed into Rockwall Middle Schools and ultimately high school; the RYCA Youth Football Coaches have been committed to spending time with the Rockwall youth to help them get better mentally and physically for the game of football.

Every parent has been given the opportunity to be part of this experience whether it is coaching, announcing games, setting up the field, fundraising, participating in meetings or anything else that pertains to building a youth organization.

The RYCA is built on men and women who have been able to carve out what little time they have available to give back to our kids in the Rockwall and surrounding community.  Every coach has a different personality and some are more popular than others.  However, the bottom line is they have volunteered to give the best opportunity for our youth while sacrificing their time and in many cases their money to a great cause.  They don’t do it for pay, or to see their name in the paper.  They don’t do it because they have something to prove on the football field.  They do it because they love their kids, and want to help build an organization that will last for years to come.

I for one am thankful for the coaches (like my father) who gave their time and knowledge to me as I competed in youth sports.  These coaches who were in my life as a youth left me with lessons that I carried on in life.  Some of these lessons taught me that nothing was going to be given to me, and that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.  I learned that like football, not everyone can play every position in life; however, it takes a whole team to triumph over challenges.  I learned that the game is not always fair, but neither is life.  I also was taught that if executing plays were easy then everyone would do it.

RYCA 6th Grade football team holds an impromptu “Players Only” prayer before the start of the game.

Football is a game. Less than 5% of the boys playing RYCA Football will play past high school. Less than 1% of the players who make it to college in football will have a shot at the NFL. However, the life lessons that the RYCA Youth Football coaches are invaluable to our kids as they grow and become productive members of the Rockwall Community.

Thanks RYCA Rockwall Youth Football Organization for your ongoing dedication to our kids and community as well as level of commitment you have given this season.

Go Jackets!!!

RYCA Rockwall Jackets Youth Football prepare for Playoffs

The 2013 RYCA Football Season has been a great success in the community of Rockwall.  Never before has a youth football organization been created of this size and amount of “like-minded” teams been associated with this side of I-30.

Today, Rockwall has the leadership of the RYCA board that has put together one of the strongest and most exciting youth football organizations in North Texas. They are the only youth football organization that is vertically aligned with the Rockwall High School Football program according to Varsity Head Coach Rodney Webb. The team competes against other grade/community pure organizations and has played at Cowboys Stadium, Cotton Bowl and other famous sports venues.

This year’s Rockwall Youth Football Super Bowl will take place at Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium in Rockwall, Texas. Every team from kindergarten flag football to 6th grade tackle football will play on the same turf that Rockwall High School and Heath High School play their games. (This season Rockwall Jackets High School upset Heath Hawks High School during the crosstown rivalry, “Battle of the Rock”.)

All of the consolation games will be at Kyle Field which is located next to Rockwall High School with the playoff schedule starting October 23, 2013. This game will feature the #4 and #5 seeds playing to see who will move on to play the #1 seed on November 2nd.

On November 2nd, Heath High School and Kyle Field will host the #1 through #4 seeds starting with Kindergarten and 1st grade games at 8 AM. At 9:30 AM, the 2nd and 3rd grade games will play followed by a Noon kickoff for the 4th grade teams. Early evening at 2:30 PM the 5th grade games will battle, and then the 6th grade games will play under the lights at 5 PM.

Winners will move on to the Super Bowl held at Wilkerson-Sanders stadium while the consolation game will be played at Kyle Field. The Super Bowl games will start at 9 AM for Kindergarten and 1st grade with 2nd and 3rd grade playing at 11 AM. The 4th Grade team will play at 1:30 PM followed by 5th Grade at 4 PM.

The game of the year will be two 6th grade teams battling for the 2013 Super Bowl Championship under the lights of Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium in Rockwall, Texas.  This will be an epic battle as all teams are very evenly matched.  The game will come down to strategy and heart which all of the kids have displayed this season.

RYCA Rockwall Jackets Youth Football prepare for Playoffs

RYCA Jackets get FIRED UP for Playoffs in Texas. Get your STINGERS UP!

It’s not the Ball, so what is it now?

RYCA Rockwall Jackets Dominate HHCA Heath Hawks… Again 28-0

In last week’s RYCA Rockwall Nebbie Jackets 6th Grade win over the HHCA Heath Hawks a complaint was made about the size of the ball that was used.  Unfounded statements were made saying the football in question was not regulation size.  That game ended up with a 33-0 RYCA Rockwall Jacket win over the HHCA Heath Hawks at Wisdom Field in Rockwall, Texas.

Game 2 was almost the same story just a different ball. The RYCA Nebbie Jackets made the decision to use the HHCA Heath Hawks football the entire game just to make sure there wasn’t another complaint questioning the legitimacy of another Rockwall Football victory. The game took place at Rockwall-Heath High School in Heath, Texas.

About 20 minutes before game time a Texas cold front blew in dropping the temperature 20 degrees. The addition of rain kept the weaker fans (Not RYCA Rockwall Fans) from seeing a strong performance by the RYCA Nebbie Jackets.

On the opening kickoff, Jackets kick returner; Cody Rollins ran back the Hawks ball for 70 yards for the game’s first score. That was as close to a tie as the Hawks would be for the rest of the game. After the Jackets’ defense stopped the Hawks’ offense, holding them to a loss of yardage, starting quarterback Tyler Ashworth ran in for a 20 yard touchdown. However, Tyler had to come out of the game with an injury and would not reenter the game.

Tanner Webb stepped up as the quarterback for the remainder of the game throwing his first pass to Brendon Murray for an extra point score.

Again, the defense continued to stop the Hawks drives time after time. The HHCA Heath Hawks ended up with 2 first downs, but a net loss of yardage for the game. The Jacket defense was stifling as they intercepted a pass, caused three fumbles, and recovered two. Strong play by Outside Linebacker, Tanner Webb frustrated the Hawks as did great coverage by cornerbacks, Zach Elsey, Jaxon Rife, and Chase Burkey.  Hard hitting Middle Linebacker, Joseph Schaefer helped inspire the Jacket defense shoring up the middle and controlling the field of play.

The offensive attack also included a perfectly thrown ball from Tanner Webb to Chase Burkey in the back of the end zone as well as a hard 10 yard run by Webb to put the game out of hand for the Hawks. Lake Johnson contributed with an extra point kick as well.

It is always an emotional game when Rockwall Jackets face the Heath Hawks as both are crosstown rivals.  This rivalry starts when the kids are young and continues through high school and beyond.  The emotions were especially high after Heath High School lost to Rockwall High School 24-20 in the District Opening game in late September.  The HHCA Heath Hawks are fighting for one of the final playoff spots, and the RYCA Rockwall Jackets (5-1) can secure the 1st seed if they win the final two games of their season.  If this happens then a first round playoff matchup will take place between these two teams.  Hopefully the talk of foul play will subside, and the boys can just play youth football.

 

The bottom line is that the RYCA Rockwall Jackets were better prepared to play the HHCA Heath Hawks in adverse conditions no matter which ball was used, what stadium they played in, or what the temperature was outside.  The RYCA Rockwall Jackets Nebbie 6th grade team upended the HHCA Heath Hawks 28-0 on October 5, 2013.

 

 

 

Different Day Same Outcome in Battle of the Shores Part 2

After two quarters of play the scoreboard displayed 30-0 with the RYCA Rockwall Jackets of Nebbie Elementary 6th Grade leading the 6th Grade Hartman Team.  Through 20 minutes of play, the RYCA Nebbie Jackets youth football team had already held the Hartman Jackets to negative yardage with several sacks, interceptions, and fumble recoveries giving Nebbie Jackets strong field position.

The final outcome was 42-18, but that was only because the Nebbie Jackets refused to run up the score, and practiced on new offensive and defensive plays.

Brendon Murray led all offensive players with over 100 yards in offense and Cody Rollins was unbeatable in the defensive backfield gaining 2 take-a-ways.

Typical Nebbie Jacket leaders, Tyler Ashworth, Tanner Webb, and Joseph Schaefer contributed strong plays despite only playing 2 quarters in the victory.

The RYCA Jackets Nebbie 6th Grade Team is 3-1 halfway through the season, and is starting to look at securing a playoff spot with 2 more victories.

Next up on the Nebbie Jackets schedule is the Heath Hawks of the HHCA football league, and the Jackets are ready! They plan on taking their high scoring offense and run stopping defense to the field with Rockwall’s best fans cheering on.

Go Jackets!!!

Get Your STINGERS UP!!!!