posted 03/21/2013 Thank you to everyone who attended our tackle football update meeting. For those who were unable to be there, we would like to share some exciting news covered at the meeting.
We are pleased to announce that beginning with the 2013 football season, the Jr. Cougars tackle program will be playing football in the Illini Youth Football League (IYFL).
This decision was made to address a number of inequities in our program as compared to the other member communities participating in The Chicagoland Youth Football League (TCYFL). For example, our program has fewer players at each level than the majority of the other TCYFL teams. This means that we consistently competed against larger programs with many more kids to choose from. Another important factor in our decision making process was the ability to know what programs and towns we were going to be paying each year. In the past there was no consistency in towns or programs we would play year in and year out.
So during the past several months, we reviewed our standing within the TCYFL and explored various other league options to determine what league would be best for our program and most importantly for our kids. After weighing all the options, it was determined that the IYFL currently best suits our needs and is most aligned with our program.
The benefits of this move include:
- Member communities are similar in size with our program.
- Consistent competition from year to year and a timely scheduling process that can be accommodated with a league of this size.
- New weight class structure that we feel will lead to different playing environments for all levels (players get to play with grades at or closer to the grade they are in).
- Rules that are consistent with what we are accustomed to with the IHSA.
- Significant improvements around player exception policies that we feel are more aligned with our beliefs on player safety.
We respectfully thank the TCYFL and its member communities for 4 years of football and allowing us to be a part of a terrific organization. We will miss the rivalries we have grown to appreciate over the years but we look forward to our new affiliation with the IYFL and expect to continue our positive reputation and competitive ways as we transition into this new and exciting era of Jr. Cougar Football.
More information about the IYFL can be found at
http://www.illiniyouthfootball.com. 
