Can anyone help?

[billm75]

Hi all, I'm a first time poster here, though, I've been reading your forums for about a month. Great group of folks here!

I am in the planning stages of putting together a Youth Indoor Football league and was wondering if anyone knew where I could get information on equipment for setting up the playing field (arena)??

I'm really just trying to put together financial info right now to see if it's even feasible before I take the next step.

Thanks in advance for any/all help!

Bill

[mrinsideto-u]

Call the guy who runs the EIEIO EIFL, think his name is jim terry. Just looking at his set up in his league, if you use the eqpt he is using you should be able to make a go of it.

[billm75]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to get in touch with him and see if he can help me in any way.

It's amazing that there's not much out there in terms of arena football equipment available to the public. I guess it's not as popular as I thought it was.

[Tatonka]

Look at indoor soccer facilities that are for sale or closing. Compared to indoor soccer, indoor football facilities aren't even on the map.

[nksports]

An indoor soccer facility might let you rent time for a reasonable rate, especially in the spring, when the soccer season goes outside. There have been a few indoor pro and semi-pro teams in this part of the country that played in indoor soccer facilities.

[billm75]

Thanks for the info guys! I was thinking of contacting soccer arenas for use of their space, I'm just having problems trying to find the equipment needed to convert the space for use in arena football games.

Again, I'm planning (pre-planning) for a youth league. Once I get some costs nailed down, I can move forward with fundraising and such.

I truly appreciate the assistance.

[Tatonka]

The dimensions/walls in place at an indoor soccer facility should give you a good starting point.

You can go several ways for goalposts; most use simple PVC pipe painted bright yellow and hung from the ceiling. I've seen some use yellow tape on a net to get the same effect though.

Padding for the walls is a must, especially if this is for kids. New is expensive, but worth it if you have a unique situation like taller than average walls or a narrow field, etc.

Otherwise, lines on the field can be done pretty easily as well. You're all set.

[ChampionOfSteel]

Why not play on a field outside with AFL dimensions without walls and without goalposts? You could even have the corners rounded off if you want instead of square shaped to mimic an ice rink.

Never seen fieldgoals attempted at the youth level anyway.

If you live in the south, you guys have warm weather all-year long anyway so you can be outdoors.

The most important rule is you guys MUST use the NIFL defensive alignment. Please do not cater to the AFL jack linebacker rule. That would only brainwash another generation of youth to believe the AFL has the best entertaining format for downs one thru three.

[ChampionOfSteel]

Kids can't catch anyway in pee wee football outdoors so how would the AFL rules (no sustaned running attack) work?

No one would be able to advance the ball.

Also, I wonder if there would be any bad habits picked up by the kids because the AFL rules would condition them to do the wrong things when they return to the 11 against 11 game outdoors in the fall?

[tony-o]

With little kids, a 50 yard field would probably be the equivilent of a 100 yard field to an adult. So I don't see the problems with the AFL happening here. And most youth teams play ironman football anyways, so I don't see the problem.

[billm75]

I've coached flag football for ages 4 - 6 for the last 2 years now. There is a very limited passing game (as in, one or two attempts per game). HOWEVER.....we have had decent success with the passes attempted vs. the passes completed. Flag football is also a 7 on 7 game, so the amount of players on the field doesn't really matter when you're really trying to provide a chance to work on the child's skills and to have fun.

Granted, AFL football is more of a passing oriented game, but really, you're saying that pee wee kids cannot catch/pass the ball yet they can't really tackle and read offensive schemes either. A run-oriented offense with a handful of passing attempts at that age would work out just fine and would help the kids to hone their football skills, regardless of the rules, size of the field, etc.

The basics of football are obvious and essential to ANY league. You have to have solid blocking, you have to have solid tackling, you have to have discipline to run routes, to find holes and to stop the run. The only skill we really do NOT work on with kids is the Kicking game. They all WANT to kick the ball, so why not give them the opportunity to at least attempt a few REAL kickoffs in an arena league?

I'm just looking for a way to bring football to the children in a more "year-round" format. Baseball, Soccer and Basketball all have Spring and Fall leagues. Football doesn't, because traditionally it's too HOT to put kids in full pads anytime past April. Indoor football will take away alot of the heat and sun risks involved with full contact football.

I was really looking for a few contact points for finding equipment and such anyways. ;) I'm not trying to start an arguement on the finer points of football or the differences in leagues and rules. Besides.....wasn't Kurt Warner at one time an Arena League QB? I don't see where playing by AFL rules hurt his NFL game in the least. ;)