Coach Jason Petrone talks to his team, the Majeski Foundation Panthers, during a game on Oct. 14, 2012. From left to right are players Ben Moyer, Gefan Bar-Cohen, Aakash Mehta, Ben Kioko, and Ben Petrone.
Organizing an entire football league in six weeks is a fairly daunting task, but Jason Petrone, Judd Petrone and Satya Bhamidipati have done just that.
The Princeton Pop Warner league disbanded after nearly 10 years of operation, and the three men decided at the end of July to start the Princeton Junior Football League.
“We didn’t want to see football in Princeton go away totally,” Judd said.
The men started advertising and recruiting sponsors soon after they decided to act on their idea. With help from the Princeton Recreation Department, the school district and word of mouth, around 65 athletes registered.
“We had some good support from the Recreation Department,” Jason said. “They did some advertisement for us. We also got fliers out in the schools, which helped a lot at the last minute. If we keep rolling and keep getting positive support, hopefully next year we can double the size of the league.”
The league consists of three divisions: Junior, for 6–8 year-olds; Middle, for 9–11 year-olds; and Senior, for 12–14 year-olds.They practice twice a week, and games are held every Sunday at either Princeton High School, Smoyer Park or Community Park. The season started on Sept. 30 and runs until Nov. 11.
For now, the athletes play solely flag football. The league hopes to eventually merge with West Windsor-Plainsboro Pop Warner, where many of the Princeton athletes went to continue playing tackle football after their league disbanded.
Bhamidipati said the league eventually hoped to incorporate a tackle football program, and they feel that merging with an existing organization is their best option.
“Ultimately, we do want to get the kids into tackle football,” Judd said. “If we can get together with their guys, we can pull something off like that.”
Ideally, the two leagues would join before the start of next season, but neither is in any rush.
“Maybe it’s a couple of winters down the road,” Judd said. “We’re going to continue to build this and then put it all on the table and see what happens.”
The men say things have been running smoothly, but, as with any new organization, they have encountered a few difficulties.
“We’re trying to figure out where we’re going to get funding, primarily,” Bhamidipati said. “We definitely went through a little bit of difficulty with the website, registration, understanding what’s required. We’re trying to make sure that this year, we get this whole program going and then next year, we’ll try to formalize a lot more things.”
Now that the season is well underway, though, the men have been able to sit back and enjoy what they helped create.
“The turnout is the greatest thing,” Bhamidipati said. “You can see it in their faces. They’re all gung-ho about it. It seems to be a really good community that’s worked out. When we started in July, we were a little doubtful. We were worried that they league wasn’t even going to get off the ground.”
They hope to ultimately serve as a feeder system for the high school’s football program. Football numbers in Princeton have been on the decline, and Judd said this is due to both the prevalence of other sports and a fear of injury.
“All the sports now play year-round,” he said. “I’m a football player at heart. You can’t pick and choose what sports the kids play, but we can offer it and hope they come out and play. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
As for injuries, Judd said they can occur in any sport.
“We’re here to teach them how to play,” he said. “Safety is our number one concern.”
Bhamidipati said education and proper technique are among the league’s top priorities.
“One of the greatest things is that the kids are learning,” he said. “We’re trying to teach the fundamentals, trying to get them to learn.”
All three men hope that allowing the athletes to develop their skills as football players will inspire them to pursue tackle football up to and beyond the high school level.
“We created this core group that can channel into the middle school and the high school,” Bhamidipati said. “We’re starting at the ground level and going through the whole process. We want to keep football alive here in Princeton.”
