Barrington’s Youth Football Gears Up for Another Season

Opening day for Barrington’s Youth Football is not just about football, but also about family and fun.

“It will be a fun day,” said David Jacobs, president of Barrington’s Youth Football. The season’s kickoff event is scheduled at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, at Barrington’s Community Stadium at . “We have many vendors attending to provide food and fun for the whole family.”

In addition to the good food, there are other activities scheduled for the day such as photos for players and their teams, music, Barrington’s Youth Football apparel, and a punt, pass and kick competition for the young athletes.

But the opening season event won’t just be about the food and fun for these footballers as Barrington’s Youth Football once again will roll out its sports leadership campaign.

“The presentation will describe the values and ‘words of the week’ that we will discuss with the players throughout the season,” Jacobs said of the successful program that helps to instill core characteristics in the players. “It will also describe our community service plans for all of the teams.”

“This is a great opportunity for everyone, including our coaches, to hear a consistent message for the environment we are creating for our players,” Jacobs said.

The leadership program allows the players on each team to vote for their team’s sports leader.  One player will be honored from each team as players submit names of teammates who demonstrate leadership qualities on and off the field, display attributes associated with being a leader and have a commitment to excellence. All leadership honorees will be recognized and presented an award for their commitment at the end-of-the-season banquet.

“We received a lot of positive response to the sports leadership program,” Jacobs said of the support for the program that came from parents and coaches.

The program will be utilized in both Barrington’s Youth Football flag football intramural program as well as the more competitive tackle teams that help form the Chicago youth football league, the largest youth football league in the country.

The leadership program is just one of the many ways that Barrington’s Youth Football is striving to meet its mission of “Building our Youth for the Future.” 

Another way that Barrington’s Youth Football makes sure it help players be the best possible is by having football participants take part in the ImPACT cognitive testing.  Started for the first time last year, this test is the same program that uses, and is similar to the tests colleges and the NFL uses to determine baselines for head injuries and helps ensure that players are not back playing without concussions totally healing first.

“To the best of our knowledge, we are the only youth program in the area that implemented the testing,” Jacobs said of the program launched last year to all the tackle players age 12 and older.  “The program was so successful, that this year we included our 12-year-and-older flag program participants as well.”

“We are so proud of having been able to do this for our players and their families,” Jacobs went on to say of the 230 participants who will be tested this year.  Barrington’s Youth Football “is truly blessed to have had the support from Good Shepherd Hospital, Dr. Dan Dilorio and BHS athletic trainer Kevin Stalsberg.”

Jacobs said the ImPACT testing was vital not only in making sure football injuries were completely healed before athletes returned to the field, but also there were a few cases when parents were able to use the information gathered after injuries occurred in other activities to determine lingering effects from a concussion.

“I had at least three families contact me to thank me for doing the testing because it helped with the confirmation of a concussion from lacrosse, wrestling and a skateboard accident,” Jacobs said.

For more information regarding Barrington’s Youth Football, simply attend the kickoff to their season at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 21 at Community Stadium at for flag participants, and at 1 p.m. for tackle participants. Or, visit their website at barringtonbroncos,org.