FLINT, MI – Young football players and cheerleaders from Flint spend weekends perfecting their craft at Mt. Morris Alternative High School.

 

The Genesee County Pop Warner Football League prepares the future high school kids for the next level of sports. 

Kids are schooled on football's fundamentals, sportsmanship, and how to play on a team.

League President Sean Brandon organized the inaugural homecoming games on Saturday morning featuring local squads as well as teams from Detroit, Ypsilanti and Southfield. He was pleased with the overall turnout of the event.

"This is going to help the high school coaches (in the area) to have guys this young that have already played tackle football before they reach the high schools," said Brandon. "When I first came from California I helped coach Northern's varsity team and you had half of the team that had never put on pads before so we started this program to give kids an early start."

Brandon brought the Pop Warner League to Flint in 2010. The organization has been around nationally since 1929 and lets kids compete against each other based on their size and weight. Kids ages 5-14 can play as long as they maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average in the classroom.

Keyon Menifield Jr. is a nine-year-old wide receiver for the Genesee County Eagles who enjoys playing on weekends. Sometimes the large crowds in the stands make him nervous but once the games start he says the jitters go away.

"I'm used to it," said Menifield Jr., a fourth grader at Richfield Elementary School.

Former NFL wide receiver Andre Rison spoke to the athletes before the opening game. Parents were on-site for face painting as Flint Northern High School's band provided tunes for the audience.

Pop Warner's competitive cheerleading program also displayed their routines during the contests.

Shelly Williams-Johnson registered her 11-year-old daughter Shamya Johnson for Pop Warner cheerleading when it first became established in Flint. Last year Shamya washonored as an "All-American Scholar" and Shelly likes what her daughter is learning by participating in the organization.

"You have the positive role models with the coaches that shape and mold them the right way and it shows them how to handle things when stuff doesn't go their way," said Williams-Johnson.