By Brandon HENSLEY

This upcoming football season in the foothills will once again showcase the high school teams from Crescenta Valley, St. Francis and La Cañada, but the area will not be able to see its main youth program in action.

Kevin Lacey, president of the La Cañada Gladiators youth football team, sent out a memo in late July to the parents of the community informing them the team has withdrawn from the San Gabriel Valley Jr. All American Conference, and will not participate this season.

“We have discussed our decision and the rationale behind it with the City and with the La Cañada Sports Coalition, and are happy to report they are in full support,” Lacey said in the statement.

The main reason has to do with the growing trend of youth sports have of becoming “feeder” programs for high school sports, something Lacey is adamantly opposed to. He cited several steps the conference is taking that do not provide an environment that is in the best interests of most players.

The conference has restricted flag football to ages 5 and 6, and expanded a tackle division for ages 7 and 8. Lacey said the flag division should expand instead, to be more inclusive to older players, and noted the potential health problems that football is dealing with on a national level

“At a time when the impact of collisions on children at a young age is under close study and scrutiny, we believe the decision to expand tackle to include even younger children to be highly questionable if not downright irresponsible,” Lacey wrote.

Lacey, who has been with the program since 1999 and president since 2004, also lamented that the conference has shifted the weight divisions so that some larger players are now going to play with smaller ones, whereas that would not have happened before.

These changes would have made it difficult for the Gladiators to compete, as their recruiting area is smaller than that of other teams in the conference.

“Our franchise area is La Crescenta-La Cañada, compared to El Monte, East LA El Sereno, Glendale. Demographically, it’s not the same. We don’t have as many kids in our area as they do,” Lacey told the CV Weekly last week. “From ’99 to 2012, they never changed the weight, and they never changed the age, and they never went to unlimited weight.”

Representatives from the conference were contacted by CV Weekly, but did not respond by press time.

Lacey said the program made one last recruiting push this year, but saw the “writing was on the wall” and he decided to put out the memo.

“I don’t want to sound too harsh about the whole thing, but we have a philosophical difference about which way we should go,” Lacey said. “They believe that the adjustments they’re making are more in line with what other leagues are doing and this better prepares kids for high school football.”

It’s an attitude Lacey is adamantly against.

“If it continues to be a feeder program, I don’t want anything to do with it,” he said.

Lacey cited his early days coaching Gladiator football, how the teams weren’t winning but, as the coaching became stronger and Lacey’s mindset of engaging players, making them feel a part of something and not yelling at them every time they dropped a pass, the winning started and conference championships followed.

“When you approach it from that angle as opposed to approaching it from winning, you win,” he said.

For now, Lacey said he is in talks with other leagues, and is opening up dialogue with parents and community members on the future of the Gladiators.

He can be reached at klacey@lddlaw.net.

  Brandon Hensley