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• TEAM SPORTS 52 • July 2021 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com W hile the Masters golf tour- nament is always referred to as "a tradition unlike any other," it's fair to say that the 2020 football season for Pop Warner Little Scholars was "a season unlike any other." According to Pop Warner Little Scholars executive director Jon Butler, every year, under normal circumstances, roughly 225,000 young children play youth football and nearly 100,000 youngsters participate as cheerleaders, under the Pop Warner banner. But, in Fall 2020, only 10 to 15 percent of the Pop Warner programs conducted any kind of football season. In fact, the season was so disjointed that the organization's annual national championship – the Pop Warner Super Bowl, normally held in Orlando in December – was cancelled. (But Pop Warner's Annual National Cheer and Dance Championships were held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, where roughly 2500 cheer and dance competitors gathered to compete.) While the 2020 Pop Warner season was basi- cally a non-event, a few Pop Warner programs did play football this past spring to make up for last fall's cancelled campaign. While Butler supports spring football, it's not been as easy to implement as one would think. "While the desire to play games, as a makeup season, is acceptable, many football programs have had issues with getting field space and registering players," says Butler. "And, of course, we have multi-sport athletes who are committed to other sports in the spring." He expects that Pop Warner youth football leagues operating in the spring will not become a regular trend. "We granted a one-year exemption to any chapter that wanted to play football this spring," says Butler. "For Pop Warner Little Scholars, we operate in the fall." With that in mind, Pop Warner Little Scholars is firmly focused on conducting business as usual this fall, with teams starting practice in early August and the season starting around Labor Day weekend. "There is a lot of pent-up demand for football for this fall," says Butler. "Kids want to be out there running around with their friends. And parents want their children playing sports." That's great news for team dealers that are hoping to re-invigorate a youth football busi- ness that was practically non-existent last fall. Butler adds that local programs will be con- ducted with extreme caution, out of respect for the COVID-19 pandemic. "Each team will be following the safety guidelines as approved by our own medical advisory committee," says Butler. "There are local laws that apply in every community, too." While Butler does expect stronger participa- tion in 2021 than what took place in 2020, he does not expect participation this year to be as strong as it was in 2018 or 2019. But, he does expect strong participation from Pop Warner's traditional hot-beds of play such as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Florida and southern California. And Butler has confirmed that plans are already underway for Pop Warner Little Scholars to return to Orlando in December for the 64th Annual Super Bowl and National Cheer & Dance Championships to be hosted by Florida Citrus Sports. n NEW SEASON Like so many other football organizations, Pop Warner faces an uphill battle to return to normalcy. "There is a lot of pent-up demand for football for this fall. Kids want to be out there running around with their friends. And parents want their children playing sports."

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