Welcome to the Alliance
/California Football Community,
Welcome to a new era in youth tackle football in the great State of California! We, the California Youth Football Alliance, are organizing so that we may achieve our purpose to honor, improve, and advance youth tackle football in service to you.
In February of 2018, we began to come together as the Save Youth Football California Coalition, and as the Alliance we will continue to serve you with an amplified mission and new services. We are here to stay, and we have work to do.
The California football community knows the value that the sport brings to our young men and women, and the priority that exists to continue advancing our sport as well as protecting our right to choose what is most appropriate for our children. Whether you describe the value as team work, overcoming adversity, sacrifice for others, discipline, or another term, you appreciate what our sport has to offer. You do so through the stories you tell your friends and families and through the character of the young men and women you witness in our sport.
While we have decades of great traditions, youth football must come together in a renewed way across our communities, leagues/conferences, associations/chapters, teams, coaches, players, and parents if we are to continue to enjoy our sport. Make no mistake, youth tackle football is under an attack that is fueled by zealous perspectives that you can readily witness in the media and social networks like Twitter. These others vilify our people with misinformed accusations as weapons like a childhood bully acts on a playground. They want to take football from us, our children, and our grandchildren.
We respectfully disagree with them. We are bringing people together to continue making our sport better. Borrowing from the great Dr. Martin Luther King, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” We choose to listen, seek the truth, and co-create a continually improving football future.
As great as youth tackle football is today, it is still evolving, and has not yet achieved its pinnacle. The Alliance aspires to accelerate all of our ability to optimize youth tackle football. We are working diligently, humbly investing our own time and money to develop new capabilities that will enhance the California football experience. Our motto is Honor, Improve, and Advance, and it means:
Honor - We are not alone in this work. There are many people, like yourself, who are already working to make the sport better in California and America. We honor you and the storied tradition of American Football.
Improve - We are focused and prepared to take the necessary steps today, to make our sport safer with every repetition, drill, practice, game, and season.
Advance - This is a journey, not a single season event. We need to look out to the distant horizon to co-create a vision and strategy for the future of youth tackle football, together.
We are just getting started and want to invite you to join us on this journey. We see a very bright future for football in California, and America, and we want to build it with you.
To get involved, please us the contact form on this site to share the time, talent, or treasures that you wish to give. We are a California 501(c)(3), so any donations can be acknowledged appropriately.
Please encourage your coaches, administrators, and community to get involved with us. We know that there are tens of thousands of youth football supporters in California and we want to know them all better so their voice can be heard.
Stay tuned for more information like webinars, workshops, and surveys in the coming months.
Meanwhile, please follow us on Twitter and Facebook using the links on this website.
In closing, 2019 offers a sea of uncertainty with respect to the legislative landscape in California. We will need your active support in a similar and strengthened way as compared to our Save Youth Football California Coalition campaign of 2018. We know we have the resolve of the California football community, and we look forward to an even deeper partnership in 2019 and beyond.
Very Respectfully,
Joe Rafter, President and Co-Founder
Steve Famiano, EVP, Community Development and Co-Founder
Ron White, EVP Standards & Practices and Co-Founder