ELK MOUND (WQOW)- On Friday nights, Elk Mound football players strap on the helmets, put on the pads and play for their community. But on Tuesday nights, Mounders players trade their cleats for clipboards.
For six weeks, varsity and JV players work directly with 3rd-5th graders in the district, teaching them basic routes and sportsmanship.
“We love to see them score, get a pick,” said Ryan Bartig, current Elk Mound player and former youth flag football player.
“Every one of these kids here has gone through the program already the last ten years,” said David Lew, Elk Mound head football coach. “To see them rise to the occasion and teach and be good mentors to these boys and girls, it’s amazing. We love it.”
100 kids are participating this fall. Program numbers have more than doubled since Lew began the program a decade ago.
Everyone is welcome, and everyone gets to play multiple positions. That formula has helped Elk Mound have more kids play at the varsity level.
“I was always a smaller kid,” Bartig said. “If I would have been in tackle football earlier, I think I probably would have quit. Just all those bigger kids hitting me again and again, it wouldn’t have been much fun, but just flag football and being around this environment was amazing.”
Now, seniors like Bartig are helping the next generation in Elk Mound.
Coach Lew originally got the idea for the league from former Menomonie head coach Joe Labuda. Elk Mound also partners with Fall Creek to provide even more kids the opportunity to participate.
For more info on the youth flag football league, learn more through the Elk Mound Area School District.
