CCJFA, celebrates 50 years
By KRISTEN MILLER
This year the Cape Coral Pop Warner Junior Football Association, CCJFA, celebrates 50 years of bringing youth together for both football and cheerleading. Families and participants came together Saturday on the Caloosa Middle School football field for an awards ceremony closing out the 2016 season.
The accomplishment of the organization celebrating 50 years is not lost on CCJFA President Jay Taylor.
“Not too many in the Cape to make it 50 years,” Taylor said.
CCJFA is part of the Peace River Conference and has between 300 and 400 local youths in both football and cheerleading combined.
Taylor said there have been many organizations in the area who have tried to do the same thing but haven’t lasted as long.
“We’ve been here and stayed strong,” he said, noting even though there have been good and bad times in the economy, they’ve survived. Also, Taylor added, with a Pop Warner organization, people know what they’re getting themselves into.
“Some of the kids wouldn’t do anything if we didn’t have it,” Taylor said.
Like Taylor, who has been with the organization for 20 years, many volunteers started out playing football or cheerleading for CCJFA. According to Taylor, 70 percent of the coaches were participants themselves.
Cheer Director Doti Reynolds started out as a parent and is still involved as the organization celebrates 50 years.
“Fifteen years later I’m still involved and my daughter is 22 years old,” Reynolds said.
On Saturday, in between the logistics of new sign ups and preparing for the awards ceremony, Reynolds welcomed countless hugs from current and former students, a testament to how deep the organization can touch you.
“It gets in your blood, the kids get in your blood,” Reynolds said, tearing up as she looked around the field at kids playing before the ceremony.
Reynolds said every person working for CCJFA is a volunteer who donates their time on top of their sometimes already busy schedules.
“You have to love it,” said Reynolds, who works a 40 hour-work week and adds volunteer time on top of that.
The spring mini season is a way for kids and parents who have never participated to get their feet wet in the organization. According to Taylor, they can see what they’re getting into and decide if they want to continue.
For Reynolds, it’s also about continuing the cycle and starting to teach new students who could one day become coaches. It all starts, Reynolds said, with the commitment to be a part of something and dedicate your time. The confidence, teamwork and courage will follow.
“It takes a team,” she said.
Ed Asbury started one year ago on the CCJFA board after his daughter, Reagan, started cheering.
“I wanted to know what was going on,” he said. Asbury said his time on the board and having a daughter on the team was a learning experience. There was a lot more involved in CCJFA than people realized. For starters, the practices are two and half hours several times a week.
But Asbury has seen a difference in his daughter since she started cheering.
“It really has made her come out of her shell,” he said. She also maintained the highest GPA in the squad and was in the top 2 percent in Florida, a testament to the emphasis on education Pop Warner promotes.
Deborah Nehila cheered from 1991 to 1994 and came to the Caloosa Middle School field Saturday to watch her daughter, Aislynn, receive her first cheer award.
“You realize what your parents went through. You have a whole new appreciation for what your parents did,” she said. But, Nehila said, it’s worth it in her book to see her daughter cheer.
“You see them on that mat, you will start crying,” she said.
Aislynn Nehila finished her first year on the team this season.
“I like the dance, competition and performing,” Aislynn said.
Nehila, like many parents whose kids are involved in CCFJA sees the teamwork and social skills Aislynn has developed since joining the organization and hopes it can carry on even when her daughter isn’t cheering.
“I know it’s a sport, but I think it will help them in the future,” she said.
CCJFA’s next spring signups for football and cheerleading will be Jan. 21 and 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Caloosa Middle School. Asbury said so far, CCJFA has signed up a little over 50 new participants in football and cheerleading combined for the spring season.