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The Board of Watchung Hills Pop Warner (WHPW) would like to welcome you to the 2010 football season, the 36th for our program. First and foremost, we the Board, would like to thank each and every family that has been involved in Watchung Hills Pop Warner (WHPW). We truly appreciate your efforts in making Watchung Hills Pop Warner (WHPW) a tremendous experience for our young boys and girls. Pop Warner was founded in 1929, and is the largest youth football and cheer organization in the world. Watchung Hills Pop Warner (WHPW) has a 36 year record of safety and excellence, and has grown to become a fixture in our community, and a thread that has tied together so many different people in our towns and across the country.
Some facts about our nationally sanctioned organization – Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. (PWLS) provides youth football, cheer & dance programs for participants in 41 states and several countries around the world. Consisting of approximately 360,000 young people ranging from ages 5 to 16 years old, the Pop Warner program’s philosophy has been that athletics and scholastics go hand in hand. PWLS is the only youth football, cheerleading & dance organization that requires its participants to maintain academic standards in order to participate. Pop Warner’s commitment to academics is what separates the program from other youth sports around the world. At every level, Pop Warner programs seek to develop well-rounded young men and women who learn not only the fundamentals of football, cheerleading, and dance but also the importance of education in an atmosphere conducive to developing sound character while having a good time.
Safety
There are strict mandatory equipment requirements. Pop Warner provides Coaching Clinics and Risk Management Training. An enforced national rule book incorporates time-tested rules. A full-time executive staff supports all local associations and assists in sound policy creation. WHPW allows rosters of up to 35 players and has an established "minimum play" rule. Pop Warner minimum play rules serve to enhance the team concept that is central to our program. As an organization we are bound by a national set of rules, provided by Pop Warner Little Scholars. All of our Mountain Valley Conference competitors follow the same set of rules. While these rules do include starting practice August 1st, WHPW has always delivered an open and honest dialogue with our parents about our requirements and the commitment expected. We believe that a full August schedule is necessary to assure that every child is prepared and properly conditioned for the physical nature of the sport. Again, our concern is the safety of your child!
Affiliation with WHRHS
Travel Teams
New Complex
Academic Excellence
Benefits Summary
Alercio (The College of New Jersey), Hameline (Wagner College), Benedict (Watchung Hills HS) Clinic– Rich Alercio (Asst. Head Coach, College of New Jersey) and our own Jim Benedict (WHRHS) in hosting a Youth Football Clinic with more than 80 WHPW kids participating on the FieldTurf at WHRHS.
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FREE "Rutgers Football" tee shirts given to all players (annual) 125 FREE tickets to a TBD Rutgers home game, accompanied by the famous Watchung Hills-sponsored tailgate (if you were not able to participate last year, this is one you do not want to miss in 2010!). $25 discount to the Rutgers University, one-day youth football camp held at Rutgers Stadium in June (from $75 to $50). This will be available for as long as we partner with Rutgers Football! Rutgers Fan Day - nearly 100 kids, parents, and siblings representing WHPW gathered at Rutgers Stadium on 8/14/04, with a special Head Coach session conducted privately for our kids by Coach Schiano. This included a private viewing of the Rutgers Football highlight video used in recruiting.
Golf Outing - this fundraiser, with the help of current and former NFL greats Phil Sims, Neil O’Donnell, Tiki Barber, Kerry Collins, Lawrence Taylor, Tony Siragusa, OJ Anderson, Joe Clecko, Howard Cross, and Brian Kelly has allowed us to raise substantial funds that put our program in a very healthy financial state. These funds will be put toward the construction of our new facility, and will allow us the flexibility to acquire cutting-edge equipment on an annual basis… making our program even stronger and further distinguishing WHPW from the rest
Two-year Participation Jackets
FREE Watchung Hills Participation Trophies
– given to all outgoing Midget players to recognize their commitment to making our program better for the younger kids, and to thank them for their participation.
- for all kids at all levels (cheer and football).
Personalized Wolverine Game Helmets
Annual Recognition Banquet
Free Watchung Hills Pop Warner Tee-shirts for all registrants
In addition to the aforementioned benefits, we want everyone to be aware that the quality of coaching we have assembled in our program is second to none, and we continue to send our coaches to clinics to remain current with today’s football philosophies and techniques. Some examples:
Jim Benedict Clinics - the entire WHPW coaching staff (every level) participated in 10 hours of clinics with our Watchung Hills Head Football Coach. We all felt it was a tremendous benefit to our program last year, and we will continue to meet and interact with Jim throughout the season and beyond.
Rutgers University Youth Football Clinic – All WHPW coaches were invited to participate in a one-day, six-hour youth football coaches’ clinic at Rutgers University in April. It was well-attended, and further enhanced our relationship with Rutgers Football.
Board of Directors - As you may be aware, last year we had six new board members and a new commissioner. As with any transition of personnel, our turnover was gradual. However, we are now fortunate to have even more experienced and tenured members in our organization, who are providing the counsel and oversight necessary to run a world-class organization for your kids. We all have one goal in mind… to do whatever is necessary to create a world class organization and an enjoyable football and cheer environment.
Watchung Hills Pop Warner Board of Directors
– a celebration and recognition event for the kids and their parents that most recently was attended by more than 400 satisfied and supportive people. "30 Years of Excellence" tee shirts for all registrants. - as always, these jackets are given to players in recognition of completion of their second year in our program. – As you may know, the Board of Directors for our program meets monthly in an attempt to stay on top of the enormous number of organizational and logistical issues faced by such a large program. We have taken inventory of the program, and we want to bring all of you up to date with our current state of affairs. Below is a summary of the many benefits resulting from your participation in Watchung Hills Pop Warner: – Pop Warner continues to be the only youth football, cheerleading & dance organization that requires its participants to maintain academic standards in order to participate. This commitment to academics is another factor separating our program from other youth sports programs around the world. WHPW promotes excellence in the classroom as well as excellence on the field. Our kids are celebrated through this National Pop Warner Little Scholar program and just this year alone, we recognized over 100 athletes with our Little Scholar award. – Currently WHPW enjoys playing on the new "Field Turf" playing surface at the high school. Thanks to our recent fund-raising efforts, we will be breaking ground this fall on our brand new, state of the art complex that will include a game field, a practice field, and training and learning facilities. This complex is a joint effort between WHPW, Warren Township, and Somerset County, and will be the standard in this state, against which all others will be measured. –WHPW teams are all "travel" teams. Again, we accept up to 35 players per team… the first 35 to register. There are no "cuts" made at any level. In fact, we accept any child interested in participating and learning the game of football. WHPW provides a National post-season tournament and competition for both our football players and cheerleaders. – Pop Warner continues a close association with Head Coach Jim Benedict since his arrival at Watchung Hills. In fact, Coach has been meeting with WHPW coaches since February to implement offensive and defensive systems that mirror the ones he will be using at the high school this year. this will ensure continuity as the kids progress through our program, and allow for constant and close interaction between Pop Warner coaches and the high school staff. When our WHPW athletes reach his high school team, they will be comfortable and familiar with our high school system, as they will have been learning those same offensive and defensive philosophies as players in our program. Actually this involvement by the high school coach is not uncommon. In fact Pop Warner programs across the country partner with their local high schools. Coach Benedict is no different than any other high school coach. He clearly wants all of our kids to be as prepared as possible to one day play for him at Watchung Hills Regional High School. – In keeping with our 36 year record of safety, WHPW has always had the most up-to-date, state of the art equipment to ensure the safety of all the players. This will be continued with the purchase of brand new, "revolution" helmets for all players for the 2005 season. Additionally, players are matched by age and weight levels.
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