Attleboro Pop Warner Gears up for the Season

Just as the NFL lockout ends and professional football players begin to report to training camp, so do their much younger counterparts of the Pop Warner leagues throughout the country.

Attleboro's team will begin practicing this week in preparation for their nine game season that starts in September.

The team’s slogan, “Where Blue Pride begins” reflects how Scott Wilkins, the President of Attleboro Pop Warner, views the league.

He sees it as an important first step in teaching local children to be proud of where they come from and he hopes it’s a lesson that will stick with them long after they’ve hung up their shoulder pads.

“A lot of it is town pride and teamwork," Wilkins siad. "Football is the only sport in town where you compete as a town against other towns."

The program is open for children ages five to 15, starting with flag football and Mighty Mitey Mites for the youngest ones and then levels A through D for football.

Each level also has its own cheerleading squad as well. Between both cheerleading and football teams there are around 300 participants according to Wilkins.

To further instill a sense of community pride in the young players, the team receives a yearly visit from the football team, many of whom started playing in Pop Warner themselves.

“Every year we hope that we have a group of kids that the younger ones can follow,” Wilkins said of AHS’s participation.

The way the league is structured also helps facilitate a connection between the younger athletes and the high school and community at large.

The team is only open to Attleboro residents and plays in the Hockomock League facing the same cities they will face if they continue on to play at AHS, and the teams are broken up city by city, which means rivalries between the high schools can carry on all the way down to Pop Warner.

For example, Attleboro has long had a rivalry with teams from North Attleboro on the high school level and that is certainly something that has continued at the Pop Warner level as Wilkins, who previous coached the team, says his proudest accomplishment during his time as coach is the fact that his teams never lost a game to the teams from North Attleboro.

While the training camps and rivalries may take put the focus on the field for the young athletes, Wilkins believes that the league is able to teach lessons that will help the players off the field as well.

Football teaches teamwork as it is a sport where no single player can succeed without the help of his teammates. The best running back in the world won’t be able to gain much yardage without any blockers to open up space for him.

Football also teaches discipline as conditioning and practicing are prerequisites for success in the sport and the effort needed to become successful is something that should stick with players according to Wilkins.

“You put all your effort into something you have a chance to succeed no matter what you do,” Wilkins said.