EAFL looks to make little league leaders out of youth players

Barnaby Read 19:25 31/08/2014
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  • PeeWee power: The EAFL's youth league has grown encouragingly over the last three years.

    Entering its third year as an official organisation the Emirates American Football League (EAFL) is continuing its development by encouraging youth players to make a positive impact on their communities.

    This season will see the league implement its Supplemental Youth Training & Leadership Programme (SYTLP) designed at furthering its youngest prospects as athletes and individuals.

    With twelve teams across its junior and varsity levels, the EAFL see it as the perfect opportunity to give back to its youngsters that have taken to the game fervently since its inception.

    The aim of SYTLP is backed by four pillars aimed at improving the leadership, teamwork and mental attributes of all the youngsters that take part.

    “SYTLP is something we firmly believe is integral to the league and we are training our youth players with the right behaviour to be leaders when they come out of the youth setups,” project leader Amir Sohrabi told Sport360. “We use the acronym PIES which represents; physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual development.

    “The leadership programme revolves around these specific categories and focuses on honing their skills amongst these parameters.

    “We try to increase awareness of these pillars and then have the kids asses themselves across these areas. We then try and create habits of behaviour around the PIES and try and sync them together and create a more rounded individual that is representative of the league and are good citizens that serve their community.”

    Sohrabi explained that he had been inspired by his own experiences within the game back in the States to deliver the EAFL’s latest project.

    “For me [the programme] is very personal,” said Sohrabi. “When I was a ten-year-old youth I joined a little league programme which had a huge impact on how I leveraged sports to be successful in life.

    “It’s something that I’ve always looked to do and when the EAFL started I got involved in the league after my son started playing and saw it as a perfect opportunity to give back to the UAE and the sport, which I have taken so much from.”

    Twelve months in the making, Sohrabi and his fellow EAFL volunteers have been piloting the SYTLP scheme amongst a selection of young footballers and has been encouraged by their reactions.

    It also comes as little surprise that parents have been caught up in the excitement and have encouraged their children to improve as human beings, not only as quarter backs, running backs and defensive ends.

    Sohrabi continued: “We believe it is very different from other training they go through and leadership is something we feel needs to be instilled in the kids and is something that can be developed and improved through the right education.

    “We want to give back to the community and make the children aware of how they can serve their community. The pilot group has been run by five players so far and they have been intrigued by the programme and increasing their awareness beyond the sport. Physical awareness is fairly easy for them to understand but the other aspects have really made them think.”

    Sohrabi and his colleagues will roll out the programme alongside the new season which begins preparations next month.

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