The Pleasanton Junior Football League’s Flag Football Division has been serving the Tri-Valley community for decades and has hosted thousands of young athletes in enjoying safe and competitive flag football.
This year the league is making a major change; the season will be shifted to more align with the Fall season sports cycle. Brendan St. John, who heads the league’s flag division indicated the decision was simply one of logical alignment. Stating, “Our past seasons were designed to end around daylight savings time. With the sun setting at 5:30pm it made weekday practices and evening games impossible. With the opening of the state of the art Patelco Fields we now have access to lit fields that can accommodate evening activities.”
Once again, the league will partner with NFL Flag allowing players to wear NFL team logo jerseys (include with registration fee) which enhances the player’s enjoyment of the flag football competition.
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Registration: You can register your child for the 2018 season at www.pjfl.com. The 2018 participation fee for the season is $250 for the Intermediate, Senior and Varsity divisions. There is also a $50 family discount for families with more than 1 player in PJFL (Tackle and Flag).
There is a new price for the Junior Division - $99. In response to why the league is setting such a discount for this division St. John explained, “We really want to encourage younger players to come out and see how fun and safe flag football is to play. With recent concerns about injuries in sports the really hardest hit age group has been the Junior Division. We believe that when these 2nd and 3rd graders (and their parents) see how safe and fun the game is they’ll play flag football for many years.”
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PJFL has been ahead of the curve nationally regarding safety rules where they have had rules that eliminated kickoffs and fumbles (ball is dead at the spot), elements associated with contributing to injuries, long before these became standard for youth football leagues. The league also allows players the option to wear a padded helmet.
Last year PJFL Flag introduced the Varsity Division and it was a tremendous success in season one. The introduction was a response to requests to have a more competitive style division that also adhered to their league’s core values of balanced teams and equal play time. “This was a tremendously positive addition to our league last season. We had 4 very talented and competitive teams in our Varsity Division last year. The customer feedback in our end of season survey was the most positive we have received in my 7 years with PJFL.”, St. John indicated. He added, “There was some initial apprehension about mixing 8th grade players with Freshmen, but the competitive balance between the age groups was not an issue in any way. Due to the success of this inaugural season for Varsity Division we added 10th graders expecting that the types of players who will join will once again fit the mold of athletes that we have seen who are interested in our league.”
The most exciting aspect for this season is their expanded buddy request system. They are going to trial expanding the buddy requests allowed so that more players can link together and play on the same team as their friends and neighbors.
League Goals: PJFL focuses to balance the elements of SAFETY, FUN, GROWTH and COMPETITION every year. There are rules that direct relatively equal playing time for all players. In the Junior Division we encourage coaches to provide each player time at any position of interest. Intermediate Division is a focus on development of proper technique and skill enhancement. The Senior and Varsity Divisions are more competitively managed, but still have the equal play time rules in place.
Important Details:
Divisions: There are 4 competitive divisions that are segmented by the player’s Fall 2018 School grade.
- Junior (2nd & 3rd Grade)
- Intermediate (4th & 5th Grade)
- Senior (6th & 7th Grade)
- Varsity (8th & 9th, 10th Grade)
Registration: Deadline: August 31st. www.pjfl.com
Roster: Players should receive notice from the Head Coach by September 8th.
Pre-Season: The first eligible practices for all teams is Monday, September 10th. Each team is permitted TWO (2-hour) practices per week. One practice is to be held Monday – Friday; the second on Saturday. There are NO games, practices, meetings or events on Sundays.
Jamboree: Our annual kickoff event is September 29th and each team will participate in multiple scrimmages during the Jamboree.
Official Season: Every Saturday from October 6th – December 1st.
Safety: We take all player safety very seriously. Several league rules focus on safety:
- No Kick Offs: The ball is placed at mid-field to start the game and second half. Additionally, each team starts at mid-field after a touchdown.
- No Fumbles: If the ball hits the ground it is a dead ball at that spot. This eliminates players diving for loose balls and scrums.
- Contact Penalties: Any contact with a QB in the process of throwing is a penalty. Similarly, we have a rule that prohibits the defense from contacting the Center until they are upright and balanced.
- Adult Officials: There are adult officials managing all games.
About PJFL: The Pleasanton Junior Football League (PJFL) is a non-profit youth football league that has been active for over 40 years! The Flag Football Division was started in 1996. Every year young players from Danville, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon, and Sunol experience the fun of flag football.
If you have any questions please contact pjfl2017@comcast.net or visit www.pjfl.com.
