Montclair Junior Pee Wee Bulldogs Football and Cheerleading Finds New Way To Raise Money

The Montclair Junior Pee Wee Bulldogs Football and Cheerleading organized a car wash to raise money for their upcoming season in the parking lot of Nishuane Park over the weekend.

"As you know, a lot of our funding was cut so we're trying to just raise extra money for equipment and uniforms," says assistant coach James Falton.

This starts their fourth annual Montclair Recreation/Pop Warner Bulldogs Football and Cheerleading Season. The Junior Bulldogs, who play their games at Montclair High School, are coming off their most impressive season in 2009, having three teams in the playoffs. It also had four players making the National All Academic Little Scholars team, which is distinguished by students that maintain a 97 percent GPA in the classroom.

Pop Warner Little Scholar, Inc. (PWLS) is the only national youth sports organization in the USA that requires its participants to perform proficiently in the classroom before being permitted to play.

The Pop Warner Football and Cheerleading program is for children 5 to 14 years of age. They provide after school tutoring and community service programs. The association with Pop Warner is organized through the Township of Montclair and the football teams are handled by an impressive coaching staff under the leadership of James Puryear.

"All the coaches here are certified, they have  a football background, and they have played football in high school and college, which is a lot better than other leagues where it is not mandatory that the coaches be certified" says Puryear.  

The high level of coaching is evident when watching the Junior Bulldogs football practice and tryouts. The drills are crisp and organized into different age groups and practice levels that start with movement and agility, hitting the heavy foam blockades to scramble catching and throwing the ball. Liberal amounts of fresh cool bottled water are supplied for the kids to drinks as much as they want during breaks.

Puryear also adds that: "Pop Warner is a league where no kid gets cut, every kid plays, and every kid has an opportunity to play, not just the good kids. We work with the less developed kids and get them developed." 

Therefore the approach of this football league is unique in amateur sports where the goal is not just to attract the best players but rather take kids at all skill levels and work to bring out the best in them.  

This positive thinking approach seems to be working. One can't help but notice that many of the kids of the Montclair Junior Bulldogs football team are very good indeed athletically and in some cases exceptional. The level of play is high and it seems to rub off on all of the newcomers that steadily improve their athletic capability.

"Last year we had three teams that went to the championship and one Pee Wee team went to the regionals, so I think this year we are going to go all the way," Puryear states with casual confidence.

And who can doubt this man affectionately known as "Lucky" to his peers. Under Puryear's guidance everything seems to run without a hitch. The car wash impressed many of the parents of the Montclair  baseball team that were playing in the park as they noticed how well it was organized. The cars were first power vacuumed, then washed with power hoses. All the kids had ample scrubbers of all types. They even had a seven-foot ladder to scrub the top of the SUVs and additional professional detailing equipment.

One man was so impressed he went home to get his other cars to be washed. A woman waiting for her car said happily that "this is really a bargain for only $5." And the kids were happy too. The day gave them a chance to experience camaraderie and earning honest money for a good cause of their own. The kids were treated to fresh boxes of Dunkin Donuts in the morning and pizzas were brought in for lunch by Puryear and company, who displayed a consistent attention to detail and quality.  

The Montclair Junior Pee Wee Bulldogs do hope, however, to attract more business sponsors to support the league in these hard times. "We would like to support the sponsors by having their banners featured at our home games," says Puryear.  

With its can-do approach, there's no doubt the Montclair Junior Pee Wee football team will continue their streak of success.