July TBD - Equipment Pickup Night-6:00-8:00 PM, LWB Equipment Shed

Aug. TBD - Alternate Equipment Pickup Night-6:00-8:00 PM, LWB Equipment Shed

Aug. TBD-MANDATORY FOR HEAD COACHES and Strongly Encouraged for Assistants - Heads-Up Football Training Clinic, SAHS, 6:00-8:00 PM

Aug. TBD - Practices Begin (M-F, 5:30-8:00 PM, 7th. Grade at SJH, 8th. Grade at Oakland Jr. High)

Aug. TBD - Back to Football Night. 5:30-7:00 PM, SAHS Pony Stadium

Thank you very much for your patience as we have worked with both the high school program and the new league in which we’ll be playing this year – the North Suburban Football League – to work up our procedures for 7th and 8th grade VAA football in Stillwater.

While this change is new to our community, it is not new to the schools in the Suburban East Conference. In fact, we’re one of the last school districts to move to this model of football for 7th and 8th grade players.

Below are some critical points of information for 2015 Stillwater Area 7th. and 8th. Grade Football:

1. Issued equipment. The St. Croix Valley Athletic Association (SCVAA) will provide each player with a helmet, shoulder pads and home and away jerseys. Equipment hand-out night for 7th and 8th grade will be Tuesday, July 28th, at the equipment shed at Lucy Winton Bell Athletic Fields, 6 pm-8 pm. You should receive a couple of emails with this information from the SCVAA Football Commission before then. We are very pleased to have newer, good-quality helmets and shoulder pads for all of our players. We have repaired/replaced/upgraded much of the equipment used by last year’s 7th and 8th graders.

If for some reason your son cannot attend on July 28th, he can get equipment on one of the two 3rd - 6th grade equipment nights, August 6th and August 11th, 6 pm to 8 pm. However, we strongly recommend that you attend on July 28th. as practices will start on Aug. 11th.

2. Individual equipment. In addition to the molded-bottom cleats that SCVAA has mandated in the past, our new league allows the traditional removable-spike football cleats, so long as there is no exposed metal on the cleats. Mouth guards no longer have to have the helmet strap, but they are still mandatory. Our 7th and 8th graders will wear black pants for games. However, for practice any color pants are fine. As in past years, football pants will be available for purchase at the equipment nights. There are no league limitations on protective equipment you may wish to have for your player.

Also, we will be saving our home and away game jerseys for games, so you will need to provide practice jerseys for your player. Previous years’ VAA jerseys will work just fine.

3. Practice and game schedules. Practices will begin on Tuesday, August 11th. For the weeks before school begins, we will practice Monday through Friday from 5:30pm to 8pm, at the Junior High Schools. Once school begins, we’ll scale practice back to Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Later in the season when daylight becomes an issue and our players become more experienced, we will either shorten the practices or move to a lighted field. TBD

We expect that our new football league will again schedule our games for Saturdays, Tuesdays or Thursdays. Because of the number of teams participating and the difficulty in scheduling field time in multiple communities, we have been told by the league to expect the full schedule at the end of August. We’ll pass along the game schedule just as soon as we have it.

4. Squad/Team assignments. We consider all of the 7th. or 8th. Grade players as being on “The 7th. or 8th. Grade Teams,” and every player will be issued a unique uniform number (as sizes permit). To facilitate more practice and playing time for everyone, our players will be assigned to one of four squads. This will occur at the beginning of the Thursday, August 13th. practice.

The squads will no longer be organized by geography or school, but rather with the intention of having high-quality, competitively-balanced teams to represent our community. Because all of the 7th. and 8th. Graders will be together practicing at the Junior Highs, our coaches are planning for intrasquad drills and practices, so your son will be with his old friends and make new ones, too.

5. New league, new competition, new plays, new in-game rules. Our new league, the North Suburban Football League, is the largest independent youth football league in the nation. We’ve spent two years looking into this league, its management and its goals, and we believe the NSFL fits the values we have for our VAA program. The NSFL includes several familiar foes from communities in our Suburban East Conference, including Woodbury, Mounds View, White Bear Lake, Mahtomedi and East Ridge. The league plays the same basic rules as the high school, with a very few exceptions.The main one being the clock. 10-minute stop time quarters are used.

The most notable rules changes from last year include the ability for defensive players to line up in O-line gaps, and then stunt; linebacker and safety blitzes, without limitation; no pre-snap limitations on where defensive players can line up on the field; and a full special teams game including kicking, punting, field goals, extra points and fake plays. Also, in consultation with the Varsity football program, the 7th and 8th grade programs will be instituting the same basic O & D structure that is run by the Stillwater high school program.

All of these changes will require a lot of time and training for our players, especially on offense. The coaches have asked me to emphasize to parents: it is more important now than in years past that our players attend every practice. It will be difficult to operate an offense or defense if even one or two players have not practiced with their teammates and don’t know their assignments. This is definitely a higher level of football and we’re confident that our players can be competitive in the new league.

6. Jerseys. As in past years all VAA, junior high and high school football players in the Stillwater area will come together on Back to Football night. This year it will be held on Wednesday, August 19th., 5:30pm to 7:00pm, at Pony Stadium. At this event our players will receive both their home and away jerseys.

7. Size/Weight and Limited Weight Option. The North Suburban Football League plays what is called a "mixed weight" league. There is no longer a minimum or a maximum weight in their open league. The league offers an option of a "limited weight" league (no players over 130 pounds at the start of the season). Each year, assuming that the league offers this as an option, VAA Football will offer this option. If an adequate number of players express the desire to play in this type of a league, and this can be accommodated without sacrificing the ability to form teams in the open league, VAA Football will try to form a team for the limited weight league. We reserve the right to limit players in the weight limit to ensure we have enough to field a 7th grade and 8th grade REGULAR weight team. Remember, a limited weight player can always play with the regular weight team, but a player that is over 130 cannot play in the limited weight division.

Overall, we’re very excited for the improvements we’re making to the football program! Your son is going to have a great time practicing, playing and loving football.