North Henderson Youth Football & Cheerleading: My Site News

Earlier this year, the Board approved the appointment of Jeff Brown as the Termite head coach, Chad Simpson as the Mite head coach and Kelly Calloway as the Midget head coach.

Termites

Jeff served as coach of the Pups last year.  The first "true" pups team in years, the little guys did a great job under their leadership, out performing most of their opponents.  He has named Jody Chandler as an assistant.  Jody will also serve as the head coach of the 2012 Pups.  Jody assisted Coach Jeff last year and has youth coaching experience with Asheville.  Additionally, he has an excellent eye for what is happening on the football field.  We're expecting great things from the Termites and the Pups this year. 

Mites

Chad Simpson coached the Termites to a very competitive season last year and will be moving up to coach the Mites this year.  With him will come Mitchell Coggins and Tim Harwood who were assisted with last year's Termite team.  Daryl Braithwaite and Stuart Hinson were assistants for the Mites last year and will remain with the Mites for the 2012 season.

Midgets

Kelly Calloway will return as the head coach for the Midgets and has named Derek Mothershead as an assistant after he stepped in last year after the only two assistant coaches moved from the area.  In addition to Derek, Chris Cromer and Shaft Mills will become assistant coaches for the 2012 Midgets.  Chris played for Erwin and then for Mars Hill.  Shaft has coached a number of years for Asheville and most recently has coached on the Termite coaching staff at T.C. Roberson.  A couple of other prospective coaches are considering positions and it is expected that the Midgets will begin this year with a full coaching staff.

The Board has set the sign-up fees and the dates for sign-up for the upcoming 2012 Season. The football fee will be $60.00 and the Cheerleader fee will be $150.00. Plus, all participants will be required to purchase 10 pancake breakfast tickets at $5.00 each. They may recoup the fundraiser portion by reselling their tickets.   The cost for cheerleaders will include their uniforms, pompoms, shoes and under clothing.  They will get to keep their uniforms  Football players will be responsible for purchasing their own cleats and athletic supporters.  The sign ups will be as follows:

April 28, 2012 at Hibbett Sports from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Players may choose their jersey number if they sign-up this day, if number available).

May 19, 2012 at Hibbett Sports from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Tenatively July 14, 2012 at Hibbett Sports from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Board is also looking into having a car wash durning June and allowing sign-ups on that day.

At the Annual Fall Board Meeting it was accepted that Crystal Brown would not seek to renew her term as a board member and as the Secretary and Treasurer.  Her service this past year was very much appreciated. 

With the number of highly qualified people in the program, the board added five new members, the maximum number allowed by the by-laws.  It is with great excitement that we welcome Daryl Braithwaite, Becky Pronger, Stuart Hinson, Tommy Lance and Holly Juergens.  They will join the current members of Kelly Calloway, Bradley Rhodes, Jeff Brown, Chad Simpson and Zander Heatherly.  We look for great things out of these additions this year.

Additionally, we are wanting more involvement from everyone.  We will be looking for parents interested in serving on committees or just willing to volunteer for a specific event or on a specific task. 

 Please let us know if you are interested in serving on one of the committees listed.  We would like most committees to be established by March, 2012.  However, there will be room to add committee members.  As each of us have different talents, I urge all to get involved in an area they beleive they can contribute.

 We also need a Volunteer Coordinator to replace Michelle Ryan, who did a tremendous job.  However, that job is expected to be scaled back to managing a data base of potential volunteers and leaving the scheduling of most of those volunteers to the specific committees.

The cheerleaders competed in the Conference Championships on October 8, 2011.  North Henderson had not sent cheerleaders to the championships in the past few years.  However, all three groups did very well in their first competition.  The cheerleaders and coaches gained valuable experience to prepare them for next year.  We are extremely proud of the efforts of the cheerleaders, coaches and parents for moving the North Henderson cheerleader program forward. 

The Midget Cheerleaders performed well enough to place 4th at the Conference Championship on October 8, 2011 and participated in the League Championship the following week.  Congratulations to Becky Simpson and her cheerleaders on a job well done.

The Knights traveled to A.C. Reynolds Saturday night and from Pups to Midgets showed remarkable improvement across the board.  The pups allowed three touchdowns, but scored two.  The Termites score was similar to their scrimmage score at 0-30, but played almost the entire game against A.C.'s starters.  The same is true of the Mites who went into the half only down 0-10.  The final score may have been 0-32, but again the Knight players pushed the Rockets and forced them to keep starters in until late in the game. 

The Midgets didn't even look like the same team that suited up two weeks ago.  That team was down 0-36 at the half in a 0-50 drubbing.  Two weeks later, they give up only two touchdowns the first half in a 8-36 contest that most would say was closer than the score.  While the footing isn't quite equal yet, every team made a statement of dedication to learning the game of football and continued to show sustantial improvement.  After all, that's what youth football is all about.  I could not be any prouder of the effort and play of the teams this week.  But, we're not there yet - Don't Settle!

The Knights went on the road for their season opener at West Henderson and took a giant step to rebuilding the program from the ground up.  The North Pup Team dominated West scoring 9 touchdowns to West's 2.  Since Pup's don't have PAT's (Point after Touchdowns), the score would have been 54 to 12. 

The Termite team followed that performance in a tooth and nail contest that was tied going into the final minute before holding off the Falcon's scoring bid late in the game, inside their own 10 yard line and then breaking for an 80+ yard touchdown in the final seconds of the game.  The two point conversion completed the scoring with a dramatic 16-8 win. 

Afterward, the Mites had a similar nail biter with an 8-8 score with under four minutes to go in the game.  Then with just over 3 1/2 minutes, they broke off a 70+ yard run for the go ahead touchdown.  The defense then held on to secure an identical 16-8 win.

The Midgets got off to a rocky start giving up a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and turned the ball over on two on-side kicks in the first quarter to fall behind 0-26 at half-time.  However, the team didn't quit and pulled things together defensively in the second half.  After outscoring the Falcons 8-0 in the second half they finished with a final of 8-26.

Taking 3 of 4 from the Falcons has to be considered one of the biggest days for the Knights in recent years.  Congratulations to the Knights youth program.  Let's keep it up!

It has been a busy month as the camp went extremely well and several of our members have stepped up as volunteers to much needed positions.  Brandee Dalton was appointed to the Board of Directors to represent the interests of the Cheerleaders.  She will give the Board much needed insight to better serve the cheerleaders of our organization for years to come.  Other changes from the cheerleader side of the association is the resignation of Marshelia Morrow due to work hour conflicts and Becky Pronger's appointment to fill the position of Cheerleader Director.  Additionally, Becky Simpson, with 8 years experience in coaching youth cheerleaders, has taken over the vacated Midget cheerleader coaching position.  We are fortunate to have the quality of leadership provided by the pair of Becky's.

Meanwhile, Michelle Ryan has accepted the newly created position of Director of Volunteers.  Her organizational skills are greatly appreciated.  Please help make her job easier by contacting her about volunteering to help the organization. 

Two committees have also been created.  In the order of events, the HomeComing Committee is to be co-chaired by Audrea Woodring and Brandee Darnell.  Stuart Hinson has been appointed as chair of the Banquet Committee for the end of year banquet.  If anyone is interest in assisting on either if these committees, please contact the chairs or post interest on this site's message board.

As a result of Mark Splawn's son choosing not to play football this season, he has determined the amount of time required to fulfill the duties as president of the association and coach the Mite team would conflict with his obligations at work and as a father.  For those reasons, he has stepped down as President and Mite head coach for the 2011 season.  His contributions this year are greatly appreciated.

The board of directors has appointed Kelly Calloway to assume the duties as president and Bradley Rhodes to move from assistant coach to head coach of the mites.  We have the upmost confidence in the replacements and look forward to a great season.

Sign-ups have went so well that the Board has decided to make the July 9, 2011 sign-up scheduled at the North High School Football field, the last sign-up before camp.  Players can still sign up for the camp on July 25, 2011.  If you plan on signing up the day of camp, please try to be there by 5:45 p.m.  If you do want to get signed up prior to camp, you can use the form on the Handouts & Forms page of our website and contact any of the members of the board of directors.

Steven Hart will move from an Assistant with the Midgets to Head Coach with assistants to be named in the near future.  Steven has played youth, high school and his college ball at Mars Hill.  The Mites will be coached by Mark Splawn who led the termites for the past year and a half.  Thus far, Mark has named Bradley Rhodes and Kelly Calloway to serve as assistants.  Bradley Rhodes assisted with the Termite team two years ago and Kelly Calloway assisted with the Termites and worked with the Pups last year.  The 2011 Termites will be led by Chad Simpson.  Chad was an assistant and defensive coordinator of last year's Termite team.  He has named Jeff Brown as a Termite assistant and Pup coach for the upcoming season.  For those newcomers, the Pups team is made of of first year players need game experience.  That experience comes in the form of a scrimmage just before the Termite game each week.  Chad will be looking for other volunteers to assist him with our Termite team.

In addition to the coaches committing their time over the next several months, I would  also like to thank Alfred Heatherly, who has put up the sign-up signs around various schools, Crystal and Jeff Brown for having signs and flyers made.  Finally, thanks to the board of directors who have manned the sign-up tables, which I beleive all have served.  Feel free to go see who is currently serving on the Board and working hard to make the 2011 season a successful campaign.

Saturday, May 7, 2011 ended a very successful early sign-up campaign.  As the Board turns its attention to the upcoming season and the July NHYF football camp, it is not too late to get signed up and join in on what promises to be a very fun and exciting year.  Check out our home page for the upcoming sign-up dates, or our calendar for all remaining sign-up dates and sites.  GO KNIGHTS! 

Marshelia Morrow has been named as the Cheerleading Director for the North Youth Football Cheerleading Squads.  Marshelia has been a cheerleader for 15 years and looks forward to sharing her knowledge with the young girls in our program.  Currently she is in the process of selecting coaches for the various teams and has the flexibility to coach whichever team is in the most need of a coach. 

Devin Gordon will join Steven Hart's coaching staff for the North Henderson Youth Football Midget team.  Devin has played a seven years of youth and high school football and a year of semi-pro.  He now wants to share his knowledge and experience with our Midgets. 

Tommy Lance has been added as an assistant to Chad Simpson's Termite staff.  Tommy helped with the Termites last year and will take on an expanded role this year.

The Board has approved having a game program for the 2011 season and has adopted pricing for advertising sponsors.  A game program was noticably absent last year.  This year's program is expected to include rosters and team pictures for football and cheerleader teams.  In additon to needing sponsors to fund the game and youth programs, the board is seeking volunteers who would be willing to serve on a Sponsorship Drive and Program Committee.  If you are interested in serving on such a committee, or becoming a sponsor, please contact any of the board members.  Our program can only be as strong as our volunteers.  We look forward to hearing from you!

The pricing for advertising in the game program is set below:

Full page        $160.00

Half page       $ 90.00

Quarter page  $ 50.00

Business card  $ 30.00

In addition to being listed in the program, all sponsors will be listed on our Sponsor Page, with a link to their website.