Southern Hills Youth Football: About SHYF

About Southern Hills Youth Football

Southern Hills Youth Football League is comprised of a flag and tackle football league, with the support of team based cheerleading squads. We have over 1000 youths participating in our league.

Each community has their own board and teams. Players that attend Strongsville schools will play on Strongsville teams (Strongsville Youth Football), North Royalton students will play on North Royalton teams (North Royalton Youth Football) and Brecksville-Broadview Heights students will play on Brecksville-Broadview Heights teams (Bees Youth Football). If you have a special request, please contact one of the commissioners in your community. We will not honor requests to play on specific teams. For more information on each individual city you can click on each city's link on our Home Page.

The flag league has three age groups: ages 5, ages 6-7 and ages 8-9.

The tackle portion of the league is comprised of four age groups:
Bantam (ages 7-8)
Junior Varsity 9 (age 9)
Junior Varsity 10 (age 10)
Varsity (ages 11-12)

The league features teams from the communities of Brecksville-Broadview Heights ( Bees Youth Football), North Royalton (North Royalton Youth Football), and Strongsville ( Strongsville Youth Football).

The league has been around in its 4 city format for 20 years with roots going back over 24 years. SHYF has produced fine athletes in the high school, college and professional ranks.

All tackle teams in Bees Youth Football, North Royalton Youth Football, and Strongsville Youth Football compete in the Northeast Ohio Youth Football Conference. In addition to our 3 leagues, the NOYFC is made up with the Brunswick Cross County Football, Brooklyn Youth Football, Highland Hornet Youth Football, Medina Gridiron Youth Football, and the Lou Groza League (Berea). The NOYFC is one of the largest youth football conferences in Ohio. 

Flag teams now compete against teams in Brooklyn Youth Football in addition to the other SHYF communities. 

Coaches are required to have USA Football Certification and pass a background check.

Each year we continually purchase the best and safest equipment money can buy. Each tackle player is supplied with a numbered game uniform (which players keep at end of season), game and practice pants, full shoulder and leg pads, mouth guard, and properly fit helmet.

The league goals are to educate the youth players in the fundamentals of flag & tackle football in a fun and exciting environment. Team rosters are limited to a 19 player maximum in tackle and a 13 player maximum in flag to allow for children to play as much as possible, both on offense and defense.

Weights of the players are limited (in pants and leg pads) to 115 pounds for Bantam, 125 pounds for u9, 140 pounds for u10, and 150 pounds for Varsity.  Ball handler maximum weights are limited to 90 pounds for bantam, 105 pounds for u9, 115 for u10, and 125 pounds for Varsity.

SHYF is a non-profit organization and provides its service based on the efforts of volunteers. If you have an interest in contributing your time to work with the youths of your community please contact us by either email listed below, or by calling a city commissioner.  Of course, as a non-profit 501(c)(3), we are interested in donations to help offset the costs of running our large volunteer organization. Contact the league commissioner for more information and your tax advisor for information specific to your tax situation.

Registration opens in early spring. Registration forms will are available in the HANDOUTS section of our each city's website.