While coaching Lakeview Middle School, Allan Ross watched as an offensive line full of the players he coached in the Kosciucko County Pee-Wee Football League were on the field.
The only problem was, they were playing for NorthWood."I wanted to find a way to work just with Warsaw boys," Ross said.
Ross found a way to work with just Warsaw players by joining Mark Stamper and Dave McCool to help him start the not-for-profit Young Tiger Football and Cheer in 2002.
Now in its 10th season, the league has grown exponentially.
"We had 24 kids our first year and we're up to 109," Ross, the commissioner of the league, said.
Donned in the same apparel seen on the Warsaw Community High School football team, the younger Tigers range between 8 and 12 years of age. Within that parameter, the league is split into four different divisions, based on age and weight.
The kids play every Saturday, with at least two home games at Fribley Field in Warsaw. This week, the Upper Orange and Lower White teams will play at home, with the final week of the season being Oct. 30.
On Nov. 6, the Young Tiger fifth and sixth grade players will take the field at 2 p.m.
"It's going really well," Ross said about the league. "My job is to put the love of the game in the kids. I don't really care about the scoreboard. I just want to get the passion into the kids and hope it carries onto the higher levels."
On top of making the kids enthuastic about the game, the Young Tiger coaches are also laying the foundation for them to become Warsaw Tiger football players.
"You have to teach the fundamentals," Ross said. "If you teach them that they get good."
