Youth football hits a wall in St. Paul: 'There just aren't enough teams'

Theresa Powell leaned against the fence at Fridley's Commons Park, cherishing a rare chance to watch her grandson play football for Frogtown.

With only a few city recreation centers offering tackle football this season, there is no St. Paul league for city teams. As a result, home games are nearly nonexistent, requiring family members to drive a half-hour or more to see their kids play in suburbs such as Blaine, Andover and Rogers.

"It's hard, with the gas and everything," said Powell, who said she never missed a game in the city. "But you've got to do what you can."

Youth football is struggling for survival in the capital city, where years of concussion fears followed by COVID-19 have knocked a majority of recreation centers out of the game. Even the storied Jimmy Lee Recreation Center — home to Dave Winfield, Stacy Robinson and Joe Mauer — had no football teams this year.

City leaders acknowledge a trend that may very well be the future of football in St. Paul: volunteers at just a handful of rec centers running independent programs playing mostly in the suburbs.

"There was no Capital City football league this year, and it's looking like there will not be one next year," said Mike Whaley, interim recreation services manager for St. Paul Parks and Recreation. "Not unless more St. Paul groups commit. There just aren't enough teams to be viable."

Andy Rodriguez, parks and recreation director, said the trend in the past several years — which aligns with a national shift in youth athletics — has been fewer children choosing tackle football, while soccer and flag football enjoy robust numbers.

"We only had a few teams in each [age] division the last few years," Rodriguez said, mentioning the loss of programs at Palace, Lower East Side, North Area and Harding Area rec centers. "The trend has been that if [surviving] teams want competition, they have to venture out and play outside St. Paul."

David Jones, director of the football program at Frogtown, said his teams started playing some of their games in the suburbs several years ago as city numbers started to slip.

"My goal is to always get at least 15 games for the experience," he said. "What I tell my parents is, 'You might be in St. Paul this year, but you might end up moving to Blaine or you might end up moving to Coon Rapids. And that coach will be familiar, [saying], 'I saw that kid from Frogtown.'"

Still, Jones said he thinks having no choice but to play most of Frogtown's games in the suburbs is unfortunate. He played at Jimmy Lee from third grade through eighth grade, surrounded by family and friends.

He worries about the impact that fewer youth teams and no youth league could have on the future of high school football in St. Paul.

"I think it's detrimental to the community," Jones said, adding that his teams have struggled to get home games because of the lack of city field availability and the high fees high schools charge.

Officials say parents' fear of concussions has contributed to diminished football numbers locally and nationally.

A February 2021 Centers for Disease Control study of football players ages 6 to 14 found that tackle players sustained 15 times more head impacts than flag football players, increasing their risk of concussion. Other studies have shown that 5% to 10% of youth football players will suffer a concussion at some point during a full season.

Minneapolis, too, has seen tackle football numbers shrink thanks to concussion and COVID. And, as in St. Paul, those lower numbers have prompted recreation centers still offering the sport to head to the suburbs. Teams from Pearl, North Commons and Phelps now are playing with Frogtown in the Twin Cities North Football League. The TCNFL has more than 300 teams, from second grade through eighth grade, playing from Rogers to White Bear Lake.

"For Minneapolis teams, the city league started dying out with nobody to play," said Kent Brevik, who coordinates teams from Phelps. "It just wasn't fair to the kids to play the same three teams four times. The north suburban league offered enough teams to play."

Brevik, a pastor, uses a couple of church vans to get the city kids out to their games.

"We have a ton of kids who wouldn't play if we weren't giving rides," he said.

Despite the setbacks, football is not gone from St. Paul.

Whaley and Rodriguez said there are ongoing meetings about how the city can be more supportive and get more home games for its remaining tackle programs. West Side, which for years ran its own in-house league for younger players, has its 14-U team playing in the north suburban league. A team from the Johnson High School area plays in the eastern suburbs; a squad called the Capital City Bandits also plays.

And there is a drive to reawaken football at Jimmy Lee. Vonnie Copeland, president of the Jimmy Lee Booster Club, said the hiatus was caused by uncertainty and ironing out participation rules moving forward.

"We're not dead. We're just taking the year off," she said, adding that the recreation center still has its equipment, and its insurance is up to date. "We will have tackle football."

At Fridley Commons Park on Tuesday, Danielle Dickhaus and Natasha Branch watched as their sons' Frogtown team topped Fridley 18-12. It's fun to watch their boys play, they said. And while they agreed the drives to games can be long, the coaches take the players when parents can't.

"I enjoy it as much as he does," Branch said of her son.

Darren Edwards, coach of Frogtown's sixth-grade team, said it appears long drives are going to be the price to pay for those St. Paul families still interested in football.

"They ought to be afforded the opportunity to play in their own backyard. They shouldn't have to travel," he said of a desire for more home games.

But there are definite advantages to playing in such a robust league, he said.

"Out here, we haven't had to play anyone twice," he said.