Jessamine County Youth Football League

Our History:

               JCYFL was started in the late 1960's. The first games were played at JCHS football field (currently West Jessamine). Later an area was acquired at the old bus garage on Maple Street. The charter members of the league were Jr Jones, Harley Veal Jr, and Jimmy Wells. Then in 1980 a generous donor gave 18 acres to the "children of Jessamine County". Six acres of that was set aside for JCYFL. Two hundred dump-truck loads of dirt later, "The Hill" came alive!! The league is currently ran by an all volunteer executive board as it always has been and has seen many great coaches and contributors to developing the youth of our county. Development is not only in athletics, but in self-discipline, & team-work. Our philosophy is education of the game and safety are first and foremost the important aspects. We strive to set obtainable goals for all of our youth to help them in their growth and maturity of the game. Second is to develope a love for the game and their team-mates. Last but not least is to WIN! Friendships born at the ages of this league are those that last a lifetime!

Jessamine Youth Football ages and teams
 
The Good 'ol days!

In years past, we have had 2 age groups with a broad array of ages (Jets, Longhorns, Devils, Raiders) were 8,9,10 year olds and (Irish, Saints, Vols, Rebels) were 11,12,13 yr olds. A lot of times the younger kids "waited their turn". This would most of the time lead to children failing to learn the fundamentals when they were younger, being scared of children much bigger,faster, and stronger, and not truly enjoying the game or the relationship building that we believe a child should experience when being part of a team. Luckily now in Nicholasville, our school system has middle school teams to accomidate the older players and provide competative play. In fact, thanks to some of our current and previous board members, Jessamine County Middle School (when there was only one) got started by our league donating equipment to the school system and helping be a "feeder-system" for the middle school program. That's a goal we still strive to reach every year to this day! Just look who's under those Friday Night Lights! Guess where they came from?!?!?!?!

Generation Next

Next came the boom of other sports during the fall season. Sadly, numbers for this sport dropped in Jessamine as well as all surrounding counties/cities. This brought upon us changes in the game, but allowed us to build new relationships with surrounding counties, leagues, and municipalities. To keep schedules full JCYFL joined the CKYFL Conference and switched to 3 age groups to allow more competitive competition. Still playing on the hill as well as in Lexington and Versailles on the road, we battled on. Unfortunately due to a money grab, rules were changed under our noses and 2 weeks prior to our 2010 season kickoff, where we were asked to not play in Jessamine County anymore. So Jessamine Youth Football should play somewhere else? Not in Jessamine County? This was reason for JCYFL to leave the CKYFL and go independent until a replacement conference could be arranged. We researched the best High School programs in the central KY area and Found that all of them had 1 common thread. That thread is the Wilderness Trace Youth Football Conference. 

The Future 

After establishing ourselves as the Jessamine County Saints for a few year in Wilderness Trace, we decided to change and adapt once again. JCYFL has transformed to be a feeder system for East and West Jessamine Middle Schools. We compete with Danville, Garrard, Anderson, and Woodford Co,  as well as other non-conference teams.

1st- 3rd Grade = PeeWee

4th - 5th Grades = Junior League

6th Grade = Varsity

Though founded many many years ago, our league still holds the same strong values it was founded on. To teach/coach our youth to be sucessful in all of their endeavors, to gain team-building skills and make new friends, and to love, enjoy, and learn the game of football.