Football

Overview

St. Paul offers a program that strives to help build Catholic young men through the great game of football who are prepared to compete and perform in every aspect of their life.   Our mission is to teach the fundamentals of football while allowing our kids the opportunity to learn the values of faith, respect, leadership, character, sportsmanship, tolerance, and discipline.

We welcome all registered parish families of St. Paul in grades 4 through 8 to be part of our program. We serve the communities, young athletes and/or schools of St. Paul, St. Matthias, and St. Michael in our football program called the Northern Bishops.

The Northern Bishops program is run through the Columbus Diocese and St. Paul.

The football program offers 3 teams/levels

1. Flag football- for boys in 4th and 5th grade
2. Tackle football- for boys in 5th and 6th grade
3. Tackle football- for boys in 7th and 8th grade

5th grade boys can choose between tackle and flag football

Tryouts

There are no football tryouts at any grade level.

Minimum Playing Time (per player)

Our program is a developmental league. We understand and embrace that each child is unique and will develop at his own pace. Our coaches will do their very best to ensure that each child is utilized to his utmost potential and their talents are used to help the team.   Everyone on the team plays in every game. The minimum amount of playing time for each child depends on how many kids are on a team.  

Games

Flag Games-

home games at St. Paul

away games at other Diocese elementary schools

Flag games are primarily Saturday and some weeknights

Tackle Games- typically play 6 regular season games in the Diocese league and then finish with tournament and/or bowl game.  

Home games at DeSales HS

Away games at other CCL High School Fields

Tackle games are primarily Sunday afternoon.  There could be games on Saturday afternoon and evenings.

Once the season begins, complete schedule can be found on the Columbus Diocese recreation website.

Each team will also manage schedules through TeamSnap or something similar help with organization.

Practices

Practice will begin in August. Typically, the 1^st or 2^nd week.   Each level of football follows a different practice schedule. The flag team requires less practice time than 7/8 tackle football. Each Coach is responsible for organizing and communicating practice schedule.   We do follow Diocese guidelines on the number of practices per week.  

A typical week of tackle football is 3 practices during the week, Saturday morning walk through, and games on Sunday. 

All practices are held at St. Paul athletics field

Equipment

All equipment supplied except mouthpiece, protective cup, and cleats.

Rules

Tackle football follows OHSAA rules with slight modifications specific to Diocese football. The complete list of rules for flag and tackle football can be found on Columbus Diocesan Recreation website.

Guidelines

Our program follows guidelines of USA Football “Heads up football program.”

https://www.usafootball.com/

1.       Education & Certification

2.       Equipment fitting

3.       Concussion recognition & awareness

4.       Heat & Hydration

5.       Heads up tackling

Every coach in our program is required to complete and maintain USA football certification each year.

If you are interested in coaching or volunteering, please contact Jack Elgin at jack.elgin@ampf.com