Explanation offered on new football leagues

My name is Jim Thornton, Sr. and I am writing to clear up some confusion between the Pacific Youth Football League (PYFL) and the newly chartered Gold Coast Youth Football League (GCYFL). I have coached the past 30 seasons as a member of the Simi Valley Vikings.

During my tenure, I have been fortunate to see many changes in the Viking organization, as well as the leagues the organization was involved with. The PYFL has decided to change their ages and weights to level the playing field. The driving force of making the adjustments was so the kids could play in groups of similar maturity levels.

Five of the PYFL’s 22 chapters decided against the age and weight changes. These five chapters have formed their own league, the GCYFL, and will be using the ages and weights that the PYFL had in previous years.

Some veteran coaches of the Simi Valley Vikings and the Moorpark Packers have decided to form new chapters in the PYFL because the new age and weight changes will be beneficial to the quality of play in each division. The old chapters from Simi Valley and Moorpark that are in the GCYFL have caused a lot of confusion in their respective cities. The new chapters will operate separately from the GCYFL.

I feel that Ventura County has grown in population to support the new chapters and will give the people of their respective communities a clear-cut choice of where the kids should play. The PYFL is an established organization that will provide competition that the GCYFL cannot match. I would like to remind everyone that this is all for the kids.

Sign-ups for the Simi Valley Youth Football chapter of the PYFL will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sat., May 14 and 21 at Vincenzo’s Pizza at the Target Center, Simi Valley. For more information please call me at (805) 522-2293 or Robert Lerma at (805) 208-6244.

Jim Thornton, Sr.

Simi Valley