After the 2014 season, the Fleetwood Indians program realized it was going to have to make some significant changes if it is going to continue to serve the youth of Mt. Laurel through football and cheer instruction due to low registration numbers.
“We had an uphill battle from the start, having had such low numbers and minimal community support as well as fighting the bad press associated with head injuries in youth sports,” said Jason Gola, secretary of the Mount Laurel Football and Cheer Athletic Association. “We knew we had to make changes as well as get out into the community and make everyone aware of our efforts.”
Changes initially came at the top when the leadership roles were assigned to new faces. Rob Monaco would become the new president, Bob Long would become the new vice president of football operations, while his wife Kim would cover the cheerleading side of things, Stu Yaffa became the new treasurer and Gola became the new secretary.
The group decided to start aligning the program with the Lenape High School program, so before it made any changes, it sought the council of head coach Tim McAneney for advice on rolling out the new look as well as bolstering community support.
From there, the program went on to change its name to Mount Laurel Football and Cheer because it felt it was more appropriate with its geographic location.
The former “Fleetwood” program was a proud and successful one that didn’t take kindly to the changing of the guard.
However, to achieve the goal of strengthening community support, the new group felt it was necessary to change the logo and team colors to more closely resemble that of the high school’s.
Once the new look was revealed to the township through the newly designed website, leadership felt it was time to get out into the community and discuss the new revamped program.
“We wanted to not only shine a light on the cosmetic changes but the commitment by the leadership to provide a fun, safe, goal oriented program that fostered not only proper technique and good sportsmanship on the field but upstanding young men and women off the field,” Gola said.
They worked closely with the school system and local businesses to create fun events for the kids and encouraged the coaches to get out to talk to parents.
Through the support of AJM insurance and the schools, they were able to hold a registration kickoff event where kids were able to interact with the players and cheerleaders of the Philadelphia Soul.
Along with a few events held at the Funplex and the ISC of Mt. Laurel, the coaches and leadership were given the opportunity to speak to parents and their kids in a face-to-face manner to discuss the new program and changes.
“It was this dedication and the hard work by our coaches and supporting members of the program that helped to more than double our enrollment from the previous year,” Gola said.
That same dedication and hard work prevailed on the field, as four of the six eligible weight classes went to the playoffs, and one was crowned as league champion.
This exceptional group included the 110-pound weight class team that showed remarkable improvement after a dismal season last year.
Typically in sports, a rebuilding process is drawn out over a decade or so, but this team improved from a season in which it combined for three wins to having an undefeated 11–0 junior varsity team and a 7–3 varsity team just a year later.
“It was just a great group that had great camaraderie,” head coach Don Davis said. “They made a commitment together and there were no hard feelings if you were on JV or varsity, they supported each other.”
Davis is a passionate coach who grew up with a football in his hand, as he put it. Being born and raised in a football town in Pittsburgh, his upbringing was one that predetermined football as a way of life.
Davis thought it would be beneficial last year to take some time off from coaching and watch the games from the parent’s point of view.
However, after finding himself making some judgmental comments about the play calling on game day, he felt it was time to get back on the sideline.
After interviewing for the job among a number of candidates, Davis received the call that he had been selected, and he got right down to work.
Davis said he didn’t really know he had a truly special group of kids until about a month in.
“Instead of pushing the JV team aside and assigning a few coaches to take them somewhere and coach them like most programs do, we had our teams practice together,” Davis said. “The level of talent was so close that they were constantly pushing each other to get better.”
He admitted that the pinnacle of his coaching moments is the feeling he gets when he teaches something totally new and
sees the kids put it to use on the field.
“That’s the best feeling,” Davis said “There’s no better thrill.”
Davis became very close with the boys throughout the season, to the point that he had trouble speaking to them at the conclusion of the season.
“I was so proud of how far the boys had come,” Davis said.
Beyond the X’s and O’s, the emotional coach also made it a point to teach his sixth and seventh graders that life is not perfect, there are a lot of disappointments, probably more disappointments than wins, but it’s all about the lessons learned throughout the journey.
The boys will be having a banquet now that the season has concluded to celebrate their accomplishments.
“In all my years of coaching, I have never had such a great group of kids who were great leaders and teammates,” Gola said. “If I had to sum up what made the difference between this year and last, I would say family. MLFC is a family. Every member has his job, and they all believed we could achieve our goals if we worked together.”
