Regardless of whether an umbrella Signal Mountain Youth Athletic Association is formed, Scenic City Youth Football League representatives are still tossing around the idea of introducing a Signal Mountain team. A public meeting about the possible addition of the league locally is scheduled for Sunday, March 11 at 4 p.m. at Town Hall.
"We're not asking to bring the whole league up to Signal, we're asking the town for the possibility to start teams," said league representative Todd Phillips. "All we're asking the town now is to recognize our participation so we can have practice space. We're asking to let Signal Mountain kids participate out of Signal."
The town's Recreation Board is asking community members for feedback on the proposal so that the board can make a recommendation to Signal Mountain Town Council, which will have the ultimate say.
Phillips said approximately 22 kids from Signal Mountain participated in the recreational football program last year. Having an in-town team would mean those and any other children from the mountain who signed up to participate wouldn't have to drive off the mountain for the twice-weekly practices.
It would also mean some of the weekly Saturday games would be played locally.
How much practice space would be needed has yet to be determined, and would be based on sign-ups if and when the project moves forward.
"Coming to Signal Mountain we would only need 14 kids in each age group to participate in that league," Phillips said. "We'll offer every age group, but if we don't get 14 kids [the minimum number for a team] in the 8-year-olds, there's no 8-year-old team."
Players are broken down by age, and only play with and against their age group.
Justin White, a Signal Mountain resident whose children play with Scenic City, said he and other parents in his situation from whom he has heard welcome the opportunity for a local team.
"We need to have this on Signal," he said. "[Scenic City Football] is a great experience but I can't tell you what I spent in gas money going from work to Signal, all the way out to East Hamilton [where his children practiced] and getting the kids home at 9."
Todd Faulk, of Signal Mountain Tackle Football, has publicly voiced concern over the possible effect allowing the Chattanooga area league on the mountain could have on his team, which is comprised of children from only the 886 and 517 telephone exchange areas.
"There will be parents who say 'I don't want to drive off Signal on Saturday for a game," White said. "I just don't see how we could go wrong with giving parents a choice. If it did make one league not be in existence anymore I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing."
Currently there aren't local options for children to play tackle football prior to third grade, although Signal Mountain Flag Football is open to kindergartners through fifth-graders. Scenic City has tackle team options for all age groups and must offer each, although actual existence of corresponding teams depends on the number of children signed up for each.
White said Signal Mountain Tackle Football is in the process of starting a new, younger-aged group. White and Phillips noted that children who participate on any of that league's teams are often mismatched since the league doesn't operate on the same kind of strict age brackets as Scenic City.
"From a safety perspective, whether they've had anybody hurt there or not, putting third-graders against fifth-graders in the same league is detrimental to the confidence of a child as well as the physicality of a child," said White.
Phillips said the recent request to create a new overarching Signal Mountain Youth Athletic Association is in no way related to his organization's team request, although it would make coordination of all the leagues easier. But the possibility of another league on the way does highlight the need for such a group, he said.
"Right now each independent board of each independent sport handles its own sport, then gives a report to the Rec Board. There's no communication between the boards about sign-ups and things like that," he said. "The idea is not to govern or control anything, just to bring the leaders together so they could communicate and inform each other of what's going on in each sport."
Having a centralized source would also make it easier for parents, especially those with children involved in multiple sports, as well as Signal Mountain Recreation Director Jarred Thompson.
That proposal is still being discussed among local town, Recreation Board and sport league representatives.