Upward opens with special guest

Local Sports

Related Photos

Pharos-Tribune photo by Andrew Roberts

Discussion

March 16, 2008

<b>New football program gets visit from Colts great Jeff Herrod.</b>

Beau Wicker Pharos-Tribune Sun Mar 16, 2008, 01:22 AM EDT

The Upward Flag Football program starting at the Church of Christ in Logansport is looking to get off the ground running.

The upstart program got a boost with former Indianapolis Colts star linebacker Jeff Herrod paying them a visit during registration on Friday.

The Colts legend signed autographs and interacted with the kids, parents and fans in attendance.

“It’s a great situation to be involved with,” Herrod said of the Upward program. “They asked me how much it would cost for me to be involved, and I said it’d be meaningless if it was coming from the pocket and not from the heart.

“It’s good that the NFL and this program is promoting physical fitness for kids in the community. It’s important to get kids out of the house and to put the Playstation down and be physically active.”

The program is being started in the area by Trampas Young, the young adult minister at Church of Christ. He thinks football will fit in well with other Upward programs that are in place in the area.

“I got the idea from Crosswind United Methodist Church having had soccer the past four years and kids have been playing basketball at the Walton Christian Church,” he said. “We have a lot of open space out here and I thought football would be different and bigger and maybe more popular.”

Young, who hopes to start an Upward baseball program in the future, said he’s gotten a lot of help getting the football program started.

“The community’s been great. We’ve gotten a lot of financial support,” he said. “We’ve had 45 volunteers helping us out. Pepsi has donated us a concession stand. The whole community is helping us do everything.”

One of the philosophies of the Upward program is “every child is a winner.”

“Everybody plays. Everybody runs the ball, throws the ball,” Young said. “In a lot of the leagues and in high school, a lot of the times kids don’t get that opportunity. We have the kids memorize verses of scripture and they can win awards at practice. During the Saturday games kids get awards for best offense, best defense and sportsmanship. So we’re trying to raise kids’ self esteem and teach them Christian values.”

Young added the new program has “kids from Peru, Rochester, Winamac, and Logansport... It’s not just Cass County, it’s wide spread.

“Upward has been around for 10 years and it’s now in 55 countries with over 500,000 kids involved, he said.”

Due to high demand, registration is being extended this week from 4-7 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Church of Christ. The church is located at 2347 Burlingon Ave.

The program is open to all boys and girls in grades K-6. Cost is $50.

The season begins on April 12 and concludes May 31. There will be a closing program at McHale Auditorium at Logansport High School on June 6 with an awards ceremony and Christian comedian Jerry Ackerman performing.

Beau Wicker can be contacted at (574)732-5113 or via e-mail at beau.wicker @pharostribune.com

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Local Sports

Berries cruise past Raiders, set up title game showdown
Hoosier Hysteria promises to be alive and well when the young and talented Berries (20-3) go up against the senior-laden two-time defending sectional champion McCutcheon Mavericks (19-3), ranked No. 8 in Class 4A, in tonight’s Logansport Sectional championship game. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.

February 11, 2012
Comets topple Vikings to reach title game
With an increase in wins this season, the Lady Comets of Caston have taken another step in making this a very memorable season by defeating North White 38-30 during semifinal action Friday at the North White Sectional.

February 11, 2012
Slow start dooms Cass in loss at Wabash
After knocking off Class 2A No. 11 Oak Hill earlier in the week, Wabash’s girls basketball team proved once again white it is the defending sectional champion Friday night.

February 11, 2012
Winamac throttles North Newton in sectional play
Winamac’s girls basketball team defeated North Newton 61-35 Friday at a Class 2A North Judson Sectional.

February 11, 2012
Defending state runner-up Kokomo edges Logansport
For the second straight game Logansport’s boys basketball team went toe-to-toe against one of the state’s best teams for 32 minutes.

February 10, 2012 1 Photo
Hot-shooting Kings throttle Comets
Lewis Cass’ boys basketball team was on fire offensively in a 90-50 rout of Eastern in a Mid-Indiana Conference boys basketball game here Thursday night.

February 10, 2012
Comets bomb away on Squires in rout
After Caston’s boys basketball team lost consecutive games to Logansport and Carroll in early December, the Comets proceeded to rattle off 11 wins in a row.

February 10, 2012
Pullen had 2 runner-up finishes at Warsaw swim sectional
Lewis Cass senior Claire Pullen put together a solid four-year career in swimming.

It culminated with a runner-up finish in the 200-yard individual medley at the Warsaw Sectional last Saturday. She recorded a personal-best time of 2:24.6 en route to missing a spot in the state finals by just one place.

February 9, 2012 1 Photo
Lady Berries have new life
Logansport’s girls basketball team saw its tournament life flash before its proverbial eyes in Tuesday’s Class 4A Logansport Sectional opener against Kokomo.

February 9, 2012
Logansport boys in midst of tough stretch
Right now Logansport’s boys basketball team is going through the teeth of its schedule.

Six nights after facing a top-ranked Muncie Central squad in Indianapolis, the Berries (9-6, 1-3 North Central Conference) travel to Kokomo tonight to take on the Class 4A, No. 6-ranked Wildkats (16-3, 4-1).

February 9, 2012
More Local Sports Headlines

Local Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Upward opens with special guest

<b>New football program gets visit from Colts great Jeff Herrod.</b>

The Indiana Senate last week approved a bill that would allow public schools to teach creationism in science classes as long as they included origin of life theories from other religions. Would you support such a measure?

Site Map

Contact Us