Little Giants

With the ever-increasing competitiveness of youth and high school sports, kids and parents alike are constantly searching for any edge to propel them into the city's best. Many have turned to the out-of-season sporting leagues like AAU basketball, select baseball and club volleyball, just to name a few, to hone their skills while their respective high school sport is out of season. But interestingly enough, while almost every other sport has non-school related leagues heavily established, football does not. Enter local businessman Chris Zook. "Three years ago I was asked to formulate a program that allows middle school kids who are serious enough about football to compete in the off-season," said Zook, the founder of Houston Select Football League. Zook then took the time to visit different youth football leagues and talked to different high school and college coaches in order to make the HSFL the best league possible for kids. "Everyone said the same thing. Work on the fundamentals with these kids, so by the time they get to high school they're already one or two steps ahead of the game," Zook said. The HSFL is a full contact football league for middle school boys. Last year, in their first year of operation, the HSFL fielded six teams at the 5th and 6th grade level, or Junior Varsity. At the end of the season, Zook decided to split the league into Varsity (8th grade) and Junior Varsity (7th grade). "We just felt like the kids in the 7th and 8th grade were much more mature, physically and mentally, as well as more serious about football," said Zook "When these kids are growing up, a lot of them play three or four sports at a time. But when kids start getting to the 7th and 8th grade they have to start narrowing it down. For the kids who know they want to play football, we're here to help them get better." Almost like specialization in the workforce. But this is where the HSFL differs from just about every other league around. Zook's highest priority in this whole operation is building "Men of Character." "We're not here to compete with high schools. If a kid also happens to be playing basketball during the middle of the season, we want him to be at basketball practice instead of here," said Zook. "We also have the 'no pass, no play' rule here. You must maintain a 'C' average in order to play. And for those kids who do have trouble in the classroom, we pay for tutors to help them out." If last year is any indication, the HSFL is on the right track. How it works is the top three teams from the HSFL last year played the top three teams from a similar league in Dallas, called Texas Select Football League, which is going into its 7th year of existence. At Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, all three Houston teams prevailed victorious, with the Galveston County Heat beating the Texas Raiders 34-6; the Northside Raiders winning a 52-40 shootout over the Allen Dawgz; and the HSFL Texans with a convincing 34-6 romp over the Dallas Longhorns.