YOUTH SPORTS: SPARTANS' RETURN A FAMILY AFFAIR - Sun Publications (IL)

A family-type effort from a group of residents has helped resuscitate the Romeoville Spartans Youth Football and Cheerleading program.'I thought it was high time to get another program out there,' said club secretary Aimee Walsh, who started the push to revive the organization more than 20 months ago.

With another registration and information session scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Romeoville High School, almost 250 children already have preregistered to play football or cheer for the program.

'People are real happy to see the program back,' Spartans vice president Phil Ramos said.

When the Spartans disbanded in 1989. Romeoville was a town of about 15,000 people.

Explosive growth -- the community's population has nearly doubled in the '90s -- was a factor Walsh said fueled her desire to reinstate a program she used to cheer for as a youth.

In the summer of 1998, Walsh kicked off her effort by distributing photocopied announcements at various youth events.

In August of that year, an all-volunteer board of directors was created and started meeting twice a week at the Romeoville Recreation Center.

A month later, the first public meeting was held, drawing an overwhelming response.

'When all these people showed up for the meeting originally, I was totally floored,' Walsh said.

'I don't think anybody could get me to shut up because I was so excited.

My husband Jim and I got in the car, and we said, `It's going.' I don't think he's seen me so excited about anything except for our wedding.'

That rush of enthusiasm hit its zenith in Minooka on Feb. 4, when the River Valley Football Conference tabbed Romeoville, Coal City and Manteno as new entries.

Romeoville will play in the Northern Division along Plainfield, Lemont, Minooka, Plano, Bourbonnais, Joliet and Sandwich.

'When the conference called us to tell us that we would be admitted, it was 10:30 at night, it was like we won the whole tournament,' Spartans public relations director Suzette Hopkins said.

The Spartans will feature at least four teams in four weight divisions: superlights, lightweights, middleweights and heavyweights.

The league is open to children ages 6 to 14 weighing up to 178 pounds.

Cheerleading is offered to children ages 6 to 14 as of Sept. 1.

The program's first football practice is scheduled for July 19, with the opening game scheduled for Aug. 9. Romeoville will play four home games and four away games in an attempt to qualify for the league playoffs.

The season will end on the final weekend of October with a game between the Southern and Northern Division champs.

Walsh said Romeoville High School will allow the youth football program to hold its homecoming games in September at the varsity's field.

The facility may also be the site for all home games.

MORE HELP NEEDED In the meantime, the organization is concentrating its efforts on recruiting volunteers and raising funds.

The board is hoping to attract at least five coaches per team.

Coaching clinics will help volunteers learn more about the game.

Romeoville High School varsity coach Jim Boudouris has agreed to help, and the group is trying to secure help from the football staffs at Plainfield, Bolingbrook and Joliet Catholic Academy.

'We'll take whatever those coaches have to offer because these kids are going to end up in their programs,' Ramos said.

Walsh said that all of the board members have experience in working with children on a one-on-one basis, aside from being a parent.

Several have experience coaching high school and youth sports, including football.

As for fund raising, the board is asking the community for help.

'Just to get people dressed and standing on the field is about $30,000,' Ramos said.

'We have to somehow generate that much money.

The registration fee that the players pay helps offset this, but remember we also have to pay for things like insurance, postage and mailings.'

The board is looking for sponsors to help cover those expenses.

Some area businesses and individuals, including Mayor Fred Dewald, have stepped up with support.

'They've dug deep in their pockets to give us what they can, which is very well appreciated,' Hopkins said.

'But we definitely need to express our needs to other business.

We cannot stress enough that the community has to be involved in this.'

Businesses who sign up as major sponsors might be able to get the company logo on players' helmets.

'We'll put stickers all over the players like they do in auto racing,' assistant athletic director Jim Walsh joked.

SCHOOL COMES FIRST As a program, the Spartans philosophical beliefs and points of emphasis are on academics, building confidence, unselfishness, dealing with adversity, respect, safety, sportsmanship, contact within the boundaries of sportsmanship, class, technique, humility and family.

'We are not only stressing athletics, we are stressing school and grades,' field manager George Schmidt said.

'If a kid's grades aren't up, they aren't going to be playing as much as they should be or at all.

We've talked to parents, and they've agreed with us that school should come first over sports.'

As for the board members, the late nights and heavy workload involved in bringing the league back has taken its toll.

Each, though, said the extra effort has been worth it.

'I have four children at home and they all probably don't remember what I look like, but they are all loving it as well because they're involved in it just as much as I am,' Aimee Walsh said.

'It just takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get something like this off the ground,' she added.

'We might have some eyeball scratching on this board, but we're a family.

We never leave this meeting without agreeing at the end of the night.'