I talked with a couple of coaches that I have recently met and their opinion is that Calvert is "relatively good". What they said was that what made this league successful was Pigskins. They went over there because of the extremely bad environment that Pigskins had.
The good is that it was more friendly and there was a schedule. The bad is that it too regulated. You are told exactly where and when to practice; they were given 20 yards on a field to practice; they could not practice before 6 and the County called the coach if the practice ran 5 minutes past 8; they have a running game clock - I think they called it "production football" - a game every hour independent of penalties, injuries, or anything else that may happen in the game - one mentioned a 4th quarter that last 3 plays.
They came back to St. Mary's under SMYFL because Government controlling youth sports is too restrictive in space and time and that the coaches would get fired if they had two calls for a late practice.
I have personally been is both type of leagues (County run and private organization run) and I think private is much, much better. The reason is that the Government is not about sports, they are about revenue first - please DO NOT be confused or mislead about this!! Additionally, and I don't have the history on this, but EVERYONE I talk with have wondered why, if the county is so interested in the "WELL BEING" of the kids, why they didn't step in with the thousands of complaints about Pigskins.
Just as a footnote - we are very happy with SMYFL. We have had two practices now, the equipment is nice, the environment is nice and all activities leading up to today have been nice. Everyone is looking forward to the season.
