Los Gatos-Cambrian Pop Warner Football

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Typical Season Schedule

Fall Camp
We begin football practices every year on Aug-1. The month of August is effectively known as "Fall Camp". During this month we typically practice on Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri evenings (6-8pm) and Sat mornings.

The 3rd Sat in August is typically a scrimmage day and we will scrimmage against other teams in our league instead of practice.

The 4th weekend in August is our Certification Weekend - we do not practice on Sat of that weekend but instead play a preseason game (called Jamboree Game) on the last Sunday in August.

All players are required to participate in 5 conditioning practices (10 hours) before they are able to put on full gear and participate in contact practices. Players will wear just helmets and mouthpieces (along with shorts, tshirts and cleats) during conditioning practices and there is zero contact during these practices. Players must also participate in 5 contact practices (10 hours) before they can participate in any scrimmages or games. For this reason it is important to miss as few practices in August as possible (ideally miss ZERO practices) so your child does not fall behind and will be able to participate like rest of the team.

Regular Season

Our regular season starts immediately after the Jamboree game and we typically practice 3 days a week - usually Tue and Thu evenings from 6-8 pm and then either Fri evening (6-8pm) or Sat morning (9-11am) depending on whether our teams have Sat games (Fri night practice) or Sun games (Sat morning practice). Games can be any time of the day on Sat and Sun and anywhere in the Bay Area. Teams play only 1 game per weekend.

The regular season consists of an 8-game schedule (starting Labor Day weekend and concluding in late October. Teams may qualify for post-season playoffs (based on record) which start the last weekend in October. Playoffs will typically last 2-3 weeks and conclude with League Championships the 1st or 2nd weekend of November. Teams winning the League championship may advance to the Regional Championships which are typically the weekend before Thanksgiving. Teams winning the Regional championship earn the opportunity to advance to Pop Warner National Championships which are in Orlando FL the first week of December.

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Football: Pop Warner & Safety First

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Pop Warner History:
Pop Warner football was founded in 1929 by Joseph J. Tomlin as a four-team conference in Northeast Philadelphia to provide mentorship, activity, and scholastic focus for children in his community. In 1934, the league was renamed after Glenn "Pop" Warner, inventor of many modern football offenses and defenses; including single and double wing, the precursor to Stanford's shotgun offense, the three-point stance, and many body blocking techniques. Glenn "Pop" Warner was once the most winning college football coach in the nation, with a career record of 319–106–32; leading teams at Georgia, Cornell, Iowa State, Temple, Pittsburgh, and our own Stanford and San Jose State teams. Today, Pop Warner Little Scholars is a national nonprofit youth football and cheer league, with over 325,000 participants nationwide.

Safety First & National Standards:

Pop Warner places value on safety measures that make a difference. That’s why nationwide, a significant number of NATIONAL safety measures and annul safety reviews to ensure proper and safest of techniques are in place for the youth in our community.    Some recent changes include:

   * Mandatory certification of all Head & Assistant Coaches in "Heads-up Football"
   * Reduced contact to 25% of practice time
   * Eliminated kickoffs for all younger divisions of play
   * Strict revisions to Referee rules and training to eliminate improper technique
   * Certification of on-field EMTs with Concussion and Game
   * Mandatory equipment certification for helmets and shoulder-pads

National and Regional Pop Warner is also continually working with national & colligate football programs, athletic vendors to and advance safety gear to make sure your children have the safest Football experience possible.

League & Regional Playoffs and National Championships:
Another unique feature of Pop Warner Football is the Post-season, proving dedicated teams an opportunity to compete with other regional teams, and the possibility for a (typically once in a lifetime) experience to participate in National Championship games in Orlando, Florida early December each year.

National Pop Warner has eight Regions (ours is the Pacific-Northwest), made up of multiple Leagues (ours is Peninsula Pop Warner), made up of multiple associations (ours is Los Gatos-Cambrian). After a regular season of eight (8) games with other associations in our Peninsula Pop Warner league, we have the opportunity to participate in post season within our
* League Championship (3 games) against other Bay Area teams in Peninsula Pop Warner
* Regional Championship (2 games) against teams from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada
* National Championship (2-3 games) against teams from around the US, in Orlando, Florida.