Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
A League of His Own: Willow Glen resident Chris Rohwer is coach, athletic director and president of the San Jose Police Activities League's football program and deputy commissioner for the PAL organization. He started coaching PAL Youth Football 11 years ago, when his son, Nick, was 8.
Young football players benefit from expertise of a Willow Glen resident
Chris Rohwer is in his 12th year with the San Jose PAL program
By Kate Carter
Willow Glen resident Chris Rohwer is a football fan and enjoys the New Year's Day tradition of watching college bowl games in front of the television. But his real joy comes from teaching young children the ins and outs of the football field as a coach, athletic director and president of the San Jose Police Activities League's football program, and deputy commissioner for the PAL organization.
"I thoroughly enjoy the younger kids," Rohwer says. "The philosophy isn't so much on winning. In youth football, everybody gets to play."
The PAL organization provides activities, mostly sports, for youth and is affiliated with local police departments. The San Jose PAL offers a variety of activities, including boxing, baseball and soccer programs, as well as a football program.
Rohwer got his start with PAL and its Willow Glen Rams teams when his son, Nick, wanted to join a team as an 8-year-old. Nick, now 19 and a student at West Valley College, went on to play with the Rams until he was 14, and then played at Willow Glen High School and plans to play again next year.
Rohwer and his wife, Pattie, are busier than ever as active participants with the Willow Glen PAL teams, and show no signs of stopping, even though Nick has moved on.
In 1991, Rohwer, a computer security manager for TRW in Sunnyvale, agreed to help out as an assistant coach on his son's Junior Pee Wee team of 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds, as well as some small 11-year-olds. He continued to coach the youngest players for 10 years and now coaches the Willow Glen Junior Midgets team of 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds. That same year, the organization also approached Pattie Rohwer to be its treasurer, a position she has kept ever since, as well as helping her husband field the many phone calls from parents and others about PAL football.
The following year, the program asked Rohwer to become the athletic director and organize practices, work with coaches and generally make sure things on the fields run smoothly. He continues to hold that position as well as several others in PAL.
The San Jose PAL has 13 football programs in the Bay Area, each with one team each of Junior Pee Wees (for youths 8 to 10 years), Pee Wees (for youths 9 to 11 years), Junior Midgets (for youths 10 to 12 years) and Midgets (for youths 11 to 13 years). Because team qualifications also depend on weight, some youngsters can play one year beyond the usual age limit for a given team.
Six of the programs are outside San Jose and are affiliated with their own PAL organizations, but play through the San Jose PAL, Rohwer says.
"The San Jose PAL is the only PAL that has its own football league," he says.
Photograph courtesy of Chris Rohwer
Words of Wisdom: Chris Rowher (top left) gives some coaching advice to his Willow Glen Rams Junior Midget Football Team.
PAL isn't the only organization for youth contact football. The national league Pop Warner has tried to recruit Rohwer and his colleagues, but Rohwer says he prefers to work for PAL, a smaller organization that can adjust to the needs of its local participants. In addition, he says, Pop Warner teams can focus too much on winning for Rohwer's taste.
"We're competitive in terms of teaching kids to play the game," Rohwer says of his PAL teams. "I believe our championship teams could play any team around. But the philosophy is not to win. In PAL, you see a lot more people stick around for the kids."
In fact, he says, as athletic director, Rohwer yearly awards one member of each team for his or her sportsmanship, scholarship, leadership and dedication.
Nevertheless, the Willow Glen Midget team has won the league's championship for the past two years.
PAL accepts youth onto its teams on a first-come, first-served basis for the roughly 30 spots on each team--there are no cuts, Rohwer says. Last year 115 children signed up for the Willow Glen teams that draw from the area between Hillsdale and Hedding avenues and Highway 17 and First Street, he says.
Participants pay a $150 fee each year, $25 of which is returned if their parents volunteer with the organization for five hours.
"It's just getting people to get involved," Rohwer says. "That's hard to do."
Players use gear provided by the organization and keep a practice jersey. The nonprofit organization's funding comes from player fees, contributions from the United Way and the police department, as well as other donors, he says.
The PAL season runs from July to Thanksgiving, and includes several weekly practices and eight weekend games per season, as well as playoffs and all-star games at each competition level, Rohwer says.
Rohwer says he has coached a handful of girls, including one especially talented youngster during his tenure. In addition, PAL teams also have cheerleading squads, one of which his daughter, Jennifer, now 21 and a student at San Jose State University, was a member of for a year.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
A Father's Love: Willow Glen resident Chris Rohwer (right) started coaching PAL Youth Football, when his son, Nick, wanted to join a team. Nick, now 19 and a student at West Valley College, went on to play with the Rams until he was 14, then played at Willow Glen High School and plans to play again next year.
Rohwer says the players choose to get an early start (before high school) in contact football for a variety of reasons. Some, like his son, just wanted to play football instead of baseball or soccer. Some have parents who enjoy the sport and want to share it with their children.
But some parents--"mostly moms, but some dads," Rohwer says--do worry about small children playing a sport considered physical and possibly dangerous. Rohwer says PAL football rules are based on high school rules--players play the whole field and quarters, at 10 minutes, are only 2 minutes shorter than those in high school.
Rohwer, who coached the smallest players for 10 years before coaching those of medium ages two years ago, admits that most 8-year-olds aren't ready to play football. The advantage of starting them that young, though, he says, is that they begin to learn the basics of the sport so that one or two years later, they use what they have been practicing for a while and know how to tackle and fall safely.
He also points out that youth football tends to be safer than youth soccer or basketball, as the action runs in shorter time increments--five to eight seconds of activity separated by 20 to 30 seconds of break. Medics are also present at every game, and Rohwer says that, since he started with PAL in 1991, no player has had a serious upper-body injury.
Players must also weigh in a week before each game to make sure they are the same size as others. The PAL weight chart allows for a half-pound of weight gain every week, to reinforce that the weight limits are for safety and fairness only and to avoid possible health problems from dieting and other unhealthy habits for the young, Rohwer says.
Rohwer says he makes an effort, and encourages the other coaches, to play the smaller and less athletic children as well as the team stars, especially when a team is far ahead or has nothing to lose.
"The idea is to get kids out there, let them learn to play the game," Rohwer says. "But more importantly, they learn how to be a team. They can contribute; they have fun; their parents have fun. That's what I do it for."
Rohwer doesn't watch much professional or college football anymore since he became involved with PAL--there just isn't the time, and he doesn't like the commercial attitudes and poor sportsmanship of many of the players, he says.
None of Rohwer's players have yet gone on to play Division I football or been drafted to a professional team, although some have played community college football. But he believes that all his team members have walked away with something gained from the experience, whether it be a better appreciation of the sport, of others or of themselves.
"In all sports, the number of youth players and the number of professional players--it's a very small percentage," Rohwer says. "There's a lot more that a child can get out of it that helps them with the rest of their life. Part of what I try to do is instill that respect for each other and hopefully that carries over."
For more information about PAL activities, call 408.272.9725.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
