For the last six years, the MFCA has been a central force in defeating legislation that sought to severely limit the ability for students to participate in youth football in the state of Maryland. While this legislation was well-intentioned, it was poorly written and over-rode parental rights that should allow parents to make decisions regarding the activities in which their children participate. The different bills were crafted in order to regulate football and youth sports as a whole at the state level, and again, take away the control mechanisms already in place at the local government level.
The MFCA has also sponsored two legislative forums on these types of bills, and legislators and coaches engaged in open discussion and debate on how best to help football develop and grow in the state of Maryland safely.
With the help of our community partners and allies, we were able to defeat all legislation that has been submitted that sought to limit youth football in the state of Maryland. The MFCA remains dedicated to support youth sports in the state of Maryland, and monitors all legislation that may be introduced that would seek to curtail our sport in any way. But we need your help:
- Get to know your local legislators at the county and state government level. Invite them to your practices or games. When they see the great job that you are doing to help kids in your community, believe me, you will gain an advocate for our sport
Get active in your local coaches organization and remain active in the MFCA; we are our sports best advocates, and we need to work together to encourage and support the game of football.
- If you are a high school coach, get to know the coaches in the youth organizations in your locality. If you are a youth coach, make the effort to get to know the coaches where your players will go to high school. We are all in this together, and within a local area, we all work with the same kids at different points in their development. A united front is much stronger than a fractured, disjointed alliance. Let’s do everything we can to work together to promote football in the state of Maryland.
The MFCA is committed to help develop and grow the sport of football across our state. Members are encouraged to get involved and help make Maryland football at every level stronger in every community across the state. Here are some links that can help you contact legislators as well as monitor legislation that my affect how the sport is played moving forward:
http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite
https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/07leg/html/proc.html
https://legiscan.com/MD
If you need further guidance or advice, contact the MFCA at marcmfca@gmail.com
