The Lauderhill Lions Youth Football program has more to offer to their student-athletes than just the sport of football. The youth organization takes an all-encompassing approach when it comes to developing the boys and girls who are part of the program.
There are eight age division football clubs with about 30 players on each squad. The 143 cheerleaders make up seven cheer teams, as the program continues to develop the minds and bodies of young student-athletes. Post-COVID, the league remains healthy with the goal of getting the kids out of the house for some recreational fun and competition.
The pride of the Lions is the travel 13U club that has achieved a national ranking as high as No. 2 in the nation. The team’s journeys have brought them to California, Detroit, Atlanta and Jacksonville to take on top competition.
A special time each year for the Lions organization is the homecoming celebration. Part of the festivities include a competition for the best decorated tent with the theme “Coming to America.” All the cheer squads dressed in African fashion attire and performed halftime routines for seven of the scheduled football games.
“This is a wonderful event for everybody, including the kids and the parents,” said Lauderhill Lions President Sam Goodman. “Everything with our program is great and we conduct a youth girls and boys symposium where we discuss drug talk, gun violence, social media, NCAA clearinghouse, academics, college and all contemporary topics.”
Goodman is the event moderator and brought in guest speakers to address the athletes. He started the nonprofit A Goodman 4 Kids Foundation with the focus on education. Guest speaker Lauderhill Police Chief Constance Stanley discussed safety concerns on a wide range of topics including social media, drugs and gun violence.
The program is designed for the older cheer clubs and there were about 80 girls coming to the session with the boy football players attending the following session.
“We want to expose our kids to a lot of good things so they can make good decisions versus what they see on TV or social media,” Goodman said. “I’m a big stickler on education. An educated person is a person with a bright future. When you are educated, you can make better decisions.”
Lions 9U Head Coach Aaron Reynolds has his club in the AYFL playoff hunt. The Fort Lauderdale High School head JV football coach brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to impart on his young team. This is his second year coaching the Lions club.
“We are still trying to get better game by game in spite of being one of the smallest teams in the league,” Reynolds said. “We do what we can with what we have and it is challenging. Homecoming is a very exciting time and it’s great to see all the people coming out to support us. We still have a lot of work to be done. We have tough teams ahead of us on the schedule, but we’ll be ready.”
Kiana Aaron is the head coach of the 12U Lions cheer team. The devoted volunteer has been a coach in the cheer program for five years and has enjoyed witnessing the transition of little girls becoming young women.
“Homecoming is a time where we all come together and we put on a show for our fans and football players,” Aaron said. “Our homecoming theme is ‘Coming to America,’ so we are putting on an African theme. We go back and look at the heritage of Africa. The girls are extremely excited to participate and show off their skills. Besides cheer, I get to teach them how to be ladies and to always remain classy.”
It has been a wonderful journey for Aaron to witness how the girls have grown.
“I’m amazed how they have progressed over the years and how much they have matured,” she said. “We signed up our girls for Sam Goodman’s teaching session. We want the girls to learn how to deal with the negative influence of social media. You can still be yourself and find your identity. At this important middle school age, we hope to have a positive impact on them.”
Visit agoodman4kidsfoundation.org.
