Jets, NYMEX, Boost Flag Football At I.S. 204
BY DAN MILLER

Jets President Jay Cross (l.) and Defensive End Shaun Ellis (c.) visited I.S. 204, Long Island City, on December 4 to present New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein (r.) with a check for $50,000 to support the New York City Department of Education C.H.A.M.P.S. Middle School Flag Football program. Photo Dan Miller/DMD Images

On Tuesday, December 4, New York Jets President Jay Cross and Jets Defensive End Shaun Ellis joined New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in visiting I.S. 204 in Long Island City, where Cross and Ellis presented a check for $50,000 to the New York City Department of Education to support the DOE C.H.A.M.P.S. Middle School Flag Football Program.

The $50,000 was a gift from the New York Jets and the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) Charitable Foundation to provide more than 75 middle schools with opportunities for students to learn the skills and techniques of football from qualified coaches in an afterschool program. Each participant will receive a tee shirt uniform, compliments of the Jets and the NYMEX Charitable Foundation.

"It is an honor to be here today to present this grant to the Middle School Flag Football League," Ellis said. In accepting the check, Klein responded, "This partnership supports two major initiatives of the Children First reforms. We continue to increase fitness opportunities for all students before, during and after school hours. The focus of C.H.A.M.P.S. on middle school students complements our efforts to raise student achievement levels in these critical years. I thank both partners for their support of our student needs."

Cross said, "Today we are introducing flag football back into the school system." We realized that football is having a tough time maintaining its position in the Northeast." He explained that the plan is to make football available to middle school students and, hopefully, set up a feeder system to get more students involved playing high school football.

Lori Benson, Department of Education director of fitness and recreation, told the Gazette, "C.H.A.M.P.S. actually stands for Cooperative, Healthy, Active, Motivated, Positive Students. Our approach provided additional physical activities for middle school students before and after the school day."

Alan Semel, C.H.A.M.P.S coordinator for the DOE, assisted Ellis in setting up a flag football game in the gym at I.S. 204 following the presentation of the $50,000 grant.

Charles "Chip" Healy, C.H.A.M.P.S coordinator at I.S. 204, told the Gazette that there was so much interest in the middle school in Long Island City that he and his assistant, Thomas Carroll, had divided the students into three leagues for each of the three academies, Princeton, Harvard and Yale, located at I.S. 204. "We start the day off with instruction, teaching the children about basic fundamentals of football, and later in the day we have our games," he explained.

"This is my old neighborhood," Klein said. "We are working with the Jets who are giving us financial support for a flag football program. This builds upon our overall program bringing back football in our schools in New York City. And I think a lot of them will wind up playing high school football."

The Jets also donated another check for $50,000 to the PSAL through a matching grant from the NFLYouth Football Fund to support the New York Jets Heads Up Program. This program helps recondition every helmet used in the PSAL, ensuring that more than 4,000 high school student athletes are safeguarded by improved equipment.