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Two sets of youth football teams merge, eliminating the limit on participants and bringing the community together.
By KATHERINE GAZELLA, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 21, 2002
TARPON SPRINGS -- When youth football in Tarpon Springs was split between two leagues, the dividing line went right through Rex Wilkinson's living room.
His son had played for the Spongers in the Pasco Police Athletic League, his daughter was a cheerleader and Wilkinson was a board member. Then Wilkinson's nephew moved in with him last year, and that league's full rosters had no room for a new arrival.
So Wilkinson signed him up to play with the other league in Tarpon, the Stingrays of the Suncoast conference in Pinellas County. The incident reinforced something Wilkinson had felt since his family first got involved in youth football: There should be one league in the city that everybody can join.
Now there is. Where there were two sets of Tarpon teams in the past, the Stingrays in Pinellas and the Spongers in Pasco, now there will be only one. The two leagues have merged and have carried the Spongers name to the Suncoast conference in Pinellas County.
Because the conference allows a varsity team in each age group and unlimited junior varsity teams, the league will be able to accept anyone who wants to play. That's a good thing; 500 to 600 kids are expected to sign up for football or cheerleading.
"We don't have to separate our kids now," said Wilkinson, the owner of a mortgage company and a vice president of the Spongers. "In the Pinellas league, the thing that always appealed to me is we never had to turn away any kids."
The split began 17 years ago, when some people involved with what later became the Stingrays in the Pinellas Youth Football Conference got into an argument. One group broke off and joined the Pasco conference, and the others stayed in Pinellas County, where they later joined the Suncoast conference, said Robin Wikle, president of the newly combined league.
In recent years, the divide was based on precedent rather than a strong desire for the two leagues to be separate, according to people involved with both organizations.
The Stingrays had a hard time getting players, while "we had waiting lists a mile long," said Wikle, whose family previously was involved with the Spongers in the Pasco conference.
With support from many people in the community, including Tarpon Springs Mayor Frank DiDonato, they decided to merge into one league that would play in one of the conferences. Combining the leagues made sense not only for the children but also for businesses that want to sponsor one Tarpon league, DiDonato said.
"It's something both teams have talked about doing for years," DiDonato said. "It was confusing to people which was which. In anything, you're better off united than you're ever going to be by yourself."
The merger came first. Then, on Jan. 7, the board members voted on which conference to join. Of the 24 board members -- 12 taken from the Pasco conference and 12 from Suncoast -- 16 chose to join the Suncoast conference and eight voted for Pasco.
One board member, Ray Sousa of Port Richey, resigned after the vote and moved his sons to the New Port Richey team in the Pasco conference. It was too far for him to make the drive every Saturday, he said, but he still thinks it was a good decision for the Tarpon teams to merge and join the Suncoast conference.
"It kind of brings the community back together," he said.
As a symbol of unity, the new league had a ceremony at the Tarpon Springs Sports Complex March 24. People went inside the concession stand, which used to serve the Spongers on one side and the Stingrays on the other.
With a multicolored mallet, several board members knocked down the wall that once separated the two leagues.
Now that the wall has been knocked down, figuratively and literally, the league is signing up players. Returning players can sign up from 4 to 6 p.m. today at Sisler Field, on Meres Boulevard west of Alt. U.S. 19. In the coming week, open enrollment will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to noon Saturday and 4 to 6 p.m. April 28 at Sisler Field. Football costs $125. Cheerleading is $140. Flag football and flag cheerleading are $50.
Practices begin in July, and the first games are in August.
William Wikle, 13, is getting ready for the season several months in advance. He doesn't want to leave anything to chance.
"Right now I'm kind of working out," he said. "I try to eat right and stuff. Salads. I try to stay away from bread, but it's hard."
He played three years in the Pasco conference and now will be a Sponger in the Suncoast conference. It is a conference where many of his friends have played for years, and he knows that here, there are no waiting lists.
"I think it's better," he said. "I like the rules better. More people get to play."
-- Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.
Registration: Returning players from the Stingrays and Spongers youth football teams in Tarpon Springs may sign up for the coming season from 4 to 6 p.m. today at Sisler Field, on Meres Boulevard west of Alt. U.S. 19. Open enrollment will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to noon Saturday and 4 to 6 p.m. April 28 at Sisler Field. Football costs $125. Cheerleading is $140. Flag football and flag cheerleading are $50.