Letter from the Director

Hello.  My name is Paul Strande and I am the new Executive Director of Greater Grand Forks Youth Football.  I am very excited to be in this position because this program sets the foundation for football in Grand Forks and the surrounding communities.  Along with our football board, coaches, and parents, we can make it a FUN and POSITIVE introduction to football for the players.

Football is a game I am very passionate about.  I spent 20 years as a high school football coach at GF Central HS along with five years coaching youth football in Thompson as part of this program.  I continue to enjoy the game and have a strong desire to see football grow and thrive in this region.  I have always believed that outside of learning football skills, players can learn even more about being a good teammate, doing their job to lead to overall team success and developing a strong work ethic if they work hard to improve. 

I know that our league has had some challenges with organization and structure in the past.  I want to let you know that our current board has already made several changes to improve the program and that is why I am eager to join to help continue this improvement.  It is not something the board or I can do alone however.  We need to have strong parent volunteer coaches that are willing to get certified in coaching basic football skills and use the training to improve the skills of the athletes in our program.  We will be getting input from high school coaches in the surrounding area to enhance the program so kids will have a good foundation as they move on to middle school and eventually high school football.  One of the great strengths of football is there is room for kids of every shape and size and large numbers of participants are welcomed by all coaches.  Every athlete might not have the same skills, but everyone can have a role to make the team better.

I look forward to working with the many players, parents and coaches that will be a part of our program next year and in the coming years.  If you are interested in being a volunteer coach next year, feel free to contact me at the email listed below.  We will have information available in early 2018 explaining what the guidelines and requirements will be to make this experience the best we can for coaches and players in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Paul Strande
GGFYF Executive Director
ggfyfdirector@gmail.com