After a seven-year hiatus, youth tackle football is back in Boulder City, following the creation of the Boulder City Bears youth organization founded by president and head coach James Cracolici.
Cracolici, a relatively new resident to Boulder City, hopes to give back to his community, following years of experience coaching at the youth level in New York and playing at Division III Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. “When I moved to Boulder City in 2021, I was looking to sign my son up for tackle football and realized our town didn’t have a program,” Cracolici said. “We have flag programs, but for the majority of kids in our town, they don’t start tackle football until they’re 15 years old, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to our high school rivals. Our main goal is to not only introduce the game to our kids at a younger age but also help prepare them for the high school game so they’re ready to compete and be competitive right away.”
Motivated by competition and his passion for the game, Cracolici made it his mission this past year to make tackle football accessible in Boulder City, like it is in rival towns Henderson, Las Vegas, Mesquite, Overton and Pahrump.
“Driving through Overton, I noticed Moapa Valley’s youth team practicing and thought, if they’re able to do it, why not us?” Cracolici said. “Our rivals all have teams and that’s why they’re able to be successful year in and year out, which has really put our boys at a disadvantage. We’ve had to be perfect over the years to beat these teams, because we’re not training our players at a young age. Our goal is to be a feeder program for coach Bubba Mariani and the high school program so that by the time he gets them, they already know the game and it’s just about making them better and not so much teaching them.”
Playing in the National Youth Sports League (NYS), the Bears will field a 13U tackle team featuring players ages 11-13, one 6U flag football team, two 8U flag teams, two 10U flag teams and one 12U flag football team.
Preaching equality and opportunity, the Bears organization will also field a 13U girls flag football team, while all participating ages are able to play in the coed flag football leagues.”
“We really wanted to get the girls included,” Cracolici said. “Our 13U team is a girls only team in hopes of preparing them for high school, while we offer coed teams for all ages. We would love to expand our all-girls team if we can get more kids out here.”
Touting the community for being receptive to his startup program, Cracolici expects to field competitive teams with solid participation numbers in year one.
“We’ve had a great turnout with this program,” he said. “Seventy families showed up to our initial meeting, which was really encouraging. The heartbeat of our city is the high school. On a Friday night, our stands are packed. This community cares about our kids and the team, this is a football town. We wanted to help the game grow here. We currently have four-year-olds in the program, who if they stay in the program can play in town all the way until they graduate.”
Doing his best to make football accessible, Cracolici has waived nearly all out-of-pocket expenses for incoming families, in hopes to get every child in town who wants to play the game on the field.
“The only fees associated with our team is the NYS league fee,” Cracolici said. “Literally, send your kids with a pair of cleats and we’ll provide the rest. We want to make it as easy as possible for anyone interested in playing football to be able to play. We‘ve also been fortunate to provide scholarships for families who couldn’t cover the league’s fees through fundraising. We really don’t want price to be a barrier for any child in our community.”
Actively fundraising and seeking sponsorship opportunities to make sure that the biggest sport in our town is the easiest to participate in, Cracolici asks that anyone interested in supporting this venture contact the team at BoulderCityBearsFB@gmail.com.
Any donation/sponsorship will have their company logo placed on the team’s website, while donations of $500 or more will have logos printed on select apparel and banners displayed at Bears home games.
Looking to make this a lasting program, Cracolici is excited for the Bears to play their inaugural season in September, with hopes of many more to come.
“Even though my children, who are already in high school, won’t see the benefit of this program, the town will,” Cracolici said. “I think this program will be important for not only developing our high school program in the future but also continuing to bring the community together. The participation and interest in our program have far exceeded my expectations and we really hope to grow this.”
Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.