Welcome

Westlake Youth Football Camp! June 5th

Once again the Westlake Bulldogs has teamed up with Haden Sports & Performance and will host their Southern Maryland Youth Football Camp on June 5th.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

Should you need more information please contact us!.

Verizon Team's Up With Westlake!

We are pleased to announce that Verizon has teamed up with the Bulldogs to offer a truly unique deal for our members. Support your club and check out the details by selecting the link below! It's a Win - Win for everyone!

Verizon/Bulldogs Offer

A Letter from the President of the Westlake Bulldogs

Welcome to the Westlake Bulldogs youth football and cheer family. I would like to thank all those who helped make the 2008 season a positive experience for our youth and we look forward to a repeat in 2009. The Westlake board has been hard at work in the months following this past season improvingour program and making the necessary changes for continued growth. Please read and familiarize yourself with our byelaws and parent handbook. Our Football and Cheer program is run completely, and relies on, adult and youth volunteers in our community. We are actively seeking members to assist our program. If you are interested in helping please contact any board member for more information.

Starting about 18 months ago, the Westlake Bulldogs authored a proposal to add a Select Program onto our organization. In creating this proposal it was very important to us that we designed a program that would allow our community to continue to participate in the CCYFL and all of the history that has been established over the years in the county. We diligently promoted the new league structure through the 2008 season and found overwhelming support from our youth, parents, and coaches. In March (2009) we again presented our proposal and gained approval for the program. With the addition of the Capital Beltway League (6-15 year olds) we can now accommodate those players that would like to take there game to the next level by competing with and against the best players in the State of Maryland.

Some of the reasons we are participating in the Capital Beltway League are as follows:

1) WIDER AGE/WEIGHT MATRIX– More weight divisions allow for a more uniformed age to weight placement of your child.
2) NO BOUNDARIES - Kids can play where they want to play without fear of repercussions to them or their team.
3) HIGHER AGE AND GRADES – 15 year old 9th graders can play within the league.

January 15th and 16th, 2010, we will be holding our 1st annual Westlake Bulldog formal awards dinner banquet. We hope to raise the necessary funds that will enable us to pay for this banquet through our club and team sponsorship/fundraising programs. To make this possible we are looking for the Waldorf business community to help support the very families that make their businesses possible. Visit the banquet link or the sponsors link on our web page, or contact a Westlake Bulldog board member for more information.

The Westlake Bulldogs are very lucky to have the support from both Westlake and North Point High Schools and their Head Football Coaches. This year the High Schools will facilitate the Westlake Bulldog football camp that will take place in June or July. This year, the camp will be free for each player as part of their registration costs and open for any child in Southern Maryland area. The camp includes lunch, T-Shirt, and instruction from the High School coaches and players. Shorts and cleats are highly recommended.

We are happy to have this new web site up and running. I would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time to create and update this site for our benefit. A very special thank you to the Carrino family for their dedication and efforts in designing a high quality site for a high quality program. We hope this will enable us to improve our communication with all our members. We will be utilizing it from here on out to relay important information and announcements. We also hope it will serve as a resource for vital information like last minute schedule changes and directions to all away games. Keep visiting it often and please submit your contact email so we can create a contact list for information exchange.

The Westlake Bulldogs would like to thank Dawn Patton, Dana Edelen and Gail Ackerman for their support and dedication over the past 4 years as they served diligently on our board.  As life takes them onto new endeavors, we would like for them to know their efforts are not forgotten and the Westlake Bulldogs would not be the first class organization that it is today without the work that each of you put in.  Thank you and best wishes from the Bulldog family!

In a season of great change I would like to offer a great welcome to 4 of our newest board members. Cynthia Johnson (Vice President, Administration), Kristie Clark (Cheer Director), Andre Lane (Sponsorship) and last but certainly not least Gwyn Byrd (Fundraising).  Please join me in welcoming these four dynamic individuals that have accepted the challenge of taking our organization towards even greater heights in 2009. Thank each of you for your support and dedication!
On a final note open communication is imperative in order for us to continue to be successful. We as a board try to make the best decisions possible for our youth to grow and be successful. We work under our own byelaws and take our commitments very seriously. We realize that some of our decisions are not always the most popular ones. Rumors and gossip only create a negative environment that affects all of us. I would invite everyone to become active in our program. Our meetings are open. Attendance and participation is the key to our continued growth. If you have a comment/concern please contacts a board member directly and appropriately express your thoughts. Let’s show our youth by example what we want them to become in the future.

Again I thank everyone for his or her support in 2008 and look forward to making the 2009 season even more successful.

Thank you,
Terrence Byrd
Westlake Bulldogs Youth Organization President

There are a variety of levels of involvement within our program, as follows:

Board of Directors – these volunteers are elected to terms per the by-laws. They are responsible for management of all operations in the program, including oversight of the volunteer network. Other board officers are appointed, as needed, per the by-laws.

Football Coaches – these volunteers manage all practices and games. There is one head coach and at least three assistant coach’s per team to a maximum of six. Football coaches are also the primary instructors for the players. They are responsible for supervision, teaching plays, running drills, and discipline on the field, as well as management of parent relations and communications. All issues and questions should be directed to the Football Director.

Cheer Coaches and Junior Coaches – There are up to two coaches and two junior coaches per squad. The adult coaching staff is responsible for discipline, parent communications, planning squad events and programs, team building, instructor relations, and squad fundraising.

The cheer junior coaches are responsible for developing game and competition routines, teaching the routines, and strengthening cheerleader skills. Parents may not discuss the routines or formations with the junior coaches; these issues should be directed to the Cheer Coordinator.

Parent volunteers – we need at least 50 volunteers for each home game to staff the snack bar, gate, and booster store, etc. Every parent is required to volunteer a minimum of 2 hours for each child that you have in the program, including a minimum of two 2-hour shifts at football games.

Documentation of volunteer hours will be kept to assure compliance and loss of child mandatory participation rules may be applied if volunteer time is not given.

Board Members, Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches with multiple children in Westlake Bulldog will not be required to complete additional volunteer hours. Westlake Bulldog would encourage their spouses to volunteer as needed for the benefit of the organization. Each team/squad will be allowed 4 hours of volunteer time for the Team Parent function if applicable.

General membership volunteer hours must be completed during the following Westlake Bulldog events: Westlake Bulldog concession stand, home football games (including field preparation) and home post season football games (including field preparation if applicable). Volunteer hours will not be counted for events such as: football chalk talks, team building parties, transportation.