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The Springfield Rifles and Riflettes offers youth football, basketball and cheerleading to children in the community at Roy Wilkins Park.
Guest speaker Councilman Leroy Comrie supports sports activities for all children, providing them with an opportunity for exercise and socialization.
Club president Chris Spaulding said Comrie supports everything they do, and spoke about the $1.2 million dollars he allocated for redoing their field, which was a mess. The field has artificial turf now.
The football season and registration starts May 12 with practice every Saturday from 9-12 at Roy Wilkins Park, with the season ending in December. They have 235 boys ages 6 to 17 participating. This year, 28 members of the 13-to-14 year old Midget team won the divisional and regional championships and competed in the American Youth Football National Championships in Lakeland, Fla.
Last year, the 9- and 10-year-old Junior Pee Wees won the divisional and regional championships and spent a week in Arizona competing at the National Championships.
The basketball program starts in January and runs through June with 135 boys and girls, ages 6 to 17 participating. The Rifle Go Hard or Go Home Tournament starts in June and runs through mid-August with 60 teams from throughout the city competing.
Registration is going on now at Roy Wilkins Park.
The Cheerleading program is year round, with 65 girls, ages 6 to 16, participating in parades and competing in competitions locally and in other cities.
The cheerleaders marched in the Martin Luther King, Jr. parade in New Jersey and in the Racehorse Season Opening Parade in Maryland. Registration is going on now.
The program has six teachers who check the grades of all the children participating and provide tutoring and help to any student who are having problems. As a child, Eric Barnett used to play with the Springfield Rifles and Riflettes, and is now head football coach at Campus Magnet HS. He and all the coaches, six of them also from Campus Magnet H.S., volunteer their time.
Roy Wilkins Park is located on Merrick Boulevard and Baisley Ave. For more information about the Springfield Rifles and Riflettes, call Chris Spaulding at 718-276-4630.
