Home-schoolers field own teams

Home-schooling parents in Frederick County, learning that their children could not play on high school football teams, decided not to punt. They formed their own squad instead.

“My son and daughter have not been able to play football or cheer because the [community] programs end at eighth grade,” says Terry Delph, who with fellow home-school mother Nancy Werking co-founded the Central Maryland Christian Crusaders.

“This team is really, really needed,” she says.

The Crusaders now are the second football team in Maryland made up entirely of home-school and private-school students. The Maryland Christian Saints first took the field last year in Harford County, north of Baltimore.

“You can be a Christian, hit really hard on the football field and still glorify God,” Mrs. Delph says.

The Crusaders and their cheerleader squad for girls yesterday held their second informal practice at St. Stephen’s Reformed Episcopal Church in Eldersburg, Md. Official practices are set to begin July 31.

The football team currently includes 28 boys, while nine girls have signed up as cheerleaders.

Mrs.Delph’s son, Bobby, 16, hopes to play defense for the Crusaders.

“I think that we have a really good team and a really good program,” he says. “I am excited.”

Bobby went to public school until eighth grade, when Mrs. Delph became concerned that he was falling behind. She pulled him out and began home-schooling him.

Her daughter, Megan, 14, cheered for nine years for the community youth-football team. Now she helps her mom teach cheers to the other girls.

“I think it will be a great opportunity,” Megan says. “It will be a lot of fun.”

Many of the children already know each other from a home-school support group, and Mrs. Delph and Mrs. Werking’s sons already were friends.

David Arenz, one of the Saints’ coaches, said he anticipates more football teams in Maryland being started by home-schooling families.

“As more parents see this as something that is [possible], more teams will show up,” he says.

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