08/30/2026
A MESSAGE TO OUR TTYSL FAMILIES
We are aware of a public conversation regarding playing time in our league. Rather than debate individual situations on social media, we believe our families deserve to hear directly from us about what TTYSL expects from our coaches and what parents should expect from our league.
TTYSL is a competitive youth football league. Playing time is not guaranteed, and equal playing time has never been a requirement of our league. Coaches have the responsibility to make decisions based on preparation, effort, ability, safety, position needs and game situations.
Competitive football and player development are not mutually exclusive.
Every child on a TTYSL roster deserves to be coached.
That does not mean every player will start. It does not mean every player will receive the same number of snaps. And it does not mean parents will always agree with every decision a volunteer coach makes.
It does mean we expect our coaches to teach, encourage and develop every athlete entrusted to them — not just the most experienced players or the starting eleven.
We have hundreds of young athletes with different levels of experience and ability. Some will step onto the field this season ready to contribute immediately. Others may need weeks, months or even multiple seasons of development. Helping both of those athletes become better football players, teammates and young men is part of what youth football is supposed to accomplish.
And our responsibility goes beyond developing better football players.
We want to help develop better young men — young men who understand hard work, accountability, perseverance, teamwork and respect, and who are preparing to become positive members of their schools, families and communities.
That is a big part of what Faith, Family, Football means to us. Football may be the game we play, but the lessons these young men learn through it should last long after the pads come off.
We also recognize something important: our coaches are volunteers. They give an enormous amount of their personal time to these kids, and coaching youth football is not easy. They will occasionally make decisions parents disagree with, and they will occasionally make mistakes. Our job as a league is not to pretend otherwise. Our job is to support our coaches while also holding ourselves accountable to the families who trust us with their children.
We also believe it would be unfair to judge an individual coach or situation based solely on a social media post. There are often circumstances surrounding playing-time decisions that aren’t visible from the stands, and our coaches deserve the opportunity to have those conversations directly with their families.
If you have a concern about your child’s experience, we ask that you first have a respectful conversation with your head coach. If that conversation does not resolve the concern, please contact TTYSL leadership.
We cannot address a problem we don’t know exists, but when one is brought to us, we will listen.
Finally, we have seen comparisons being made between youth football organizations around Amarillo. We aren’t interested in tearing down another league to build ours up.
There are different organizations offering different experiences for families, and parents should choose the program they believe is best for their child.
We will speak for TTYSL.
For nearly three decades, thousands of Amarillo-area kids, parents, coaches and volunteers have been part of this league. We are proud of that history, but we’re even more interested in continuing to improve.
We’re competitive.
We want to win.
But we’re still coaching kids.
And we should never forget that.
Faith. Family. Football.
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