We encourage teams from area football and cheer organizations, as well as individuals to sign up so that we can create an all-inclusive, fun, competitive environment for young athletes that is unlike any in the area. With smaller team sizes, every athlete can GET IN THE GAME! Above all else, we are dedicated to the safety of participants, which is why Team Zone head coaches are USA Football certified. Over 1,000,000 coaches have been certified through USA Football, which teaches concussion protocol, provides background checks and helps the coaches focus on making a positive impact on the team. Also because of our commitment to safety and the well-being of players, a Certified Athletic Trainer is on the sidelines at every game. How Did Team Zone Start? Jeana Bain, President of Team Zone, has been a volunteer for youth tackle football and cheer for almost 10 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Communications, Minor in Recreation Administration from the University of St. Francis and a master’s degree in Leadership Studies from Lewis University. While focusing on raising her family for the last 15 years, she also has 14 years’ experience working at the Joliet Park District in the fitness industry. It is through working at the Joliet Park District and volunteering with youth sports, that she was able to identify the need for flag football in the community. With her kids getting older, and aging out of youth tackle football, Jeana decided to use her experience and education to create a business that focuses on youth sports on a larger scale. The mission when starting Team Zone was to help benefit all youth organizations and the community. As you will see on game nights, athletes from different high schools and from youth tackle and cheer organizations from Joliet and the surrounding community have come together to play flag football in one stadium; creating a competitive, exciting atmosphere that is unlike any other in the area. At the same time, coaches from these programs can work with athletes in the off-season to build skills, evaluate and most importantly, have fun! But that is not all, we also hope that Team Zone can help build area programs by adding athletes to their flag football rosters that are not affiliated with a team (those that sign up through the Park District or have no experience). In turn, if these athletes decide to join a program in the future, hopefully, after working with their coaches and meeting friends, they choose that program. Team Zone is more than just sports; we also want to help benefit the community. Therefore, we reached out to students at Joliet Catholic Academy to offer them paid positions as sports announcers at all Spring games. This is a great opportunity for these students to gain real-life experience in sports announcing/broadcasting. We hope to be able to offer internships and many other opportunities for area students in the future. One of our biggest commitments is giving back to youth programs. For the Spring 2023 Flag Season, Team Zone is donating over $14,000 back to youth organizations and $2,500 to the Joliet Park District. Because volunteer coaches are so important, we donated $100 back to each head coach, which collectively is over $2,000. Overall, our donations total over $22,000. We want athletes to benefit from playing, and area organizations to benefit as well, so that they can continue to grow and thrive. The high school flag football 7 on 7 league is established and will continue to grow for years to come. Athletes from different high schools have come together, created healthy rivalries, and will compete for the championship. We can't wait to see what the future holds and how many Team Zone athletes can GET IN THE GAME!
