For decades, Wichita youth football was built around neighborhood teams that became gathering places for families, mentors and generations of young athletes.
Today, that tradition is being reshaped.
As the Greater Wichita Junior Football League enters its third season under a partnership with Wichita Public Schools, a school-based feeder system designed to strengthen player development has changed how young athletes are assigned to teams. The restructuring has also led to the creation of a second league, reflecting different views over the best way to develop young players.
While supporters say the changes have brought more structure, safer playing environments and a stronger path to high school football, others believe the traditional community model remains the better fit for elementary-age children. Even so, leaders on both sides agree on one thing: providing opportunities that help Wichita’s young people succeed on and off the field.
Why Change Was Necessary
The overhaul didn’t happen overnight.
League participation had been declining for years as rising costs, safety concerns and the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on youth sports. The number of teams dropped from 56 in 2019 to just 35 by 2023, raising concerns about whether the league could continue operating in its traditional form.
City officials believed maintaining the status quo wasn’t an option.
“We realized the writing was on the wall,” Recreation Supervisor Mickey Lara said. “This league was going to basically dissolve if we didn’t make a major change.”
The partnership with Wichita Public Schools was designed to do more than stabilize participation. It also sought to create a structured pathway that would connect youth football to middle school and high school programs.
Another goal was creating a more competitive league.
Under the previous system, coaches could recruit players from anywhere in the city, allowing some organizations to assemble powerhouse teams while others struggled to compete.
“We were getting these teams that were basically travel teams,” Lara said. “They were going undefeated in the season with the mercy rule every single game, and that’s not fun for anybody.”
The city also hoped moving games to high school campuses would improve safety by providing better facilities and increasing the presence of Wichita police officers and Board of Education officers.
A New Way to Build Teams
The city’s new model organizes players differently than Wichita youth football has for generations.
Instead of joining whichever organization they choose, players are assigned to teams based on the same attendance boundaries used by Wichita Public Schools. A child living in East High School’s attendance area, for example, joins the Junior Aces.
The transition is being phased in over several years.
The first year focused primarily on giving the league access to Wichita Public Schools facilities. Seventh- and eighth-grade players were the first to move into the feeder model. This season, first- and second-grade players have begun making the transition, with additional grade levels expected to be added each year.
Supporters say the middle school program has shown the greatest promise.
Cedric Payne, general manager of the Junior Aces, said Wichita lagged behind many surrounding communities by not connecting youth football to its school programs sooner.
Payne said the goal is to familiarize players with the expectations they’ll encounter in high school—from how practices are conducted to the way coaches communicate and teach the game.
“We try to implement our high school system through how we communicate, what’s expected at practice and things of that nature,” Payne said. “Those are things we lose kids to when they hit high school because they’re not used to that.”
For Payne, football is only part of the equation. The program also emphasizes education, discipline and personal responsibility, with schoolwork taking priority over athletics.
City Council member Joseph Shepard said that broader vision for youth football is one reason city leaders continue to support the restructuring.
Another Path Forward
Not everyone believed the city’s new feeder system was the right fit—particularly for elementary-age players.
As the Greater Wichita Junior Football League rolled out its school-based model, many longtime community organizations chose not to participate in the elementary feeder system. Instead, they joined the newly formed ICT Youth Football League, founded by longtime coach Corey Akins.
The league now includes 26 teams, many of them familiar names in Wichita youth football, including organizations like the Bulldogs and other community-based programs that chose to remain independent.
Akins said he didn’t create ICT Youth Football League to compete with the city. He said he wanted to preserve another option for families while giving young athletes an opportunity to compete in an increasingly competitive youth football landscape.
“We just wanted a different option,” Akins said. “The football landscape is changing across the nation. We’ve got a lot more competitive circuits popping up around the country, and our kids want to be able to compete at that level.”
Why Elementary Is Different
Akins isn’t opposed to everything the city is trying to accomplish.
In fact, he believes the middle school feeder concept has real potential.
Older students already attend schools within their attendance boundaries, making it easier to practice together, build relationships and prepare for high school competition.
“I think it’s improvement,” Akins said of the city’s restructuring. “Using the high schools was a great idea. But I just don’t think the format they’re trying to deliver, as far as how the teams are structured, is working.”
Where Akins believes the city’s model breaks down is at the elementary level.
Younger players, he said, often build relationships around neighborhoods, churches and community organizations rather than school attendance boundaries. In much of northeast Wichita, decades of court-ordered busing followed by expanded school choice have meant many Black children do not attend the neighborhood school closest to where they live. Akins argues that reality makes a neighborhood-based youth football model more practical for elementary-age players than one tied to school attendance boundaries.
Building Better Players
Akins also believes the feeder concept can only reach its full potential if high school coaches become more directly involved.
“If the high school coaches aren’t involved, then it’s basically just city league football in a high school uniform,” Akins said. He believes players should be learning the same terminology, offensive systems and defensive concepts they will eventually use in high school if the feeder model is going to deliver its promised benefits.
More Than Football
Those concerns are shared by Ulysses “Pops” DeShazer, director and coach of the Bulldogs, one of Wichita’s longest-running youth football organizations.
DeShazer worries that the city’s emphasis on building high school feeder programs risks overlooking what many community coaches see as youth football’s first responsibility.
“Our goal right now is to raise these youngsters up,” DeShazer said. “They happen to play football when they get to high school, if they’re lucky to do it.”
While he acknowledges the city is trying to strengthen player development, DeShazer believes youth football should first focus on developing young people while preserving the community relationships that have defined Wichita football for generations.
Looking for Common Ground
The creation of ICT Youth Football League initially raised questions about whether two organizations with different philosophies could coexist.
Akins said many of the concerns he initially had about the city’s position toward the new league have eased.
Early on, he believed city officials wanted the Greater Wichita Junior Football League to be Wichita’s only youth football option. But after meeting with Shepard, Parks and Recreation Director Reggie Davidson and Recreation Supervisor Angela Buckner, he said he came away with a different understanding.
Shepard said the city has no interest in preventing other organizations from serving Wichita’s young athletes.
“We are never going to stand in the way of creating more opportunities for young people,” Shepard said. “We’re not here to compete with anybody. We want to see the opportunities available.”
Shepard said the meeting also gave city leaders a better understanding of the concerns longtime community coaches have raised.
“We’ve got to know what the concerns are in order to address them,” he said. “The answer isn’t to say this isn’t an issue and shut it down. It’s, ‘How do we get to a yes?'”
While he remains committed to the city’s overall direction, Shepard acknowledged the restructuring is still evolving.
“There were some problems, and we have to be honest about that as well,” he said. “We have to course correct.”
He also praised Akins’ commitment to young athletes and said community leaders like him should continue helping shape the future of youth football in Wichita.
“Corey’s energy and his passion—that’s the type of energy and passion that I want every single person who is involved in our football program to have,” Shepard said. “If there’s a way to collaborate with organizations that are doing that work and align with our mission, then we need to continue to look at ways in which we can do that.”
What both sides agree on is far more important than what divides them. Every coach, city leader and volunteer interviewed for this story said the goal is to give Wichita’s children a safe place to learn, compete and grow. The debate now is not whether youth football should serve young people, but how it can serve them best.
