By John D'Onofrio
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
ROYALTON —
At $25 a word, Mike Meal’s timely essay will be an invaluable asset to the LOYAL Royalton-Hartland youth football program that he works so diligently in.
A veteran volunteer youth football coach of seven years and now volunteer varsity assistant football coach at Royalton-Hartland High School, Meal is a self-professed “huge football fan” and enthusiastic Buffalo Bills’ season ticket holder.
Opening his Bills’ mail one day, Meal stumbled upon an opportunity to receive a grant that was available to local youth football organizations, courtesy of Tops Markets and Pepsi.
“I got the information from a correspondence from the Bills. There was this little icon mentioning a contest,” Meal said.
“‘Improve Their Game’ was the name of the contest. It asked for a 100-word essay on how we would use one of the five, $2,500 grants available. I was still youth coaching at the time and we had a debacle.
“We wanted to get our helmets reconditioned, so had made a deal, but there was some confusion over the cost and in the end, we had to ship everything back,” Meal said.
“Some of our littlest players were wearing helmets that didn’t fit tight, so I whipped up an essay. I tried to think about what I wanted to say, wrote it down and came up with 350 words. It took some time, but I got it down to 100 words and mailed it in because I thought it was worth a shot.”
Mike’s essay reads as follows: “As a beginner coach, my first priority is an enjoyable experience. One challenge is a comfortably fitting helmet.
“We have a mix of helmets. Three of four youth teams wear yellow. White helmets limit selection for beginners. My son stopped playing, largely due to a poor-fitting helmet.
“We commissioned (a company) to recondition, inspect and repaint helmets at $17 each. After shipping, the price changed to $25. Helmets were returned, costing us $300.
“We’re cleaning them ourselves. A $2,500 grant could condition, inspect and standardize color facilitating easier fitting of our youngest kids, resolving problems that dissuade them from returning.”
Three weeks ago, Meal and LOYAL received the startling good news that one of the grants was theirs.
Best of all, Meal and the other recipients will accept their checks on the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium prior to the start of Saturday’s Buffalo Bills preseason contest against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Meal said he and LOYAL commissioner Chuck Gioeli will accept the check on behalf of their gratified organization.
Having already played two games this season, Meal said it’s too late to recondition helmets this year. The money will be used to do the necessary work prior to the start of next summer’s LOYAL youth football season.
“All of the helmets in all our age groups will be inspected, so this will make things safer, too,” Meal said.
“It feels good to take a stab at something and do the best you can and it actually comes through.”
LOYAL Roy-Hart Football and Cheerleading is a non-profit organized recreational youth football and cheerleading program featuring four “Rams” youth teams, ages 6 to 16.
According to the LOYAl website, “Our goal is to provide supervision and guidence and promote the development of honesty, good fellowship, self-discipline and team play, which are the basic essentials of good sportsmanship.”
