The community was devasted to hear the disappointing news that Coach Curtis Cie Johnson was dismissed from his position as one of the coaches for the Naptown Panthers 8u Football team. Coach Cie has not only been vital as a coach to the youth, but his amazing actions created a broad perspective for many of the families that he deals with on a daily basis because of football. He plays a pivotal role in many of the athlete’s life, he is not only their coach, to some he is a mentor, a teacher, a father figure, and for others, he is their Superman. You will seldom find men like Coach Cie, men who sacrifice their time and resources to ensure that kids in a plethora of communities have the opportunity to use football as an outlet away from their everyday environment.

Youth league sports are not only about winning, even though some coaches and parents impose that indoctrination on the athletes, Coach Cie didn’t! It is more than just a game to him. He made sure that the kids knew it was about being a family, loving one another, having fun, knowledge, and most importantly their development. The kids that were coached by Cie knew those principles and understood those principles because he knew instilling those values in his players would help them evolve into great leaders. It is hard for a person to teach kids about evading serious mistakes that any of us could make in life, especially if you never experienced a life-changing mistake. However, Coach Cie understood that plight completely, Coach Cie knew what those mistakes look like, what they felt like, and the damage those mistakes can have on your life. That is precisely why he stepped up and became a youth league coach to help with the solution, he did not want to see our youth fall down the same path as he did. He became the role model that he needed when he was their age, and we are forever thankful for that!

His past mistakes helped him become the phenomenal leader that he is today, his flaws are what made him so relatable in the communities that most of the players reside in. These rules are doing more harm than good because they are obstructing great leaders from getting the chance to impact dozens of kids lives because of a previous mistake. What example are we setting for our youth by not giving people another chance? How many great leaders were denied because of their past? Does our past define our future? Are any of us perfect? The community cannot progress if we all cannot progress as one, that same value is intertwined with our youth league teams. This decision interfered with not only his progress, but it also interfered with the team’s progress and there needs to be systemic change to hinder absurd decisions like this from happening in the future across the county.

Coach Cie’s ability to lead did not go unnoticed, he brought the community together through his love and compassion for the youth. If it was on the field on a Saturday morning or off the field at a fundraising event for his team, the community was cognizant of the message and stood behind it completely. The community will not be silent about this deleterious situation. We are imploring the higher-ups to not only reverse this preposterous decision but to evaluate the system as a whole because this rule isn’t exclusive to only the Naptown Panthers 8u, many potential coaches, leaders, and mentors were affected by this rule. Hopefully, this message and the community’s thoughts will be taken into consideration when you all make your final decision.