Pop Warner Holds its First Practice

Michael Bongiorno couldn't wait to start practice. He loves football, specifically running, since he primarily plays halfback.

But on Monday it was different for him and about a hundred other elementary-aged players who are passionate about the game of football. For the first time in three decades Winchester football players were practicing only with Winchester football players.

Bongiorno comes from playing on Arlington's Pop Warner team. One of his teammates, A.J. Vozzella used to play his football in Woburn. But now Winchester has its own pop warner team with their own uniforms, field and teams.

"The turnout has been fantastic," said coach and Chairman of the Winchester Pop Warner Executive Board, Brandon Bergstrom. "The community has really embraced the program and it's been real gratifying. It's taken a lot of time to get this program up and running, but now this is the fun part, the practices and the games."

The program, which is open to second through sixth graders in Winchester, held its first practice on Monday. The program's first game isn't until Sep. 13 and the season runs until the middle of November.

Even though Winchester doesn't have the two highest levels of teams because of the middle school program, they have enough players to field five different teams. There are two "E" teams, which are for second and third graders. There are two "D" teams for fourth and fifth graders and one "C" team for sixth graders.

According to the President of the Executive Board, Mike Bongiorno, Sr., the idea of brining pop warner back to Winchester started after they saw how successful the middle school program has become. After last season, Bongiorno, Bergstrom and the other members of the executive board – Chuck Ward and Geroge Nowell – began to see if there would be enough interest to start their own program.

"Paul Manganaro started the middle school program and it's been unbelievably successful," Bongiorno said. "That gave us hope that we could start a program in Winchester for younger kids."

 The push for the program was further helped when, at the end of last season, the Field Development Council finished its renovations of the football field at McCall Middle School. The addition of an artificial turf field and lights gave the league a field they can play their games on.

"Once we got that football field we were real excited," Bongiorno said. "There was a burgeoning desire within the town to start this program. The enthusiasm has been spectacular and after our information session we just decided to make a go of it and see what happened."

What happened was a flood of seven to 12-year-old players showing up at Ginn Field on Monday, mouthpieces in, helmets on, footballs in hand ready to begin the season.

"Football's a great game," Bergstrom said. "The kids are going to have a good time learning it and their confidence is going to grow because of it. Them along with the coaches are real excited to begin."