Saturday Hawks games continue proud local tradition
Page 4 • Wednesday, October 22, 2014 • The Hammonton Gazette
HAWKS, from Page 1
game of football in general, while the
coaches’ job is to teach the young participants the fundamentals at the preliminary
levels as the hope is for them to develop and
acquire more knowledge as they progress
through the ranks.
On September 20, the Hawks played the
atlantic City Dolphins on their home field.
Hammonton games are played at the Hammonton Lake Park’s Mitrovic field. On a
beautiful fall evening, fans filled in to watch
two of the top programs in the aCJfL.
Chris Sibella has been coaching for the
Hawks’ organization for the past four years.
Sibella enjoys instilling the fundamentals as
he coaches the taxi-level squad.
“it is about teaching them their steps first,
the right moves to make at the right times,
where to stand with the specific positions,
the holes and it is everything from scratch.
it is just starting with the basics,” Sibella
said.
Sibella has a passion for football. His son
plays at the pee-wee level and they enjoy
that passion together. He talked about what
the Hawks organization means to him.
“Hammonton breathes football, whether it
is the Hawks, the Blue Devils or St. Joe’s,
everybody in Hammonton seems to breathe
football. i love the tradition here,” Sibella
said.
ryan Hovermale, a Hawks coach at the
pee-wee and junior varsity level, said it is
great to volunteer and give back to the community.
“it is nice to see the kids go
through all the levels, and see them
grow into athletes. i came through
the Hawks system, my father, my
grandfather, my uncles have
coached. it is a proud tradition and
it has been in this town forever.
anyone that was part of this organization knows how important it is to
play in it and give back to it once
you are gone,” Hovermale said.
Hovermale stated the parents really get into the action, no matter the
level of competition at Hawks
games.
“You need to have the parents be
passionate and be into it for us to be
able to get their kids out here to actually do anything with them. the
parents are important as well,” Hovermale said.
Kyle Cantz is one of those parents
that comes to the games each week
to watch his son, Junior, play for the
varsity-level team, while his daughter Jayden, is a varsity cheerleader.
Cantz described the Hawks organization and the aCJfL as one of the
top ones in the region.
“from top to bottom, the dedication to teaching the kids a fundamental system and building
confidence is great. the kids struggle at a younger age, but they are all
of a sudden dominating when they
move up through the system. it is
because we build in stages. they
start with little things and confidence; start with fun so the kids love
the game. as they grow up they love
it and they want to play it more and
they put more time in. the dedication of the coaches, the board members and other parents that have
been through the tradition is second
to none,” Cantz said.
Cantz described the Hawks’ organization as a family. He commended all the volunteers that put
countless hours of work into the effort to make it successful. He said it
is a great atmosphere each Saturday
afternoon and night.
“this is a really good orga