Frequently Asked Questions

Established in the community in 1984. We are the original youth football program in Turlock. Year after year we maintain a strong following and have a long history of success serving the Turlock Community. In 2015 we change our name from the 49er and Vikings to Pride and Bulldogs.

Yes, we have a process in place to which we remain financially stable and secure to provide your child with the best possible experience. Our long – term agreements with venders, practice facilities and game facilities such as TUSD provides TYF with a continued secure location.

Yes, all board members, coaching staff and team parents are strictly volunteers. Board members or coaches are not compensated in any way. The registration fee that you pay goes 100% to the program.

Turlock Youth Football (TYF) is part of the Cen-Cal Junior Football League. We have teams in Oakdale, Turlock (2), Merced (3), Livingston, Atwater (2), Los Banos, and Modesto. We are a smaller league but extremely competitive. In 2021 North Valley Empire ranked Cen-Cal a top League in the 209 area, with 4 teams in the top 15.

Where: Ricco’s Pizza, 2321 W Main St, Turlock, CA 95380
When: The first Tuesday of each month (February — June)
Time: 6:00PM — 7:30PM

The cost is $225 per player except players that are 6-7 years old are only $150 for the season. You may make a deposit of $100 and pay the rest by the last sign-ups in June.

Discounts are given to multiple child families with the first child costing $225 and $200 for any additional children. There are No Refunds.

You will need to bring:

• A Photo COPY of your child’s birth certificate
• A filled out a registration card, the player must sign their card.
• A Report Card - Current COPY of your child’s report card. This ONLY applies to Varsity players. Cen Cal requires this to verify the player’s grade.
• A Sports Physical - You can go to your own doctor or to Mercy West on Geer Road for a small fee.

TYF does not have a form. Have the doctor write on their Script or Office Letter “Cleared to play sports” dated with the current year on it.

We have an email address that you can send us any documents you have not provided us yet:
Birth Certificate - only if your player is new to the organization
A physical - this must have the 2026 year on it, no exceptions
Report Card - for Varsity players only
We ask that you make sure what you are sending us is strait and legible, this email address is for registration documents only. We cannot send you a registration card via email nor can we receive a registration card by email.

Email your documents to tyfplayerdocs@gmail.com, we will confirm that we received your documents. Please do not ask us on our page if we received them.

Equipment provided by TYF

*Helmet, Shoulder Pads, Integrated Game Pants, Practice Pants, Belt, (This equipment must be turned in at end of the season)

*Game Jersey – Theirs to keep

Equipment parents need to bring

• Practice Jersey – a plain white T-shirt (must be worn all week)
• Compression Girdle – Built-in pads, make sure you get the “football” one they must have Hip, Thigh, and Tailbone Pads. (We recommend getting the ones with knee pads as well, this is known as a 7 Pad Integrated Football Girdle)
• Cleats – It is recommended to get high tops to protect their ankles (no metal cleats)
• Game Socks – The head coach will let you know what color will be used for the season
• Mouthpiece – (tethered, NO BINKY style allowed)
• Water Bottle – For practice (recommended 1/2 gallon or 64 ounces)

• Camp will Start end of July; date: TBA
• All players MUST have a physical that is dated within the current year. No physical, your player cannot be on the field.
• WATER, WATER, WATER!!!
• All new players are to wear plain white t-shirts w/nothing on them, no names, no logos, just a PLAIN white t-shirt.
• Wear comfortable basketball style shorts, no khaki or jeans.
• Returning players wear your previous years jersey.
• Cleats, wear cleats
• If you have a sibling that plays already, you are automatically on that team, if big brother has an extra jersey by all means wear it.
• Did we mention WATER, WATER, WATER?
• Parents we ask that you stay at the field w/your player and if you are bringing siblings, please make sure you keep them and yourself, also hydrated. You can bring a pop up and chairs.
• If you have not finished paying for registration, please do so, you will not be able to receive uniforms or equipment unless registration is fully paid for.
• We will have tables set up so you can come over and ask if you are not sure if you have paid everything or not.
• If you are new, we will need a copy of your players birth certificate.
• If you still have documents you need to turn in, please do so. Remember, if you have a Varsity player you will need their most recent report card.
• We ask that you get us these documents ASAP, we need them for our books, if we do not have them your player will not be able to play.
• We ask that if you have questions for the coaches that you wait until after practice, and remember to drink WATER, WATER, WATER!!!

Ages are determined by the age of the player ON August 1st.

• Rookies - 6-7 years old
• Peewee - 8-9 years old
• Junior Varsity – 10-11 years old
• Varsity – 12-14 years old
• Note: 8th graders must play Varsity regardless of age and weight. There will be NO repeat 8th graders or high school players allowed.

• Rookies - Must not weigh more than 100.9 pounds playing weight. * 121+ lbs is X-Man.
• Peewee - Must not weigh more than 120.9 pounds playing weight. * Peewee players weighing 121-140.9 will be designated X-Man.
• Junior Varsity – Must not weigh more than 140.9 pounds playing weight. * JV players weighing 141-160.9 will be designated X-Man.
• Varsity – Must not weigh more than 200.9 pounds playing weight. * Varsity players weighing 201-240.9 will be designated X-Man.
• X-Man - * Once designated an X-Man player, the player will remain an X-Man until the completion of the entire season.
  * X-Men can ONLY play from Tackle to Tackle on offense and must be in a 3 point stance on the defensive line.
  * X-Men may not be a running back, or Tight End, or receive a pass on the “Tackle Eligible” play.
  * On defense, X-Men cannot play a standing position such as linebacker or corner or safety. They too may not drop back from their 3 point stance into a linebacker position.

Yes, each level does this for their teams. All monies collected will be used for the players end of season hoodie, coaches gift and end of season banquet.

TYF keeps its registration costs down because of volunteers at our home games. We ask that you volunteer in the snack bar, and gate during each home game. Your team parents will have the sign-up sheet for each home game. It takes all of us doing our part to continue making the system work as well as it has been and to keep the cost low.

Please keep in mind that the schedule could change at any time, the official TYF and Cen Cal schedule will sent before the season starts...

Camp/Draft week – Usually starts the 2nd or 3rd week in July.

Where - Turlock High School, on N. Berkeley Ave, on the practice field behind Joe Debly Stadium, 5:30 – 7:30 for all players during camp/draft week.

Practices – Monday – Friday for 2 hours each day, until after the first game, then it will go to three days a week. After draft week the teams will be split and practice at different locations.

* Bulldogs practice at Turlock high school

* Pride practices at Pitman high school

Round Robin - Is where we scrimmage other teams before the regular season starts. We typically do the 2nd or 3rd Saturday in August.

Games - typically 2nd or 3rd Saturday.

We have around ten game scheduled. Our home games will be played at Joe Debly Stadium, on the corner of Colorado Ave, and E. Marshal St. We play teams from Los Banos, Merced, Atwater, Oakdale, and Modesto.

Super Bowl - Should be played the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

You will get a complete game schedule once the season starts from your head coach or Team Parent.

Please note that this schedule could change. Your head coach will keep you informed.

Games are usually on Saturdays, subject to an occasional Sunday game. Home games are at Joe Debly Stadium at Turlock high school

Typically (not always) it has been Rookies at 1:00, Pee-Wee at 3, JV at 5, and Varsity at 7; Double up game times can be earlier or later and will be announced by your coaches/team parent when the season schedule has been finalized.

Away game times will be determined by the hosting team. If the field at the away game does not have lights, then a day game will be scheduled, if there are lights then afternoon games are scheduled.

We use the JV high school rule book for all levels.

Game balls used must-read; * Rookies - “Junior” or “Peewee” * Peewee “Junior” * JV and Varsity - “Youth” or “Intermediate”.

No, half the games are home games in Turlock, away games can be in Los Banos, Atwater, Merced, or Modesto.

There is no mandatory playing rule in the Cen Cal Youth Football League. However, all coaches make their best effort to play all the kids, which is based upon ability, effort, attendance, and skill. It’s important to remember that practice is the opportunity for players to show the coaches that they can perform in a game time situation.

We believe that the Rookie level is an introductory level and only keeps score for the first half of the game. This gives coaches and players the opportunity to focus on instructing and teaching the fundamentals of football. The scoring is only for the playoff seeding.

* Game score will be kept, and PAT (Run & Pass only) attempts will be allowed during the first half ONLY of all Rookie league games.

* Scores are frozen at halftime.

The second half of all Rookie games is to be used for instruction and getting all players on the field. There will be NO score kept and NO PAT attempts are allowed in the second half of Rookie games until the Rivalry week game and Post Season Playoffs.

* For those PAT attempts, a pass is two (2) points, and a run is one (1) point.

No Boundaries - Unlike other leagues, the TYF and Cen-Cal football do not have boundaries. We feel that parents should have a choice of where they want their children to participate regardless of where they live. We have had kids from all around who come to play for us.

TYF is unique, as we are the only team in Cen Cal that has a draft. All new players go into the draft. We do have guidelines that are used to keep a family together, and other circumstances, for those, talk to the head coaches at the beginning of the Camp/Draft Week.

Turlock Youth Football has some of the best quality youth coaches around, between the head coaches and coaching staff at all levels, there are over 100 years of combined youth coaching experience. Over our rich history, TYF has won many of the NFC and AFC Championship and Super Bowl games, at all levels of play, many times with undefeated seasons. The program’s alumni have moved on to achieve success in high school, college, and professional programs across the nation. ALL board members and coaching staff are Live Scanned by the Dept. of Justice, and all have a certificate with the NFHS in concussion management. Many coaches also attend continued education classes to improve their coaching skills on a regular basis.

We are committed as the TYF Board and our coaching staff to focusing on teaching the proper fundamentals of football, teamwork, good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage, unity, integrity, pride, and respect in our community. We believe if the game is taught well, and players adhere to the core values of effort, teamwork, and continuous improvement that winning takes care of itself. We take pride in our organization, our teammates, and our community and strive to represent them all with class and dignity.