Junior Football League Takes on Hurricane Irene

In all the years that she has been a part of New Milford's Junior Football League, Wendy Naimaister has never experienced a season quite like this one. 

"We've had floods and damage in years past," said Naimaister, the league information officer. "But never like this. Never to this extent."

When the Junior Football League got word about Hurricane Irene, they began to anticipate the flood and decided to take preventive action against potential damage to LaBarbera Field, referred to as Babe Ruth field, where they play.

"We put the word out to coaches and parents asking for help preparing for the flood," Naimaister said. 

The call was heeded by 25 people who came to the field to help move equipment to higher ground. The new helmets and shoulder pads that were stored in the fieldhouse were moved to the attic so the equipment was high enough off the ground to prevent any water damage.

The concession stand's industrial kitchen equipment also had to be moved to higher ground. 

"Deep fryers, industrial freezers, and other heavy kitchen equipment were put onto pick-up trucks and brought to the Elks Club or Little League field concession to store," Naimaister told Patch. "The industrial stove is huge and too big to put on a truck. It has wheels, so a group of dads actually pushed it up the hill and behind the Elks Club."

Then came the deluge. "It just rained and rained and rained," Namaister remarked. When they were finally able to assess the damage, the field had approximately three feet of water inside the concession stand and four feet of water inside the field house. The river had actually dug a whole about 2-feet deep and 4-feet wide.

"There were fish swimming inside the hole," Naimaister said, laughing.

After the rains subsided, mothers, fathers, and coaches, now dealing with the after-wrath of Irene, had the massive task of cleaning up. Some parents and coaches helped to move all the equipment back to LaBarbera Field while others spent hours scrubbing and sanitizing the concession stand and all of the cooking and food storage equipment. Many took turns continually shoveling mud and raking the field. All this in preparation for the first home game scheduled for October 1st. 

And still, it continued to rain. It became evident that the field would not be in game condition for the home opener, so calls were made to other towns in search of drier fields. 

And guess who came to the rescue? "Hasbrouck Heights, our biggest competitive rival, opened up their field and concession to us," Naimaister said. 

So far this season, no home game has been played on its scheduled date, but Naimaister is hopeful that the streak will be broken this weekend and continue through Senior Day on October 30th, when eighth grade players are honored. 

"We have to have Senior Day on our home field," Naimaister pleaded, as if talking to a higher being, and not to Patch.

Yet, through it all Naimaister says, "The people in our league showed such a community effort doing everything they could to help protect, and repair, our field and equipment."

And that, she says, is what it's all about: "Community."