Grove PeeWee team to compete for national win on Friday

Practice, endurance, and determination have defined the Coconut Grove Knight Riders 120-Pound Football Team: That grit has helped them win — all the way to the nation’s top competition for 10 and 11-year-olds.

Now the elementary school students may become national Pee Wee champions.

The Knight Riders will face the Deer Valley Vandals from Arizona 10:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 10, to vie for the 2010 Pee Wee Championship at the Pop Warner Super Bowl games.

The 20 10- and 11-year-olds have already won their first two games in the competition.

The team competed this past Sunday, Dec. 4, in Orlando for the Pop Warner Super Bowl Round 1 against the Winston-Salem Rams from North Carolina. The Knight Riders won convincingly, by more than three touchdowns. Final score was 32-8 in favor of the Knight Riders.

The Knight Riders were just as successful in Round 2. They defeated the Texas College Station Riders by 24-16 on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

The young football players are known for their passion for football – and the Grove has responded.

Photo by Adrienne Green

“On Saturdays when the team plays in Bristol Park, at 2127 Brickell Ave., the whole community comes out to show support,” said Renita Ross Samuels-Dixon, West Grove community activist and member of the Village West Home Owners and Tenants Association (HOATA).

Team parents have supported the players by raising money and awareness to help the players travel to the national competition. So has the community. Everyone from grandparents to Miami Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff helped bring the Knight Riders to the competition.

Sarnoff contributed $5,000 to the team, along with donations from The Miami Herald and WSVN-Channel 7. Together, parents and donors were able to raise more than $6,000 for the team.

“You play every year and your goal is to make it to the championship,’’ community activist Samuels-Dixon said. “This is why I jumped on the request to help the team because this community has always tried to support its youth. Had it not been for the overwhelming support of the community the team would not have been able to go to nationals this year.”

The Knight Riders attended national competition last year. This year, though, finances threatened to thwart their attendance. Although they lost in the second round of nationals last year, their defeat only made them stronger and more determined to compete – and win — this year in the national competition. So, many in the community rushed to help them.

Now the Knight Riders are determined to see their long hours of practice and dedication pay off. They want to bring home the national championship. So does their coach, Antonio Jenkins, a former Groveite.