The success of the Miami Gardens Charger program has not slowed, despite hurdles, challenges and rumors of its demise. Even with odds stacked high against them, they remain resilient ...

Anytime. Anyplace.

Miami Gardens Chargers win wherever they go, against incredible odds.

By Brandon A. Odoi

Separated from the Miramar Wolverine Optimist program in 2003 and despite all the drama surrounding that shakeup, the Miami Gardens Chargers landed on their heads. The Chargers had a short stint in the Miami Xtreme League and picked up more championships in one season than any other team had prior. Hungry for competition, they moved on to the upstart National Youth Football League three years later, and the result? The same as it has always been, a different league but the same winning ways for the Miami Gardens Chargers Optimist Football program.

“In my opinion, football is football. Whether were in Pop Warner, NYFL or SFYFL. It doesn’t matter which league you’re in, the game never changes,” says Chargers 110 lb. Coach Surmondrae Williams.

And for the Charger program, the name of that game is winning.

The success of the Miami Gardens Charger program has not slowed, despite hurdles, challenges and rumors of its demise. Even with odds stacked high against them, they remain resilient and continue in their winning ways.

THE BEGINNING

The notion of forming a Miami Garden’s Optimist Club started March 3, 2003 when a group of coaches for football and cheerleaders got fed up with the treatment at Miramar East. The Miramar Optimist program began to restrict the amount of Miami-Dade County kids who could play football at Miramar, a Broward County Park.

The move was a heated one and full of bias, which came as a shock to parents who helped to build up the Wolverine program. However, instead of bowing down and running away from football altogether, a core group of 15 individuals: Dan Rowe, Derrick Rowe, Harold Cooper, Melvin Robinson, Octavious Nixon, Shamus Nixon, A.J. Franklin, Thomas Evans, Earlene Evans, Janet Williams, Ira Whitehead, Mike Love, Kita London, Lamar Simpkins and Steve Bass decided to start their own football program.

The group now known as the Miami Gardens Optimist Club learned in March of 2003 that they were no longer welcome to play at Miramar. Immediately after hearing of the ruling, their first goal was to allow their kids the opportunity to play together again later that fall.

The newly formed football team, known as the Chargers, initially tried to enter the South Florida Youth Football League (SFYFL), the nation’s third largest independent youth football association. Despite their zeal, their efforts were blocked in part, by their optimist parents, the Miramar Wolverines.

SFYFL was a natural fit for Chargers because their neighborhood rivals, Scott Lake, Bunche Park and North Dade all belonged in South Florida.

“Thank God for the [Miami] Xtreme League who saw our plight and accepted us," said Dan Rowe, current 120 lb. Charger Head Coach, as he reflected on how far the program had come.

Every child that was rejected by Miramar ended up playing for Miami Gardens. The tradition began.

THE PRESENT

Life in the Xtreme League was good to Miami Gardens. However, it did not take long for their welcome mat to begin wearing thin as they breezed through competition. The Chargers then moved to a new league established by Luther Campbell, more commonly known as Luke, the famed rap star. “The years that they were with us; they were a very proud and family oriented program,” Campbell said.

After another three year stint, they finally made it to SFYFL.

“It took a six year proving time period in other leagues before we were able to come home. This was the league we wanted to be in the first place.” Coach Rowe says.

The Miami Gardens Chargers arrived in SFYFL for their first year of competition with open arms from league president Mike Spivey. “They have a strong program, a strong president and parental support. They make South Florida a better football league.”

Spivey says the Chargers help to balance out his National South Division along side current powerhouse programs Scott Lake, Bunche Park and North Dade. Now, the playoff brackets are more balanced when the South and the North meet during the playoffs.

“MGC is the best program running. Period,” says and emphatic league president and 90 lb. Head Coach, Rod Mack. And who can argue? In SFYFL’s National South Division, Miami Garden’s 80lb through 120 lb teams are all undefeated heading into the seventh week of the season. Their youngest group, Team 56, is also unbeaten.

“As successful as we've been, it has been by the grace of God and believers among coaches and parents. We take it game by game, day by day,” says Coach Rowe.

And that mentality will be tested this weekend when staunch rival Scott Lake comes to visit for a weekend slate of games. “This challenge by Scott Park is nothing to us. When it comes to playing tough football games, we love to have that problem. It’s the outside interference we hate,” Rowe explains.

Eighty pounds assistant coach, Adler Auguste agrees. “It’s always somebody's Super Bowl when they come place us. No matter which league were in, Xtreme, NYFL...but it’s just another day at the office for us.”

THE FUTURE

With success, there will always be those who want to figure out how it’s achieved. This very fact has led to numerous entrances by coaches and players and later, mass defections. How do the so called “park hoppers” present themselves? “They come in here for a year or two and build relationships with our kids and then try to lure them away,” Mack says. "We got JV teams all over, now."

“[Defections] have actually strengthened the program and brought the program closer together,” says Coach Williams.

“We have a lot of unity here, coaches sit around after we're done playing in the morning and watch all the games before going home,” Coach Aguste says.

But that unity is being threatened once again. Miami Gardens is such a popular place to play youth football that the city government has now stepped in to mandate that they reduce their size from seven programs to five. Blame budgets, politics or the rain, but either way the Miami Gardens program is back under fire.

For program President Rod Mack, it’s nothing new. “Rumors, we’ve heard them all: The program closing, the city is shutting us down, the city is taking over, leagues won't accept us, your kid can't play there, and it never stops.”

Notwithstanding, Miami Gardens continues to move on. And even having had to search for places to play, fight tooth and nail to keep their program alive, they will all tell you that they’ll strap it up to play any team, anytime and at anyplace.

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