WELCOME to the 2025 Bartholomew County Bears Football League!

Cost for the 2025 Season- $170
Practice starts July 7th
Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 6-7:30pm
Games start the first of August

We are excited you have chosen our program to help nurture your child’s interest in the sport of football or cheerleading. We continue to celebrate over 50 years of teaching, guiding, and encouraging youth in this community. This program and our coaches believe if children are given the correct guidance and encouragement they will be successful on the field and in the class room. Each year we are a football home to children from over 20 local elementary schools. We remain committed to providing a travel, tackle football option for kids in our community. Safety is Our #1 Priority. Therefore playing time is earned and not given. Bartholomew County Bears Football program requires all of our coaches to have a background check and complete the USA Football Heads Up Football certification in order to be assisting the teams. This certification consists of various key safety components including Concussion Recognition and Response, Heat Preparedness and Hydration, Sudden Cardiac Arrest, Proper Equipment Fitting, Shoulder Tackling and Blocking. We also require all coaches to have a completed background check on file. Sportsmanship for All. Coaches, players and parents are required to sign and abide by the BCBF code of conduct. We expect all participants and leaders to abide by these codes of conduct. If you should have a problem with a coach, official or another parent, we encourage you to address the problem off the field and not during a game or practice situation in front of the players. We recommend the “24 Hour Rule” which consists of a “cool down” period of before discussing the issue when all parties have had time to reflect on the situation. If the issue still needs discussed, we ask that you please do this privately and professionally, prior to passing any negativity around the sidelines or stands. If you deem their response unsatisfactory, please see a board member with the issue. We are very open to hear your ideas and all issues will be taken seriously and addressed if needed. Community Support. We are a non-profit organization. This means we depend on our local sponsors, our fundraising efforts and player fees to be able to continually provide our players with safe equipment and cover the necessary season fees related to field rental, referees and program insurance. We also use these funds to help provide the necessary families with scholarships whose children might otherwise not have a chance to participate. This generous support has allowed us to continually keep costs lower than most local football programs. If you are interested in helping us in any way, please let us know. FUN. We are here to provide a FUN, constructive learning environment for all of our players and cheerleaders. We want them to be EXCITED to come to games and practices. We want them to make lasting friendships with their teammates and their coaches. We want our players (and parents) to be gracious in victory and dignified in defeat. We want our Bears to be a FAMILY!