**
**
MINNEAPOLIS — Trusted Coaches, the educational division of the Minnesota Youth Athletic Services, is proud to present the 2017 Minnesota Youth Football Summit. The Summit will be held Saturday, June 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will include a free tour of U.S. Bank Stadium. Anthony LaPanta of Fox Sports North, will emcee the event. This event is free to the youth football community, thanks to the generous support of the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee's Legacy Fund and the Minnesota Vikings.
The Summit is designed to bring the youth football community together to examine the challenges and identify innovative solutions to make the game more enjoyable for children while enhancing safety. Sessions will feature:
-Keynote presenters Joe Erhmann (Former Pro-Bowl defensive lineman with the Baltimore Colts and Detroit Lions; named the "The Most Important Coach in America" by Parade Magazine) and Jody Redman (Executive Director and Co-Founder of InsideOut Initiative, and Associate Director, Minnesota State High School League). Joe and Jody have developed the InsideOut Initiative (https://insideoutinitiative.org/) sports education system based on Joe's book InsideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives. InsideOut is funded by the NFL Foundation to educate school coaches on how to reclaim the transformative power of sports. The program is currently active in seven NFL markets: Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Houston, and has trained thousands of coaches. The program plans on moving into other NFL markets and reaching out to the youth sports community.
-Dr. Uzma Samadani, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota, who is the leader of the nation's largest youth concussion study.
-Trusted Coaches and USA Football will explain the combining of their online membership and certification programs onto a single risk management platform that features a convenient dashboard for youth sports administrators.
-A USA Football Master Trainer will demonstrate the shoulder tackling technique and talk about USA Football resources that are available for administrators, coaches, and parents.
-A panel of esteemed high school coaches and a separate panel of youth sports leaders will discuss youth football problems and solutions that enhance the great game of football. Both these panels will be moderated by Kevin Merkle, Associate Director of the Minnesota State High School League. The panels will include former Vikings, Dr. Leo Lewis III and Brooks Bollinger.
Seating is limited and online registration is required at**www.myas.org/football**.
