NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Andover Jr Sports Association is excited to welcome families, athletes, coaches, volunteers, and supporters to the 2026 Jr Football & Cheer season.

Registration is now open, and this season begins with several important website updates designed to help families better understand our programs, expectations, required forms, volunteer credits, fundraising, policies, and ways to support AJSA.

Registration opened once AJSA finalized several important season details, including Jr Football Camp updates and the return of 3rd grade athletes to camp. This allowed us to provide families with clearer information up front and avoid making significant registration changes after families had already started the process.

Families should take time to review the updated website information before completing registration. Several important pages have been expanded to help families better understand our programs, expectations, season structure, required forms, volunteer credit responsibilities, fundraising requirements, refund policies, and ways to support AJSA.

Families should review the updated Program Info page for important Jr Football and Jr Cheer information. This page is designed to help families understand the differences between Flag Football, Rookie Tackle, Traditional Tackle Football, and Jr Cheer, along with key season expectations and developmental goals.

One exciting update for this season is that AJSA has added 3rd grade athletes back into Jr Football Camp. Jr Football Camp is a valuable varsity-led, non-contact development opportunity for our Jr Football athletes. It gives players the chance to work with high school varsity coaches, staff, and current players while building fundamentals, confidence, coachability, teamwork, blocking technique, safe tackling progression, and season readiness.

Camp is especially important for athletes who are new to tackle football, have only played Flag Football, or have never played organized football before. We are excited to provide this opportunity again for 3rd grade players while continuing to strongly support development for our 4th, 5th, and 6th grade athletes.

The About Us section includes important family information, including AJSA program policies, Jr Football Camp details, fundraising expectations, volunteer policy information, sibling discount information, and refund policy details. These pages were updated to give families a clearer understanding of how AJSA operates and what to expect during the season.

The Resources section includes important items such as physical form information, account setup instructions, sponsorship opportunities, and other family resources. These items are important for registration, team placement, equipment checkout, and season readiness.

AJSA is a volunteer-driven organization. Our program depends on families, coaches, board members, sponsors, donors, and community supporters working together to provide a safe, organized, positive, and high-quality experience for our athletes.

We are proud of the work being done to strengthen the program and improve communication for families.

As we begin the 2026 season, families should watch for official AJSA communication through our website, the Crossbar registration platform, the Crossbar mobile app, and AJSA email updates.

We are proud of the level of detail now available on our website and believe it reflects AJSA's continued commitment to transparency, fairness, and clear communication with families. This year, we have made a significant effort to provide more information about our programs, the registration process, required forms, volunteer credits, fundraising, refund policies, equipment responsibilities, family resources, and the reasons behind many of the procedures we follow.

Our website is the best place for families to find complete and accurate program information. Social media is not an effective place to maintain an organization's detailed policies, procedures, registration instructions, or season guidelines. Information shared through outside posts, comments, or discussion threads can quickly become incomplete, outdated, inaccurate, taken out of context, or framed in a way that causes families to misunderstand AJSA's official policies and intentions.

AJSA does not use Facebook as an official communication platform. Families should not rely on Facebook posts, comments, or outside discussion threads as official AJSA information.

AJSA may use X, formerly Twitter, for urgent alerts, weather-related updates, game-day notices, and major announcements. We strongly encourage families to follow AJSA on X at @AndoverFB so they receive time-sensitive updates as quickly as possible. Many school districts, middle schools, high schools, and athletic programs use similar platforms for timely notices, event updates, and activity-related communication. Following AJSA on X helps families stay connected now and prepares them for the communication style they will likely see as their students continue through school activities.

If information does not come from the AJSA website, Crossbar, the Crossbar app, AJSA email, or an official AJSA notice on X, it should not be treated as official communication from the organization.

Thank you for being part of Andover Jr Sports Association. We are excited for another great season of Jr Football & Cheer and look forward to seeing our athletes grow, compete, support one another, and represent Andover with pride.

Robert Bunting
President | Andover Junior Sports Association