BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

The Cassville Mighty Mites program is in the midst of a reawakening this year, changing its structure and making a greater effort to be seen in the community.

Bobbie Jo Meek, league president, said the program, which has more than 100 youth grades 3-6 playing football or participating in cheer, had several volunteers in recent years, but he wanted to get everyone on the same page.

“We moved away from putting on the responsibilities on two or three people, and now, we have 10 people on our board,” he said. “That allows us to spread responsibilities around and give everyone a say. We also have three cheer moms on the board, and we’ve never had any cheer parents or coaches on the board before now. They have been a great asset and have let us know things on the cheer side we did not know were going on.”

Meek, who has 28 years experience coaching youth football — 24 of which have been in Cassville — said board members David Hicks, Greg Matthews and Briar Meek have a combined 35-40 years experience coaching.

“Things have been really positive, and we have a lot of support from the community,” Bobbie Jo Meek said. “Security Bank paid for our jerseys this year, and Arvest Bank donated helmets, and that will fix the league up for about 10 years. We’re trying to get set up better for the future. [Mighty Mites] has been run well before, but not the way it needed to be. We have so many volunteers to help this year that we never had before.”

Prior to the board’s expansion to 10 members, it had only three.

“There was a president and a secretary, and the vice president is always the high school football coach,” Meek said. “We have not been set up as a full board since David Large left [in the early 2010s]. It takes a lot to get 10 people together, but we have meeting by text, which is great because it’s all written and their votes are recorded.”

Meek said the board also meets in person at Marck Recycling when the need arises.

“If anyone has questions, I’d like to clear them up,” he said. “They can come to the board meeting — I have nothing to hide.”

Meek said the program is also pushing for more public relations this year.

“We want to let our sponsors know we appreciate them, and we’re going to put out a lot more pictures this year,” he said. “We also want people to know there’s something else to do on Saturdays. If you’re bored, come out and watch one of the best youth football teams around.”

This week, the organization is hosting its annual camp, where Bobbie Jo Meek said 100-110 boys are honing their football skills, and another 50 girls are expected to participate in cheer camp on Saturday.

“We are doing the physicals right at camp this year, and parents can pick up their T-shirts and order equipment,” he said. “All of that is at cost.”

The teams play in the Sho-Me South Youth Football League, pulling their weight with the 4A, 5A and 6A schools as the only 3A team in their division.

“We are the only 3A school in our category, and we play up against the 4, 5 and 6A schools,” Meek said. “The League’s board has voted the past two years to move us down, but I have a veto vote and chose not to. We win 80-85% of our games playing up, and all the 4-6A schools are upset a 3A school can play with them. At one point I told them, ‘You all just need to get better.’” Mighty Mites also play a travel tournament in Harrison after the regular season, competing against schools from as far as Kansas City and Tulsa in Harrison, Ark.

“We take all four of our teams most every year, and we are in the championship game with most every team,” Meek said. “We practice three times per week leading up to the season, then two times per week during the season, and three or even four times a week after the season to prepare for the tournament.

“We also usually have one bye week, and this year, we will play Pea Ridge (Ark.) on our bye week, and it’s the first time we have played them.”

Practices will begin Aug. 11, and the first game is on Sept. 6. Meek said anyone with questions or wants to get involved in Mighty Mites can text him at 417-847-7057, or message him on Facebook.