Youth football and cheer is changing in Maple Valley.

Known since 1978 as the Maple Valley Raiders, the organization is changing its name to the Bears, working toward joining a new league and strengthening its ties with Tahoma High’s football program, according to Bruce Lain, director of public relations.

“Due to circumstances beyond our control the Maple Valley Raiders Junior Football and Cheer association was forced to step back and look at the options available based on the previous league that we had participated in,” Laing said. “We reviewed the options that were available. We also revisited what our core values were with regard to what we wanted to provide for the kids, those being finding a safe but competitive environment to include as many kids as possible and to provide as much focused coaching and playing time as possible as well as making it safe and fair for all the kids.”

There are currently five teams in the organization for boys ageist 7-14 to play football as well as what Laing described as a “very strong cheerleading program” for girls of the same ages.

While the Kent Knights program shifted its program to provide feeder teams for each of the four high schools and removed its previous weight restrictions, Maple Valley’s junior football organization board of directors weren’t comfortable going in the same direction.

“Of the key components of our program is to try and keep it an age and weight based program which we feel is important to the safety and development of the kids,” Laing said. “With all those things in mind the Greater Eastside Junior Football Association was the obvious best fit.”

To that end explained John Hillock, president of Issaquah Youth Football and Cheer, GEJFA representatives met with the Maple Valley board in May to discuss the situation which arose when the South Puget Sound Junior Football league made changes.

In an email interview Hillock wrote that GEJFA developed an emergency temporary membership for Maple Valley which was approved by the league’s council June 5.

Hillock wrote that the deadline to officially apply for membership had passed Dec. 31 and so the temporary membership is a one-season deal which requires Maple Valley to follow the league’s rules and regulations, which includes sending a representative to all GEJFA Council meetings though Maple Valley will not have the right to vote, then at the end of the upcoming season the Bears will need to find a club to sponsor them in order to formally apply for membership by the end of this year.

Maple Valley would then play under probation status for two years, Hillock wrote, before an official vote by the league’s council to allow for permanent membership.

The decision to allow what Hillock described as a “rare temporary membership” came down to four primary factors.

“Maple Valley Junior Football has a long history of operating a quality, financially sound youth football and cheer program,” Hillock wrote. “Maple Valley Junior Football’s objectives and policies already closely conform to GEJFA’s standards.”

Third, Maple Valley’s board has been receptive and responsive to GEJFA’s requests, Hillock wrote and finally, the league recognized that the youngsters in the program may not otherwise have a chance to play football or cheer this coming season.

“The obvious benefit to Maple Valley Junior Football is the kids have a place to play football and cheerlead this season,” Hillock wrote. “Formed in 1963, GEJFA is one of the oldest and largest youth football leagues in the state of Washington. Maple Valley will now have the opportunity to compete against far more teams — 17 clubs that often times have multiple teams at each division level.”

In addition, GEJFA’s rules allow for multiple teams at each level, which leads to smaller squads and ultimately more playing time for each youngster.

“The added benefit is that the current teams in the league now have another club to compete with each week and, eventually, battle in the playoffs and championship games,” Hillock wrote. “Maple Valley will have the opportunity to compete against some of the best youth football teams in all of Washington. The football players and cheerleaders will get to visit new high schools throughout the league — from as close as their own backyard at Issaquah, to as far north as Cedarcrest and even across the Sound to Bainbridge Island.”

With more than 250 kids in the organization, Laing said, as well as the fact that Tahoma Lacrosse is also a member of the league there’s plenty of upsides from the perspective of the board of Maple Valley Junior Football and Cheer.

One significant advantage is the stronger relationship the program has developed with Tahoma High as well as its football coach and athletic director Tony Davis.

“One of the things that was nice about basically getting a fresh start was the opportunity to analyze where the program is going to be long term and we realized we wanted to be a true feeder program to the Tahoma High School football team which has also resulted in changing our name to the Maple Valley Bears Football and Cheer Association,” Laing said. “This close alignment with the Bears Junior Football and the high school has resulted in both programs naming a liaison. We’ve been meeting twice a week to evolve the synergy between these two programs. I’d like to think there’s always been a strong connection between our young athletes and their counterparts at the high school but our goal is to strengthen that even further as we move forward.”

Those ties seem to have served other schools, well, Laing noted. He pointed to the teams in the playoffs last year and many of the schools in 3A and 4A state football brackets had feeder teams, in fact several had ties to youth football clubs in GEJFA.

“It will truly be a developmental program and it’s really exciting for us,” Laing said. “This is going to be phenomenal for us. Our goal is to give all of the young people in our community who have an interest in football an opportunity to develop their skills and passion with a lot more hands on coaching and training so that the ones that truly develop a love for the game and make it to the high school level will be better equipped both for themselves and to make our high school a state championship caliber program and to be known as the top football program in the southeast Puget Sound area.”