The Kent Knights Youth Sports Association is happy and excited to announce their new president - Lenny Gomez.  Lenny has been a part of the Kent Knights family for 21 years. He started his journey with Kent Knights as a player. After playing, he jumped into the role as coach and has coached the 7th and 8th grade teams for 19 seasons.  He has also been the clubs Athletic Director for the past 14 seasons. Lenny has been a part of the Kent / Covington community for 30 years. He attended both Kent Meridian and Kentwood High School. His favorite professional football teams are the Seattle Seahawks and the San Diego (AKA Los Angeles) Chargers.  Outside football season he is a LA Dodgers / Anaheim Angels fan.

When not focusing on sports, he loves spending time with his family Michele, Alex and Sofia; being on vacation; and ultimately “advancing deep into national play with FBU, and competing for a youth national championship as a coach”.  Lenny’s favorite Starbucks is a Venti Iced Black Tea Lemonade sweetened.

Lenny’s coaching motto: “Players win games, Coaches lose them! Let’s be dominating at 1 to 2 things, and not settle for mediocrity at 6 to 10 things. Let’s gain 2.5 yards a carry and dominate the clock. The 3 things that will lose games for us are: turnovers, penalties, and lack of heart!!!”

Lenny’s Vision for the Club: Follow the great legacies of those that trained and mentored him – Steve Delvo, Jesse Boyavich, Dave Lawson, Jamar Burr, Jeff and Kendra Moore. They’ve all created this program with their visions for our community and our children. Since 1979 those visions have not swayed much and I’m a firm believer in “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it!”

Board of Directors for the Club: This is our best board that we’ve had to date, at least in my 21 years with the program. We have an outstanding group of volunteers that share the same vision for our program as I do.

Coaches: I feel that we have an amazing group of coaches with lots of experience on the sidelines, and they're going to coach the fundamentals of the game and help teach our youth some very quality life lessons on and off the field. Most of our current head coaches are truly volunteers as they don't have a child in the program, so that tells me they're doing this for the kids and the community! All of our football coaches will be up to date certified and had a national background checks run.

Cheer: One of mine / our biggest goals is to get us back to having a healthy cheer program, I remember the day of having 65+ girls, and we as the Board are committed to making that happen! All of our cheer coaches will be up to date certified and had a national background checks run.and had a national background checks run.

Community: We are committed in getting out and supporting the many local youth groups as well as any event our city has. We want to help build our community with thoughts and support of one another.

Family: My / Our goal is to build on the Kent Knights Family and to keep all of us moving in the same direction TOGETHER.

In closing - Lenny believes that we are one of the TOP youth programs in the state. He himself has seen it first hand as a player and coach for the Knights. He has had 12-15 family members’ play or cheer for the knights. He also had many family members either volunteer as a coach and or a board member for the Knights program! He knows what the Kent Knights program has meant for his family and his community and his goal is to keep that going while adding families to our Knights family!

Our program will continue to be about the kids, to help teach them the sport (cheer/football), to teach them to be a great teammate and player both on and off the field, while being there for support in the classroom and helping in any way we can to make them successful students. All of our coaches and board members have accepted their roles as mentors’ year around not just during the season! 

Lenny can't wait to see what the future has in store for our program; He truly believes the sky is the limit! As long as we all do it TOGETHER! 

Congratulations Lenny Gomez

President – Kent Knights Youth Sports Association

Sign up now for the 2018 football and cheer season!   Cost: $200

You can sign up by clicking on the link below and pay in full or make payments. 

https://kentknights.sportngin.com/register/form/628028452

The registration fee is minimal compared to other youth football programs in south king county.  

As a board, it is important to us that the fees remain reasonable for parents.  With that, all parents are required to participant in fundraisers since the registration fees alone do not take care of the operational costs in running a franchise of our size.  More information will be sent about fundraisers to all parents that are signed up.  

Helpful details for the season are:

Practices: season begins on Monday, July 16, 2018 and practices are Monday - Friday, 6-8pm at Kent Meridian High School. Once school starts, practices will be Tuesday-Thursday same time/location.

Games: The league will provide our game schedule in late August. Games are mostly played on Saturdays while there could be a few Sunday games. More information regarding games will be discussed at the parent meeting and emailed.

Registration Fee includes:

• Football use of equipment for the season: helmet, shoulder pads, pants,  game day jersey,  1 pair of socks and 1 mouth guard). Additional socks and mouth guard can be purchased if needed.  All items except for socks and mouth guard must be returned at the last game the player plays in.
• Cheer use of equipment for the season: top, skirt, poms. Additional items will need to be purchased and the cheer coaches will communicate more information to parents.
• All registration fees help go towards the operational expenses included in running a youth football and cheer program. 

8th Grade Head Coach - Glenn Bartenetti

Glenn has 12 years coaching experience all with the Tahoma Bears Jr. Football club (AKA Maple Valley Raiders). His favorite Pro Football team is the Seattle Seahawks. Favorite College team is the UW Huskies. Favorite player is Kam Chancellor. 

Glenn can be reached at  gbartnetti@hotmail.com

7th Grade Head Coach - Joshua Lambarena

Joshua has 14 years coaching experience with Lindberg High School and the Kent Knights. His favorite Pro Football team is the Seattle Seahawks. Favorite College team is the Alabama Crimson Tide.  Favorite “past” player is Ray Lewis, “current player – Luke Kuechly. Joshua is also the League Representative for the club. 

Josh can be reached at joshua.lambarena@yahoo.com

 6th Grade Head Coach - Shane Smith

Shane has 28 years coaching experience with Auburn Jr. Football, Benson Jr. Football, Kent Knights Jr. Football, Kentwood Jr. Football and Sumner Wolfpack Jr. Football. White River Raptors Jr Football, Foster High School, Mt.View Middle School, and Bonney Lake High School. His favorite Pro Football team is the Seattle Seahawks. Favorite College team is the UW Huskies. Favorite player Tom Brady. 

Shane can be reached at sonnysix@msn.com

THE 5th GRADE TEAM: HEAD COACH POSITION PENDING

4th Grade Head Coach - Raymond Gartland

Ray has 7 years coaching experience with the Kent Knights. His favorite Pro Football team is the Seattle Seahawks. Favorite College team is the Washington State Cougars.  Ray is also the Athletic Director for the club.

Ray can be reached at rayg@firstchoiceplumbing.org

3rd Grade Head Coach - Jeff Marlotty

Jeff has 17 years coaching experience with the Kent Knights, Sumner Wolfpack, Benson Bruins. His favorite Pro Football team is the Seattle Seahawks. Favorite College team is the UW Huskies and the Eastern Washington Eagles.  Favorite player is Russell Wilson.

Jeff can be reached at Jeff.marlotty22@gmail.com

Cheer Director/Head Coach - Ana Fomai

Ana has 2 years coaching experience with the Kent Knights. Her favorite Pro Football team are the Philadelphia Eagles. Favorite College team – whatever college her son goes to. Favorite player is Carson Wentz. 

Ana can be reached at AnaYFomai@gmail.com

Kent Knights Jr. Football is a youth football and cheer program that has been a part of our community since 1979. The organization teaches the children the benefits of being part of a team, while developing good sportsmanship, character, responsibility, respect, safety and the other essentials of being a good athlete.