Stefan Romero coaches the Harlem Jets’ Cadets in the AYF Big East regionals at Aviator Field. Photo by David Gibbons

The results are in, and now it can be chiseled in stone: Once again, the Harlem Jets have had an outstanding football season.

Last week, for the second time in three seasons, the Jets sent two teams to the American Youth Football national championships in Kissimmee, Fla.

The Jets were founded by Harlem native Jamel Wright, spearheading a core group of fathers with 9-year-olds who were looking for a better-organized tackle football experience than what was available. Wright, known as “Coach Mel,” and his wife Twinique lead a team of about 35 volunteers—most, but not all, parents. In seven years, they’ve built the Jets into a significant community organization and national power, recently expanding their offerings to include not only off-season conditioning but wrestling, basketball and competitive cheerleading.

With six to eight teams of 5- to 17-year-olds per year, most of the Jets compete in the Empire State Youth Football League against metropolitan area rivals such as the Brooklyn Titans, Staten Island Cobras and Central Jersey Seminoles.

On Nov. 17, the Jets’ Junior Pee Wees won their Big East Regional playoff, advancing past the Morristown (Pa.) Bulldogs. The Jets’ Cadets lost a close game to Fox-Rok, a Philadelphia team, but were later awarded a wild-card berth for the finals. In Florida, both teams suffered disappointing first-round losses in the closing minutes but bounced back to finish third in their respective divisions.

Also on the 17th, the Jets’ Intermediates (17 and under), who play in the Pioneer League, capped an undefeated season by winning their so-called Super Bowl, held at McCombs Dam Park, the site of the old Yankee Stadium, over the Bronx Nittany Lions.

Wright sees football as “the carrot,” an incentive for inner-city kids to learn to act right, achieve in school, go to college and create opportunities they might not otherwise have had. “Football is the ultimate team sport,” he says, echoing his rousing pre- and post-game speeches. “It mirrors life, and it’s all about learning to deal with adversity, about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, getting back into the huddle and going out to compete again.”

The Jets first burst onto the national scene in 2008 when their Pee Wees (12 and under) went to the finals as an unseeded team, knocking off the defending champions in the first round and eventually finishing third. That year, Wright’s assertions were put to the test in a tragic context: One of the team’s coaches, Andre Milliner, died suddenly of complications brought on by an attack of gout.

“We were at his funeral a week before we left for the national championships,” says Bruce Parker, who co-coached the Pee Wees with Milliner. “Going down to Florida was bittersweet. Trying to win a national championship with heavy hearts—that was tough on the kids.”

The Jets uphold strict academic and behavioral standards, regularly reviewing each of their more than 300 players’ report cards. Tutoring is arranged for those who struggle; head coaches have discretion to curtail playing time pending satisfactory conduct, attendance and grades.

For more information, go to www.harlemjets.org.

Tutoring, babysitting, even vacationing—There are more ways to contain the cost of an nyc childhood than one might think

By Hillary Chura 

You don’t need to move to the suburbs to save money. (In fact, that usually doesn’t work, but more on that later.) In my experience, there are ways to reduce the cost of almost any good or service you and your family enjoy as part of living in the city—it just takes a little creativity and moxie. I’ll get you going with some of my favorite money-saving tips for New York families, but once you start noodling it over, about I’m sure you’ll come up with some of your own.

Travel 

New York is the country’s top tourist destination, so the next time you start planning a family trip, consider a home swap. For about $10 a month, websites like HomeExchange and Intervac can connect you with members in places you’d like to visit. You stay in their home (usually complete with washer/dryer, kitchen, lawn and sometimes even a pool and car) while they stay in yours. No additional money changes hands. Tip: some co-ops don’t allow swaps, so be sure to check with your building beforehand.

Neighborhood Goods and Services

The big lesson here is to look farther afield. Take storage, for example. If you live in Manhattan, you’re likely to find it cheaper (and just as safe) to use a reputable storage facility in Queens or the Bronx. The same lesson works for birthday cakes, children’s clothing, car washes, dental work, groceries, manicures, kitchen cabinets and almost anything else you’re looking to save money on. Also, never assume that prices within your neighborhood are uniform. I recently was stunned to discover I could pay $19 for a pound of wild-caught salmon at Fairway, $30 at Agata or $40 at the local fishmonger—all within a mile of one another. And don’t even get me started on price differentials in overnight parking! You never know.

Child Labor

Nowhere is it written that you need a 30-year-old CPR-certified, tax-paying professional for a babysitter. Especially if your children are somewhat self-sufficient, consider asking a responsible and smart younger teenager to watch the kids on date night. They can stick a frozen pizza in the oven, help the kids with their homework and be infinitely more entertaining and energetic than an adult who’s babysitting after a full day in the office. Expect to pay $8 to $10 an hour—did I just hear you gasp?—about half of what high school seniors, college students and professional sitters charge. If you’re queasy about leaving a 15-year-old in charge, remember who watched you on those Love Boat-Fantasy Island Saturday nights when your parents were out!

Teacher Tutors

This is New York, so even academic rock stars will need a private tutor at least once before they go on the grand college tour or start applying for financial aid. If you can’t or don’t want to spend $150 an hour for established tutoring services, try connecting with one of your child’s former teachers (a good one, of course) or ask friends for recommendations. Many full-time instructors are already tutoring on the side, and guess what? They’re usually really good at it—they’re teachers! (Plus, they’re often familiar with the specific tests your child will be taking.) Since you’re enlisting just their expertise with no middleman, expect to pay one-third to one-half of what established tutoring agencies bill.

Camps 

Think outside the tent. Some of the more affordable day camps are sponsored by nonprofits like the Brooklyn Arts Exchange, the Van Cortlandt House Museum, Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, YMCAs and other local community centers, New York Botanical Garden and Greenwich House. Likewise, many neighborhood churches offer week-long half-day programs where kids do crafts, sing and play outside, with some Old and New Testament stories sprinkled in. A week-long program rarely tops $80 per child, and many churches offer discounts for siblings. Though technically not a nonprofit, the Parks Department itself offers a $500/summer program via a lottery.

Student Practitioners

If you or your child needs a service like a haircut, dental work, ADHD or speech therapy or even a family portrait photography session, make a call to a local professional school. To get the practice they need, student apprentices will knead your muscles, snip your locks, address your lisp or drill your cavities under the watch of a veteran at a cost of next to nothing. You can also call the school’s placement offices and ask about how to hire recent graduates. Believe it or not, I did this to find my most recent (OK, only) home decorator. She was young, but kept me from making some headache-inducing mistakes.

Outsource Parenting

If you can make it happen, ship the kids to the grands in a cheaper ZIP code for a week or two of intergenerational bonding over this summer. Even if you enroll the kids in camp, living expenses go down radically when you’re almost anywhere but here. And if you can’t accompany your kids on the drop-off or pick-up trip, consider the fact that you generally pay only an extra $50 to $100 for an unaccompanied minor (aged 5 to 11) to fly solo on nonstop flights.

Negotiate

New York is full of mom-and-pop businesses, and just about everyone, from dentists to the proprietors of kids’ activity and enrichment centers, may lower their bills if you ask. One friend with three kids tried this for summer camp and was so stunned at the discount offered by the camp that he told the owner he didn’t expect that much of a break. Given the economy, even big businesses like hospitals may offer after-the-fact rebates if you receive a bill that’s higher than you expected.

School Auctions

To raise money, many local schools now feature some of the items from their annual benefit on their websites prior to the actual benefit. These are great ways to find big breaks on local children’s classes and birthday parties, among other things. And you don’t have to buy a ticket, dress up or go somewhere to participate; they just want your money. Also check out biddingforgood.com, an online auction clearinghouse where schools, foundations, religious organizations and other charities across the country auction off summer camps, trips, memberships, jewelry, sports tickets and other donations all year round. This spring, I snagged a local museum membership, baseball class, professional consulting, dolphin watching and chess camp for less than half the price I had paid in the past.

In case you’re pondering a move to the land of lawn care and shopping malls to cut costs, you may want to reassess. Assuming you move close enough to the city to keep your day job, chances are your monthly outlay is likely to remain similar to whatever it was in the city, if not more. Soon enough, you’ll wonder where it all goes at the end of the month (much as you probably do now) thanks to paying for niceties like lawn care, garbage collection, snow removal, commuting, heating and cooling, lighting for an extra 2,000 square feet, a car (or two), insurance and higher real estate taxes. On the positive side, with your extra hour (at least) of commuting each day, you’ll have the plenty of time to figure it out.

Hillary Chura is a freelance writer, longtime business reporter and New York City mom of two. Look for her work on newyorkfamily.com, where she’ll soon be starting a blog about, yes, parenting money savers.