Many people think that football is played from September to January and that’s it.  
Well, plenty of elementary and middle school kids in the Lexington area play flag football in the spring as well. There actually two seasons of flag football in the Crossover Sports League. 
The spring league flag football championship games were played about a month ago. Happily for me, our Black Scorpion team with Shaun Norris and Justin Hyndman won the 6-8 grade division championship again. 
It was our fourth championship in the five seasons we have coached together. 
League History 
The league started in 2005 as a Christian-based activity for local youth by First Baptist of Lexington. 
As Jesse Harmon, head of Crossover Athletics, explained to me, he was middle school pastor at First Baptist of Lexington when he and another person thought it would be fun for their youth to have flag football teams at the church.
The church had a large, open, unused field across the street. So they told their youth to invite their friends to come play with them.
The first season, they had three teams. It was a such a success that the second year,  they invited other churches to participate and had 8-9 teams. 
After a few years, they had to move because the league had grown so much. Now the games are played on a field on Augusta and Laurel roads.  
There are two seasons, Spring and fall. The spring league is the larger of the two with around 150 boys and some girls in spring and around 80 in the fall. It is a great option for kids that don’t want to play tackle football in the fall and baseball or soccer in the spring. 
There are three age divisions each season - first and second grade, third through fifth grade and sixth through eighth grade division. There is also an adult league. 
In 2009, Harmon converted the league from a church-sponsored program to a non-profit 501C3 program. 
Other Sports 
All of the other coaches, like Shaun, Justin and I, are volunteers who love kids and want to make a positive difference in their lives. 
One thing I love about this league is that coaches are required to do short devotionals and prayer with their teams and teach them good sportsmanship. I’ve been a coach in the league for five years.
If you keep reading, there is more to Crossover than flag football. 
As Crossover began to grow, it has attracted people with a passion for working with kids. Running was a passion and by seeking out others with the same passion, soon a running program was born. 
In 2012, the “Run Hard” program was started at Meadow Glen and Rocky Creek schools. Now, they are in most Lexington County elementary schools. The goal of the program is to train kids to complete a 5K run. 
Since the participants are in public schools, they cannot do actual devotionals and pray like we do in flag football. So instead, they take part in character lessons. 
Harmon said that “we can’t profess our faith, but we can lead by example". 
Kickball 
The newest venture is a kickball league. 
There are probably few readers of the Lexington Chronicle and Fish Wrapper that don’t playing kickball in school. I once played on the fifth and sixth grade champions' team at Bradley Elementary in Columbia. 
Crossover listens to the people in the community. Recently, a mom contacted him because her son wanted to play kickball. Since schools are closed in the summer, there was no where to play. 
So she implored Jesse to start a league. And they found other parents with a passion for it as well. 
The games will be played on Thursday nights. They have 60 people signed up now and play begins Thursday. 
All in all, Crossover is a great way to get youth out of the house and away from their “screens” for a while. They can get some fun exercise, make new friends, and maybe learn some positive life lessons.
Thank youj, Jesse Harmon, for your foresight and perseverance. 
For more information on any of the programs, contact Jesse at jesse@crossoverathletics.org or (803) 414-9508.