What started out as a single team of twelve 7th graders playing eight-man tackle football in the Phoenix desert has grown in popularity to an astonishing degree. Once a single team known as the Scottsdale Mustangs, a small group of 7th graders has become an entire football club comprising of four age groups: pee wee, minors, majors, and seniors (7 to 16 years old) united under one name. Giving up the Mustang moniker has even added a little swagger to their walk, thanks in large part to the poetic justice their name gives them. No longer the Mustangs, they became the Argonauts, led by the one and only Jason… Mohns, that is.
“Everyone thought I had chosen the name based on the ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ story. Parents thought it was just going to be a big ego trip for me, because my first name is Jason and then the players could be my Argonauts”, recalled Jason Mohns, son of Toronto Argonauts Assistant GM/Director, Player Personnel Greg Mohns, laughing at the situation. Mohns continued, “Now the kids and parents are loyal Toronto fans, visiting the website (argosfootball.com), buying Argonauts merchandise, and searching for updates on how the big brother to their team is doing”.
The club began as a lone team, coached solely by Jason. As the players and their siblings grew up though, there were more players trying out for the team than there were positions available. This forced Jason to rethink his philosophy; did he want to be the Head Coach of a single team? Or did he want to form a football club where he could have a hand in the development of multiple teams? Choosing to meet the increased demand, Jason created the Scottsdale Argonauts Football Club, little brother extraordinaire to the 136 year old Toronto Argonauts. Taking full advantage of the family connection between the organizations, Jason outfitted the teams and supporters in Argonauts gear, but drew the line at poaching their new coaches, instead hiring from the Arizona area to fill out his staff of five in order to meet overwhelming player demand.
“We don’t have try-outs, if you sign up to play, you will definitely get to play. We try and form two teams for each age group, one focused on competitions and playing in tournaments, and the other team taking part in a recreation league setting, with the focus on improvement and having fun”. Not limited by geographic regions either, the club is happy to accept players from as far away as Peoria, or about the distance from Toronto to London, with road trips to San Diego for national championships for the competitive teams. Their competitiveness is encouraging, especially considering their “everyone plays” mentality. Jason works hard to split his time across all the teams coaching either offence or defence in some capacity.
Competing at regional, state, and national level, the Scottsdale Argos has been met with success at almost every step of the way. Since 2006, they have fielded at least one state champion from their collective groups every year – a huge accomplishment since they emphasize fun before success. In 2007, the team dominated throughout the season, going on a 14-game shutout streak before finally allowing an opposition score in their national championship win in San Diego which ended in a nail biting 24 – 22 final.
The national championship came during the inaugural National Youth Sports Championships, now held in San Diego every June, and lures a wide array of teams from as far away as Texas and Washington. Consider also, that while other teams put winning before fun, and emphasize the importance of intense film sessions, Jason’s philosophy is to use film as little as possible. He only allowed for review when his team qualified for the national tournament: “Going into the national tournament in San Diego, we knew we had been filmed and studied by other teams, so we had to use it just to be on a level playing field.”
While his players have had some successful runs, don’t expect to see them playing for the original Argos soon. His eldest graduates are seniors in high school this year and Jason does express some optimism about his upcoming graduating class. He maintains that many will do well at NCAA division-1 colleges in the states. After that, all he can do is hope they become one of the fortunate few to dress in the pros.
Stay linked to argonauts.ca for parts 2 & 3 of ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ in the coming days.