Black Hills Gold Football dedicated to development of hopeful future college athletes

RAPID CITY, S.D. — There’s a saying that goes “You gotta start em’ young” and that saying certainly pertains to athletes.

In Rapid City, many youth football programs teach the fundamentals of the game to kids in elementary and middle school.

But an observation by a youth coach, wanting players to continue their careers after high school, led to the creation of Rapid City Gold Football.

“I started looking through rosters of all the local universities throughout the state and noticed the lack of kids from Rapid City that were in college playing with football scholarships, and there’s so much talent here that’s untapped that it’s not fair that these kids aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve,” said Tony Pigsley, the Head Coach of the Black Hills Gold.

Pigsley started out traveling with a seventh grade team and then expanded to two teams in year two. Now in its third year, Rapid City Gold Football boasts three teams.

Despite the young program, members of Piglsey’s teams are getting offers to play in youth national championships and attend all-star games.

Success that hopefully leads into promising high school careers.

“These kids are getting recognized on a national level now and hopefully that’s going to get them that next step that they’re gunna need to get into high school,” Pigsley said.

But through all the drills, Pigsley says the fundamentals are where he wants to his team to keep growing.

“It varies from kid to kid but mainly it boils down to fundamentals,” Pigsley said. “If you can perfect the fundamentals of the game, then you can take the kid to the next level and you can add a little bit more things in there.”

A program dedicated to developing players, hopefully for careers in college football.