Flag football and competitive youth cheerleading will touch down in Wareham for the first time this summer thanks to Wareham Junior Vikings, a new Pop Warner program spearheaded by retired Youth Hockomock League Director Joe Smith.

"I'm probably one of the few people who could referee a football game and judge a cheerleading competition," Smith said. "I've been involved with Pop Warner for thirty-five years."

Smith said he came up with the idea for the Junior Vikings after moving to Wareham from Stoughton and has been working to organize the teams since March.

"It seemed to me like there wasn't a lot for kids to do in Wareham," Smith said. "So after I did some calling around, I thought, hey, why not flag football?"

Once Smith got the ball rolling on flag, he said he was later approached about creating a competitive youth cheerleading squad.

"I asked if the interest was there," Smith said. "And the numbers definitely backed it up."

The cheerleading squad,  which will be lead by high school cheerleading coach Raschel Pratt, is now 18 strong. Thirty-five more have signed up for Smith's flag football program.

Smith said his goal for the cheerleading squad is to have them compete with other youth squads. If they do well enough, Smith said they could possibly make it to nationals in December.

"They hold nationals at Disney World in Florida," Smith said. "I think that would be an awesome opportunity for these kids."

The flag football teams will face off against each other and teams from surrounding towns in games of five on five. Smith said most flag football programs do games of 11 on 11, which he feels is too much.

"We want everyone in involved in every play," Smith said. "Football is the ultimate team sport, so these kids should really feel like they're apart of something."

The next Junior Vikings registration day is on July 26 at the Dudley Brown VFW in Onset. Registration will begin at 6 p.m.

Flag football is open to children ages 5 to 11 and cheerleading is open to ages 8 to 13.

Registration fees are $30 per child for flag football and $100 per child for cheerleading.

According to Smith, registration fees help to cover things like uniforms, insurance and equipment. For the cheerleading team, the price is significantly higher because it includes travel.

"We wanted to keep it as affordable as possible," Smith said. "So we've been doing a lot of fundraisers too."

Official practices will begin at the VFW the week of August 13, though Smith said he's willing to take interested players up until the first game in September.

"We don't want to turn away a kid for any reason," Smith said.

Additional information on the Junior Vikings can be found online at www.warehamjrvikings.com or by emailing warehamflagfootballpw@gmail.com.