By Matthew Robinson
LAKE BALBOA-The First Annual San Fernando Valley Chargers (SFV) Bolt Fest Homecoming 2026, which took place at Birmingham High School’s Rick Prizant Stadium on Saturday, showcased four levels of Pop Warner youth football. There were also child- and adult-appropriate games, a mechanical bull, 20 food vendors and a DJ booth. All those elements combined to make the Bolt Fest a family-friendly and fun-filled fundraising event.
One of the goals of the fest was to spread the word about the SFV Chargers brand of youth football, which is comprised of five levels: 9U, 10U, 11U, 13U, and 14U. Many of those levels came into the fest with promising records, with the 10U and 11U teams winning their games in blowout fashion.
The SFV Chargers organization, which partners with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers, is a feeder league for Valley area high schools, Crespi, Sierra Canyon, Birmingham, Viewpoint (Calabasas), Notre Dame, Chaminade, Bishop Alemany, Oaks Christian, and others. Coaches from those schools come to the Chargers’ practices to watch and mentally scout these future high schoolers. When Charger players age out of the Pop Warner League (ages 14 and older), they are welcome additions to LAUSD and Southern Section high schools in the Valley.
One of the main attractions was Chargers 11U running back Ethan Lerman-Bell (he wore number seven). The sinewy and rugged youngster on every carry seemed to be on a mission to score touchdowns or gain huge yardage for his team. Someday that young man will make a Valley area high school head coach and offensive coordinator as happy as a kid in a candy store.
SFV Chargers Founders
Quality football, passionate coaches and fans, and worker-bee team administrators are the backbone of the SFV Chargers organization. If the organization is to be a long-time fixture of the Valley youth and cheer football scene, there are four members of the club who are essential to its success.
Narbonne High School star (Harbor City, California) and 10-year NFL veteran defensive back Dashon Goldson, former welterweight and lineal boxing champion Zab Judah, and former University of Southern California Trojans football star and 11-year NFL veteran Reggie Bush are founding members of the SFV Chargers organization. Then there’s Dee Dee Williams, who is also a co-founder of the league. Throughout the fest, one could see Williams either helping Chargers coaches and players with certain duties, making sure the vendors were taken care of emotionally and mentally, watching the games, and more. She isn’t one for seeking the limelight, preferring to work behind the scenes, letting Goldson, Bush, and Judah be at the forefront.
Bush, who won the 2005 Heisman Trophy as an explosive All-World running back at USC, is the head coach of the 11U Division of the Chargers and has two sons who play in the SFV organization. For the majority of this year, he has gotten the word out about the SFV Chargers through social media, word of mouth, and through his coaching.
“It’s a great league; [the Southern California Pop Warner League] has been around for a long time,” Bush said. “If you want to join the SFV Chargers, go to SFVChargers.com, or you can follow us on Instagram. We’ll be posting stuff all year; we’ll be posting Sunday clinics and when our offseason workouts are.”
Williams is one of the main ambassadors of the SFV Chargers’ organization, and she has an encyclopedic knowledge of what goes on in the organization. How the players are recruited to the league, how the parents pay the fees for their child(s) participation, and more were shared after the game.
“We hold free voluntary conditioning camps that start in February [that run] all the way until the season starts in June,” Williams said. “Based on who is showing commitment and performance [in those camps] is who we elect to be on our rosters.”
For player participation in the SFV Chargers organization, the fees are $500. Through one of the organizations that are partnered with the SFV Chargers, the Highest Point Foundation, the team has provided scholarships to half the players in the organization. Many of the players and cheerleaders in the SFV organization come from single-parent homes and some of those parents cannot afford the entry fees, but Williams, Highest Point, and others help some of these families waive the fee(s).
Focus on Player Safety
Player safety is of paramount importance to the Chargers. During the 10U Chargers vs. the Pola Buccs game, Goldson preached player safety during plays and off the field. To illustrate that point, Chargers assistant coach and board member Brandon Payne buttressed Goldson’s player safety measures with what he (Payne) said after the 11U Chargers vs. Beach City Sharks game.
“We have had helmet-free tackling training through one of our close organizations, where we are able to teach our kids to keep their head out of the play [when they are tackling],” Payne said. “We’re teaching them the right way to hit and to keep their head out of the tackling, which will lead to fewer injuries and to keep the game going. [The tackling-training is done] so they don’t have to worry about having CTE down the line. We’ve done helmet-free tackling training through all of our divisions.”
Later in his interview, Payne was on point when he said that they are trying to build a culture here. And part of that culture stems from coaches, team administrators, and parents really wanting to teach these Charger players football fundamentals as well as getting the kids involved in this sport.
Fest Game Outcomes
As for some of the fest’s games, Goldson’s team, the 10U Chargers, beat the Pola Buccs 22-6 in the 12 PM game.
In Game three of the fest, the 11U Chargers beat the Beach City Sharks 19-0, but the score of that game was nowhere near the lead story of that “contest.” The game ended at the 1:21 mark of the first quarter because the Sharks’ head coach didn’t want to continue playing in a game that was essentially on its way to being a blowout victory for the Chargers. The home team scored 42 seconds into the game and from there the Sharks were unable to answer the Chargers’ running game or the scores they put up. During a time out in the first quarter, the Sharks’ head coach informed the game’s referees that they were waving the white flag to forfeit the game. Chargers players and coaches were surprised, while the fans in the stands just looked on when the announcement was made. Bush was resolute and sort of ambivalent about how the game ended.
“It [head coaches ending games] happens; I can’t speak of what was happening on that sideline,” Bush said. “I know those are great coaches over there, I know they coach them well. Whatever decisions that they felt they had to make, they made it. I get it; obviously we wish we [could] have played a whole game, we want our players to get more work, but we’ll take the victory.”
Fundraising Objectives
Aside from the festive atmosphere of the event, the fest/homecoming served as a fundraiser for most of the SFV players (who qualify) to get to the Wescon Regional Rounds (1st and 3rd Rounds) in Arizona; and if the team advances past the regionals, then there’s the Pop Warner National Championships/Super Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The funds raised by the fest will also help cover the operating expenses of the SFV Chargers organization.
