The mission of the Challenger Sports Program is to provide exercise, athletics and an opportunity for community-based socialization for children with special needs.

 

The Challenger Sports Program was incorporated into Huntington Beach Pop Warner Football and Cheer in 2007. Huntington Beach was the third of four cities in the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) to organize a Challenger program. The flag football and cheer program is offered to children who have special needs, who live in Huntington Beach and surrounding communities and who are of any age and ability. As of 2016, there are a total of 12 Challenger Programs in OEC.

 

The Huntington Beach Challenger Football and Cheer program started humbly, just seven football players and two cheerleaders. It quickly blossomed into one of the most visible Challenger programs in OEC. Our Challengers have played in the Orange Bowl and the cheerleaders have participated in the OEC Cheer Competition for the past several years. Our Cheerleaders rocked it in Las Vegas this January, look at the video below! The program’s success can be attributed to the teen and adult volunteers that so freely gave their time to help socialize the children and teach them the game of football and how to cheerlead. 

 

The Huntington Beach program was destined for success from the beginning as the program registered children from the Special Abilities Cluster (SAC) at Edison High School. Additional growth in 2014 allowed to Huntington Beach program to expand the program to Ocean View High School. All our special needs athletes are both Chargers and Seahawks and represent Huntington Beach.

 

We encourage you to check the game schedule this August and check out a Challenger game. It is truly an uplifting experience and a great football game.