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Everything to Know About Snoop Dogg's Non-Profit Youth Football League
The upcoming Voice star has plenty of experience with a different type of coaching.
Did you know one of the country's successful youth football leagues was founded by Snoop Dogg?
It's true! Back in 2005, the Season 26 Coach of The Voice started the Snoop Youth Football League (SYFL). Initially founded as an after-school program for Los Angeles youth, it's grown into a nationwide non-profit that gives kids an avenue to travel the United States and learn disciplines that they can only learn by playing team sports. The rapper's organization was even featured in a 2018 series, Coach Snoop.
In an interview with ESPN, the man who was everywhere during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris spoke candidly about the SYFL and what his goals for the league have been since day one.
The key, according to Snoop, is tough love — and something he calls "whoopin' that ass with class."
"My ultimate message is making these boys classy young gentlemen," he says. "As hard as I am on them, as much as I yell at them, I always bring sensibility. I always bring class. We scold them and then we mold them. Yeah, we get their little hearts beatin' through their shoulder pads, but they listen. And we're a real good team because of it."
As a father of four, founding the league — and being one of its premiere coaches over the years — has given the hip-hop legend plenty of time to develop even stronger bonds with his sons. Back in the mid-2000s, Snoop coached his two young sons, Corde (who he nicknamed "Spank") and Cordell ("Rook").
Unsurprisingly, it was a bonding experience Snoop would never forget — although he made sure not to play favorites!
"Football has really helped me get close to my kids and spend time with them," Snoop revealed. "I love coaching all these kids. I don't even mess with my son. I don't mess with Rook. I like to coach the other kids. It becomes daddy ball if I focus on my son. Nobody wants that. I coach around him, you know what I'm saying? I learned that from coaching my older son first. I was all about Spank, but now I'm all about the team. And we kick ass."
Ultimately, Snoop confessed that he enjoys living vicariously through the kids who have made their way through the SYFL over the years. There's something to be said about kids being kids and running around the football field!
"When you're dealing with them kids, it's a different kind of love," Snoop says. "It's a love that lets you go back to being a kid again. That's the beautiful part about it. When the kids watch the guys in the NFL, they want to be like them, but I tell them, the NFL players want to be just like you guys; they remember what it was like to be young and out runnin' around havin' fun. That's what makes me happy, to see these kids here, because they have so much fun playing football."
Snoop Dogg makes his Voice Coaching debut on September 23
On Monday, September 23, at 8/7c, Snoop will pivot into a different kind of coaching on The Voice!
The music icon will join Michael Bublé, Gwen Stefani, and Reba McEntire in the latest edition of the best singing competition show on the planet — with plenty of twists, turns, and surprises in store for audiences!
If his time spent with the SYFL is any indication, a Season 26 title may be in Snoop's future.
