By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
TJ Malave is going back to his football roots in building a football program from the ground up.
Malave, a West Windsor-Plainsboro High South graduate, is the owner and head coach of the New Jersey Pirates, a semi-pro football team that hopes to begin play soon with a roster full of local players.
“Our goal is to be a platform organization and have guys from 18 to 45 with different levels of experience,” said Malave, who lives in Lawrence. “Some of the guys have NFL experience and some IFL and some have never played football. Some of them are guys whose grades were not good enough to play in college. They can play for us and be exposed through various means. We have a guy on staff that will help players with whatever they need.”
Malave spent two years as head coach of the Trenton Capitals, who play in Major League Football. He has since parted ways with that franchise to start building the Pirates from the ground up.
“With semi-pro leagues the work goes year round,” Malave said. “There are spring and winter leagues as well as 8-on-8 leagues. It gives guys an opportunity to pursue their football dreams and have fun. We’re trying to be a platform organization for guys to get a real football experience. We also want to help players on and off the field. Not only with football, but also with guidance off the field.
“We have an entrepreneurial program that give guys access to how to run a business. We also have some life skills stuff that helps guys. We have everything from setting up bank accounts to managing their money well.”
At the moment, Malave is still laying the foundation for the franchise. The team is looking for a field to call home, but in the interim has been able to stay local with practice locations.
“I decided to branch out and start my own organization and bring in people I have worked with and have access to,” Malave said. “Right now we’re in the process of looking at a couple fields somewhere between South Brunswick and Hamilton. We want to be in that lower Middlesex/Mercer area.”
Malave, who played at WW-P South and went on to Rowan University, fell back on his Pirate roots when it came time to name the team.
“I wanted to bring back that green and gold and good football feeling,” Malave said. “That was my experience when I was younger in the game. We have the green and gold of the Pirates in there and we also have black jerseys and gray jerseys. But I wanted to make sure to pay respects to my Pirate roots.”
Malave isn’t rushing into anything with his franchise. He wants to find the right league and the right mix of players, coaches and management.
“We are looking at the MLF, which is under consideration,” he said. “But we’re also getting offers from a bunch of different leagues. Whatever league we play in we want to make sure it is proper and that the other teams are taking it as seriously as we are. There are some organizations that just get together on a Saturday and play. And then there are elite organizations that are more national level and that is the direction we’re looking to go in.
“Right now we are about a month in. The first day after we won our last game with the Capitals we started building the Pirates. We’re in the process of recruiting players and coaches. It’s the same thing with the coaches as it is with the players. We’re looking for guys who want to help build a coaching resume that might not have time to be at a school six or seven days a week.”
Malave has a goal of making the organization a bigger part of the community than just playing football games. He wants the players and organization as a whole to become part of the community.
“We are looking at everything from working in soup kitchens to Habitat for Humanity to Feed the Children,” Malave said. “We want to get them immersed in understanding what we’re doing as an organization and helping the community and giving back.
“Football has had a big impact in my life. Coach (Tom) Stuart is one of my favorite people in my lifetime. Right now we are gathering resources and building business relationships. It’s an exciting process and fun to see everybody getting excited about the process.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the New Jersey Pirates can visit the team’s Facebook page @njpiratessemiprofootball.
