God has blessed L.E.A.D. once again with great participation in our Fall Legacy League.  We have 70  young men (LEADers) that have made the commitment to develop as servant leaders, students and baseball players.

Graduation Coach Louis Rhodes speaking to our LEADers

I love the fall because of cooler temperatures and SEC/ACC football.  The fall is dominated by football but if you drive by the Booker T. Washington High School Moore-Clendenon Baseball Field during the week, you will hear bats cracking.  Click here to check out our remaining Legacy League schedule.

Houston Astros prospect Chris Epps came to visit and mentor our LEADers at yesterday’s practice.  I began training Chris at the age of 15 at my Diamond Directors training facility.  He recently graduated as a student/athlete from Clemson University.  He is an amazing talent on the field.  We hope to see him in the coming years when the Astros come to Turner Field to face the Braves.

We will host our second community service project of the fall this Saturday at Booker T. Washington High School.  The following Saturday, October 6th, we will walk to the Georgia Dome from B.T. Washington to watch the Georgia State University football game.  I can’t wait to hear all of the complaining from all of these able body young men as they walk two miles. Lol. We are so much more than bats and balls.

We are always in need of volunteers and fans so make plans to join us for a practice, game or service project.  Click here to view our schedule.

Fall is officially here tomorrow and a drastic change of weather will follow. This is that time of year when I catch colds.

I am a “Dream Catcher” so being at Usher/Collier Heights Elementary was empowering to me. Atlanta Public Schools will once again rise as a district of academic and athletic excellence. It requires the creativity and a “make it happen” attitude from its leaders.

One of many words of inspiration throughout B.E. Usher Elementary School.

Golf is an amazing and nostalgic sport that I have grown to respect.  I consider myself a good athlete but this sport can not be mastered.  It requires so much time and mental focus.  Seems like it would be easy to hit a ball that isn’t moving.  This is the game that I play when I need a taste of humble pie.

Like Major League Baseball and the NFL, the PGA has a season.  The Super Bowl of the PGA is the FedEx Cup that is played annually in Eastlake Atlanta, GA.  This week, the best golfers in the entire world is in my hometown of Atlanta.  This is the last golf tournament of the season and it all comes down to Eastlake.

Our L.E.A.D. supporter Belk made it possible for us to invite 18 young men from The B.E.S.T. Academy to Eastlake for this golf experience.

One of the young gentlemen from B.E.S.T. came up to me with a firm handshake and looked me in my eyes and said “Thank you for providing this experience.  I have never done anything like this in my life.”  It became real to me that we were doing a good thing.

At the 18th Hole at Eastlake Golf Club

It made me think about how Atlanta can welcome the best golfers to our city and yet the best of our city can’t see our guest like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson.  The B.E.S.T. Academy without a doubt is producing future leaders for the United States.  These young men are assets to the city of Atlanta.  They didn’t get an opportunity to meet any golfers today but we were so close.  Nonetheless, they appreciated the experience and left feeling a sense of investment to the city of Atlanta.

That is Tiger Woods in the background. Sweet!

L.E.A.D.’s mission to provide at risk Atlanta males with access to higher education and civic engagement through baseball.  Today was civic engagement at a high level.  We had lunch at the 18th hole. Wow! How often do you get an opportunity to do that.  We also had access to the same Eastlake Golf Clubhouse as Tiger Woods.

Lunch at the 18th Hole at Eastlake Golf Club

Special thanks to Belk; Hope-Beckham Public Relations; Greg Boland, GE; Hajj Womack, B.E.S.T. Academy Middle School Principal; Lorrie Martin, B.E.S.T. Academy Parent Liaison; Barry Blackmon, B.E.S.T. Academy Teacher and Rendell Jackson, APS Office of Athletics.

I was born in 1976 in Atlanta, GA.  I’m a proud “Grady baby”.  I was around the age of 8 when I began to understand the tradition and legacy of Atlanta.  If the streets could talk, it would share stories of some amazing men in this city like Alonzo Herndon, Herman Russell, and Hamilton Holmes to name a few.

We are doing great work in the city of Atlanta through L.E.A.D. I often laugh because I know that there is no way that L.E.A.D. would have existed when I was a child.  Simply because there was no need.

I grew up playing at the Cascade Youth Organization (C.Y.O.) and we had hundreds of youth in year round programming.  There were thousands of African-American boys playing baseball throughout the city.  My C.Y.O. coaches were great mentors and put me on a life and baseball development path that I will never forget.

I was a member of a Boy Scouts Troop out of my church at Elizabeth Baptist Church on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.  I became a Webelo Scout before my baseball passion and commitment caused conflict with my scouting schedule.  My scout masters were great mentors and put me on a life and service path I will never forget.

I was a student at Grove Park Elementary School within Atlanta Public Schools (APS) from 1st through 5th grade.  I excelled academically and was exposed to some of the best that Atlanta had to offer.  I flew on a plane for the first time as a second grader while in Mrs. Jacob’s class.  I visited the Herndon Home as a third grader in Mrs. Blue class.  My teachers were great mentors and put me on a life, academic and civic engagement path that I will never forget.

In order to make impact in the inner city of Atlanta, you must close the history gap.  We all want to serve and make Atlanta a better place.  Atlanta has thousands of non-profit organizations that would have never existed 20-plus year ago.  To that end, you have to understand the history of the inner city  of Atlanta before you help the youth inside of it.  Often times, we place our flag of support in the ground without speaking to the pastors, teachers and community leaders that have been grinding here for years.  It all comes down to respect.

It takes a village to raise a child but if we don’t close the history gap, we can be viewed as an enemy.

I have been a fan and supporter of Sheltering Arms Early Education and Family Centers for three years.  The staff is amazing and the youth are truly being developed academically and socially.  I am convinced that our future Mayor of Atlanta, Governor of Georgia and President of the United States is being taught in a Sheltering Arms Center.

Sheltering Arms is Georgia’s oldest nonprofit early childhood education program, and one of its most respected. Our mission is to serve working families with high quality, affordable child care and education and comprehensive support services, as well as to provide professional development for early childhood educators and community outreach. Founded by Atlanta volunteers in 1888, Sheltering Arms now annually serves more than 3,600 children, ages six weeks to five years old, and their families, in 16 centers in 6 metro Atlanta counties. Sheltering Arms is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization.

I was able to read to a Pre-K age three class today and I had so much fun.  It was early morning and my coffee hadn’t kicked in yet but when a classroom full of three year old boys and girls scream, everybody wakes up.