WHEATFIELD — The Kankakee Valley High School football program will hold a youth camp on July 28-30 at the high school field.

Instruction will be held from 7-8 p.m. each night.

Kids will learn offensive position skills, defensive position skills, tackling and positioning drills. It will be conducted by KVHS head coach Kirk Kennedy and his staff and many of the Kougar football players.

The cost is $40 per player, which includes a t-shirt. The deadline to sign up is July 11.

Monday’s session will feature offensive position drills for quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and the offensive line. Tuesday’s season will introduce players to defensive position drills for defensive backs, linebackers and the defensive line.

The session on Wednesday night will be devoted to tackling and position drills, which will emphasize safe and effective tackling fundamentals.

For more information, contact coach Kennedy at jkennedy@kv.k12.in.us.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – WSFA 12 News wants to help highlight your youth baseball tournaments!

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Congratulations to all the teams, and play ball!

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Story Continues

Gresham Park comes alive as the sun sets over southeast Atlanta. Smoke rises from barbecue grills, Kendrick Lamar and SZA pulse through speakers, and the baseball fields are packed with Black youth chasing fly balls, hitting line drives and laughing under the lights.

Scenes like this are almost mythical in most American cities, where Black children have all but vanished from baseball fields. But here in Atlanta, the game is not only alive, it’s thriving and vibrant.

This didn’t happen by chance. For at least the past two decades, the Atlanta area has become a blueprint for cultivating Black baseball talent — a city where grassroots organizers, former pros and community leaders have built a thriving ecosystem of opportunity.

While other cities watched their Black baseball programs shrink, Atlanta doubled down — investing in coaching, showcasing players on social media, and creating a culture where young Black athletes don’t have to choose between loving the game and seeing a future in it.

Often viewed as a sport in decline among Black youth, that isn’t the case in the Atlanta area due to its travel ball powerhouses, community-based programs and development of the next wave of Black Major League Baseball talent that includes the likes of C.J. Abrams (Washington Nationals), Kristian Campbell (Boston Red Sox), Lawrence Butler (Athletics) and Michael Harris II (Atlanta Braves).

These standouts lead a quiet renaissance of sorts by representing a new chapter for Black athletes in a sport that has long struggled with diversity.

And Atlanta, the site of this week’s MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park, is leading the way.

While 6.2% of Black players appeared on MLB Opening Day rosters this season, a rise from 6% last season, 14 Black Atlanta-area natives were on 40-man active rosters. This area in Georgia has been so lush with talent that, since 2010, eight top-10 MLB draft picks have been Black players from Atlanta. In the 2022 draft, three Black Atlantans were chosen in the first round: Druw Jones (second overall), Kumar Rocker (third) and Termarr Johnson (fourth).

Atlanta’s baseball push in the Black community was intentional for former major leaguers like Marquis Grissom, who founded the Marquis Grissom Baseball Association (MGBA) during the last three years of his baseball playing career in 2003. His mission is to provide underserved communities with the opportunity to play in a competitive baseball league.

He sponsors travel baseball teams and provides mentoring and college placement assistance. Grissom said more than 40 players in MLB or the minor leagues have come through his program, and nearly 600 have received college scholarships.

Grissom initially started his program to help his son, Marquis Grissom Jr., who is a pitcher in the Washington Nationals’ organization. But Grissom said he realized most Black kids were missing out on proper development.

“I reverted back to recreation ball because we don’t want to leave any kid out,” said Grissom, who played 18 MLB seasons and won a 1995 World Series title with the Atlanta Braves. “We have the beginner, intermediate and advanced level from ages 5 through 12. And then we have 13 to 18 in the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program and different age groups for travel ball. We’re just trying to keep every kid engaged into the game.”

Atlanta native and Braves centerfielder Michael Harris II joined Grissom’s program when he was 14 and played in MGBA throughout high school. He remains involved in the offseason, working out with other youth in the program along with other major leaguers like Butler.

“I was attracted to [MGBA] because Grissom was really successful in the majors at the highest level,” Harris II said. “Seeing someone that looks like you from the same area, who had a lot of success in a sport you love, helps give you the drive that you kind of need.”

Former Chicago Cubs outfielder CJ Stewart’s program has also provided a need with the creation of his organization in 2007. Co-founded by Stewart’s wife, Kelli, LEAD (Launch, Expose, Advise and Direct) is a nonprofit that uses baseball as a vehicle to build life skills for boys in grades 3-12.

Starting last spring, the Atlanta Braves and LEAD launched a spring league in Atlanta Public Schools for elementary and middle school students. The program focuses on social-emotional learning by tracking growth through Hello Insight, a program that uses outcomes in social and emotional learning to help evaluate youth. And LEAD helped establish a pathway from recreational baseball to travel ball for Black youth who lack financial resources.

“We are a sports-based youth development organization,” Stewart said. “Our intentional use of sports is to help children make a healthy transition into adulthood.”

Since 2002, Mentoring Viable Prospects (MVP) has focused on providing opportunities and exposure for Black youth pursuing a college education by connecting them with college coaches and professional scouts. The nonprofit organization provides academic support and mentorship. According to MVP’s website, more than 500 players have earned college scholarships since its founding.

The organization was founded by Greg Goodwin, who won 70% of his games as head baseball coach at Redan High School in Stone Mountain. He was a four-time region coach of the year and in 2013 guided Redan to a baseball state title — Georgia’s first predominantly Black high school to achieve this feat.

Goodwin, now the executive director of athletics for Atlanta Public Schools, said he started MVP to squash the perception that Black kids weren’t playing baseball.

“We knew that was a lie,” Goodwin said. “Black kids have always played baseball in Little League and our parks are always overflowing. We tend to lose them at the middle school level to what some call the more glamorous sports. But many of us see baseball as a glamour sport and [Atlanta] has developed into the right place for [Black] players to develop and to be seen.”

The Atlanta area has also produced several elite Black baseball players because of premier travel programs like East Cobb Baseball and Team Elite Baseball. Former major leaguer Brandon Phillips and 2022 first-round pick Johnson (currently in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization) are alums of East Cobb. Team Elite’s MLB alumni include former Detroit Tigers outfielder Christin Stewart and current St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker.

The competition and exposure that travel baseball provides is so important that many Black families move to the Atlanta area partly for that reason. Campbell’s family moved from Tennessee to Marietta, Georgia, for East Cobb Baseball.

“For years, we were driving every weekend from Tennessee to Georgia so I could compete at the highest level,” Campbell said. “I benefited from the move because I was constantly close to the better players and the good coaching of East Cobb. Constantly being around that environment helped me get better.”

Atlanta’s success certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed, especially with the high volume of Black players attending college to play baseball and the major league players who have been produced. Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown, the lone Black GM in MLB, was vice president of scouting for the Braves from 2019-2022.

Brown credits the success of Atlanta’s youth programs and events like the Hank Aaron Invitational for keeping players interested in baseball.

“What’s weird is that in most cities, African American kids grow up playing football and baseball, but in Atlanta the African American kids are entrenched in baseball,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of baseball going on in that area, so you have these young players growing up getting a chance to show what they can do at an early age, and they continue to develop.”

With Atlanta emerging as a model for developing Black baseball talent and fostering a vibrant culture around the game, other cities now have a clear blueprint to follow. Resources like social media and platforms such as Black Baseball Media, Black Baseball Mixtape, the Jerry Manuel Foundation, and MLB’s The Players Alliance offer valuable insights into how to replicate Atlanta’s success.

But, according to Grissom, duplicating Atlanta’s approach requires more than just information — it demands a commitment to priorities.

“Nowadays, everybody wants to play game after game after game instead of practicing,” Grissom said. “You’ve got travel teams where guys just show up for the games. But the number one thing is development. If you’re fundamentally sound and constantly work on your fundamentals, that’s what creates greatness.”

TAMPA, Fla. — Matt and Trevor Glassman have the skills and resume to help young hoopers discover the love of the game.

The brothers are hosting a summer basketball camp this week at PickUp USA Fitness.

“I started playing basketball in the second grade and (Trevor) was pretty much my mentor,” Matt said.

Trevor Glassman

Matt followed his big brother’s footsteps as a walk-on at Manhattan University, eventually becoming captain and earning a Division I scholarship.

Trevor finished his college basketball career at the University of Missouri after winning a pair of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championships at Manhattan.

Kyle Burger / WFTS

“This is a dream come true for me,” Matt said. “I’ve always wanted to have a basketball camp, and to have my brother to help out, coach and run it, it’s amazing.”

“Matt has put a lot of time in and making sure that the youth in Tampa can not just enjoy basketball, but also understand what it takes to work hard and believe in yourself,” Trevor said. “That’s the message of this camp. We want players to get better, but also have confidence and have a fun time.”

It’s a full-circle moment for Matt, who is also the girls varsity head coach at Alonso High School.

The Glassmans are hosting a four-day camp for second-grade through ninth-grade students.

Kyle Burger / WFTS

“They’re going to teach me about all the stuff for basketball li,ke the journey, the adventure to be a better player,” camper Anay Seth, 9, said.

Matt and Trevor also want to use this camp to inspire kids to chase their dreams. That’s why each camper is wearing a wristband that reads, “I did it. You can, too!”

“As a seventh grader, I had a teacher ask me what I wanted to do in my life,” Matt recalled. “I told him, my goal was ‘to be a Division-I basketball player.’ And, he laughed in front of the class, in front of all my peers.”

Kyle Burger / WFTS

Matt hopes his own experiences can prepare the next generation for success both on and off the court.

“The whole reason I put that message on this wristband is that these kids can do whatever they want,” Matt said. “That moment in seventh grade stuck with me.”

“Coach, from every moment he had has made it clear that he was pursued his dreams and what he thinks is going to be the best way to come about that,” camper Georgia Price, a junior at Alonso, said. “Even more than that, his philosophy is never giving up on somebody, that’s made abundantly clear within his program.”

JAYS 8U

The AFSCME Local #418 Red team beat the Trophy House Yellow team 7-2.

Makeira Martinez had three goals while Moise Mulonda and Colton Martin each had two goals for Red.

Jordy Berg scored two goals for Yellow.

Goalkeepers for the AFSCME Local #418 were Storme Krause, Scarlet Dawson, Travis Parkhurst and Taylen Hannold.

Goalkeepers for the Trophy House were Liam McAdoo, Vincent Robbins, Olivia Michael and Mylo Crawford.

——

The Honest John’s Black team beat the Pearl City Cycle Green team 3-0.

Goal scorers for the Black team were Leo Bell, Myles Curtis and Emme Johnson.

Goalkeepers for Honest John’s were Aurora Caldwell, Katerina Parsons, Maurice Daniels and Elliot Panebianco.

Goalkeepers for Pearl City Cycle were Alvie Peterson, Emmy Madden, Elliot Forster and Aviana Mitchel.

——

The Rodger’s Land Surveying Purple team beat Fessenden, Laumer & DeAngelo Blue team 3-0.

Goal scorers for the Purple team were Niko Knight with two goals and Oakland Snow with one goal.

Goalkeepers for Rodger’s Land Surveying were Aubriana Gifford, Amelia Trusso, Theodore Culpepper and Rocco Yarber.

Goalkeepers for Fessenden, Laumer & DeAngelo were Nevaeh Duhan, Amelia Guzman, Carson Spare and Silas Triglia.

——

The Post-Journal Pink team beat the Lena’s Pizza Orange team 1-0.

Ezekiel Perez scored the lone goal.

Goalkeepers for The Post-Journal were Landon Hubbard, Tommy Paterniti, Brenna Paterniti and Ezekiel Perez.

Goalkeepers for Lena’s Pizza were Teghan McWilliams, DJ Figuero, Kenny Mallaro and Amiah Benitez.

JAYS 10U

Smile Ink downed Runnings 5-0.

Sawyer Anderson led the way with three goals, while Paityn Brown and Timothy Berry both added one.

In net for the winners were Timothy Berry, Julia Nelson, Owen Smith and Naomi Burgos.

Runnings’ goalkeepers were Elena Spence, Elizabeth Dossey, Remy Monn and Arabella Pollino.

——

Behind three goals from Charlie Robertson, two by Jayda Richards and one by Gianni Cruz, A+ Painting shut out Jamestown Pediatrics 6-0.

Olivia Figuera, Gieanna Sharp, Alec Harrington Jr. and Amelia Hoover were in goal for the winners.

Sharing netminding duties for Jamestown Pediatrics were Jackson Smith, Donnie Pappalardo, Oliver Schnars and Tessa Olson.

——

Jamestown Honda defeated Phone Zone 6-0.

Jase Randolph and Gave Randolph collected two goals apiece, and Josiah Torres and Isaiah Torres both scored one.

Deivon Rios Jr., Jocelyn Dole, Isaiah Torres and Josiah Torres were the goalkeepers for Jamestown Honda.

In goal for Phone Zone were Brandon Overbeck, Candence Horton, Shane Swanson and Sienna Overbeck.

——

Charlie Robertson’s hat trick helped A+ Painting to a 4-2 win over Phone Zone.

Gianni Cruz added the other goal for the winners, who had Alec Harrington Jr., Robertson, Gieanna Sharp and Josemilla Santiago Kercado in the nets.

Tucher Leone scored twice for Phone Zone, who had Cecelia Jimerson, Kati Giuffre, Myles Cassevoy and Sienna Overbeck between the pipes.

——

Smile Ink upended Jamestown Pediatrics 3-1.

Sawyer Anderson scored twice and Timothy Berry tallied once for the winners, who had Owen Smith, Julia Nelson, Naomi Burgos and Timothy Berry in goal.

Sofia Perez accounted for the lone goal for Jamestown Pediatrics, who had Luke Seely, Drew Cicelske, Ahlina Benitez and Adilynn Hancock in the nets.

——

Three goals by Gabe Randolph, two by Destiny Rodriguez and one by Nora Anderson, Jase Randolph and Devion Rios Jr. carried Jamestown Honda to an 8-0 win over Runnings.

Goalies for the winners were Gabe Randolph, Jase Randolph, Isaiah Torres and Arabella Tate.

Jameson Plachotnik, Remy Monn, Aylah Bair and Anna Johnson shared the goalkeeping duties for Runnings.

JAYS 12U

Karileishka Ramos scored twice and Asianna Anthony, Jayden Silliman and Bryce Kingsbury added one apiece to lead Dole Studio to a 5-1 victory over Luv Kia of Jamestown.

James Swarbrick tallied the lone goal for Luv Kia of Jamestown.

The goalkeepers were Karsen Silliman, Ramos, Julian Rivera and Damarion Hubbard for Dole Studio and Crimson Brake, Naava King, Martha Pound and Aiden Sajdak for Luv Kia of Jamestown.

SWSC U10

Andrew Tyler scored three goals and added one assist to lead Ulrich Faabricateion to a 6-1 victory over the Skyhawks.

Aerie Turner chipped in a goal and an assist, and Luke Stock and Matthew Hughes contributed a goal apiece to the winning effort.

Tyler, Turner, Hughes and Eloise Jagoda shared the netminding duties, while Lydia Voorhis Taya Curtis, Emilia Beebe, Caitlin McKernan and Hayden Benson played strong defense.

Tobia Gram tallied the lone goal for the Skyhawks, who had also served as a goalie along with teammates Violet Hanson, Lola Smrekar and Alec Hasson.