Coaches And Leaders In Action Bring A New Approach To Stopping The Violence

"Our children don't need more police, they need more coaches," said many proud observers of the victorious Jackie Robinson West Little League Championship Baseball Team. Ironically, this was not a public school team, but a team put together by volunteer coaches. Many sports programs in public schools have been cut out or slowly died out due to lack of funding, leaving youth idle and frustrated. Sports competition not only burns off energy, it builds qualities such as good sportsmanship, self discipline, teamwork, determination, self pride, and goal setting. A group of 50 coaches have decided to stand up and take back the leadership of their communities by going directly to those involved in gang activites and asking them to stop and instead get involved in wholesome activities as created by these coaches, men who are willing to give time to mentor young men and women through sports.Today they discuss the challenges of reaching out to those who have been disconnected from their families and communities and bringing them back to productive involvement, rather than negative, destructive behavior that leads to imprisonment or death. They discuss the strategies to be laid out at the next meeting, and the upcoming march planned to continue to galvanize the neighborhoods that are weary of gun violence and are willing to get involved in th efforts to end it.