"The Kids That Are Always On The Baseball Field At Booker T. Washington High School"

This has been a great Legacy League Fall season thus far.  We are in our fifth week at Booker T. Washington High School serving over 70 Atlanta Public Schools (APS) middle and high school students.

Today we began our instructional games for two of our middle school teams as well as two of our high school teams.  Our Prospect Team played at East Cobb in a tournament.

In addition to our games, we received a day of exposure provided by a supporter of L.E.A.D. that purchased 90 tickets for our LEADers and their parents to attend the Georgia State University vs. University of New Hampshire football game at the Georgia Dome.

We walked 1.5 miles to the Dome from Booker T. Washington High School.  Of course there were several of our young and athletic LEADers complaining about walking.  I remember walking everywhere when I was a kid. What's wrong with these kids.  Lol!

Our special guest for today was eight football players from Joseph E. Brown Middle School.  Brown Middle School is one of new partner schools in the L.E.A.D. Middle School Baseball Development League.  We begin to track all of  middle school student-athletes in our partner schools in October and these young men will be joining us on the baseball field in the spring of 2013.

As we walked along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, I was reminded that this is the same street that Dr. King walked on as a child and adult.  We also passed by historic Morris Brown College and Clark-Atlanta University.  There is so much history in the inner city of Atlanta.  We were attending a football game but it was bigger than that. Several of our LEADers will be graduating from Georgia State University in the future.  They will be attending GSU football games as alums.  They will be donating money to university.

It was so important for us to walk today so that people in the community could recognize who were are.    We want to be seen as more than the "kids that are always on the baseball at Washington High School." We need fans within the community to support our LEADers.  We are committed to L.E.A.D. Today in order to Change Tomorrow.  There were several business owners and patrons that stop to ask us about our organization.  That was a great feeling.

We were escorted in the Dome with Tyler Reichwein who serves as the General Manager of Ticket Sales for IMG Worldwide.  We followed Tyler to mid field to take a group photo.  What an awesome feeling to be on the field of our Atlanta Falcons.  By this time, our LEADers had their eyes wide open.  For several of them, this was their first time inside the Dome.

After feeling like celebrities on the field, Tyler allowed us to spend some time in the Verizon Club.  This gave Kelli and I the opportunity to share our experiences as middle and high school students as well as college students when we attended Georgia State University.

Hanging out at the Verizon Club

My staff and I are equipped to provide a meaningful baseball development experience every time our LEADers step on the baseball field.  In order to convert their raw baseball talent to skills that will be attractive to college baseball scouts, they must have confidence.  When I was a kid, that confidence came by way of exposure.  I saw so much of Atlanta as a youth and I always felt connected.  I always felt like an asset to the city.  I want my LEADers to know that your success benefits Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia.

We are Georgia's Own!