LEXINGTON, Miss.: A winter solar is setting over the brown, patchy area the place Ronald Redmond’s children have been taking part in soccer since they have been 5. The goalposts are rusting and the fence is ripped. But Redmond is aware of what children who performed on this area have gone on to attain: highschool stardom, school scholarships and even NFL glory.
“Stay on that football field,” Redmond remembers telling his 11-yr-previous son, R.J., a middle and linebacker on the Lexington Colts youth soccer workforce. “You can go somewhere with that. … If you dedicate yourself to this football and your education, then you can go wherever you want.”
Tackle soccer is among the many solely leisure actions obtainable to children in Lexington and surrounding Holmes County, the second-poorest county in thenation’s poorest state. “The opportunity for kids is at a bare minimum,” Redmond mentioned.
Parents have good purpose to imagine in what soccer presents. According to an evaluation by The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism on the University of Maryland, three gamers on 2023 Power Five school soccer rosters have been from Lexington, the place the inhabitants is 1,154.
Put one other approach: One out of each 385 individuals from this majority-Black city in central Mississippi performed for an elite school program. It’s the perfect per capita price of any city with at the very least 250 individuals within the state — and among the many prime charges within the nation.
In Lexington, youth deal with soccer at minimal is a structured exercise that teaches self-discipline and retains children out of hassle. At finest, it’s a path to school, an opportunity at a greater life and a approach out.
“Football is a highlight of this community,” mentioned Paul Reeves, whose household oversees the Lexington Colts, “because for a lot of us, that’s all we have.”
Last yr, the Colts enrolled almost 40 children between the ages of 5 and 12. The program has additionally organized clothes drives and meals packages for the county, the place the median family revenue is lower than $29,000 a yr.
“We want to give hope to the kids in our area,” mentioned Reeves, the Colts’ defensive coordinator. “Their talent can get wasted if they get involved with the wrong type of activities.”
In a city the place 76% of residents are African American, each baby who performed final season for the Colts was Black. Only two white kids have signed up in this system’s 25 years.
“There’s really very little intermingling socially among the kids that are Black and white in this community,” mentioned Sherri Reeves, widow of the pastor who based the Colts in 1999.“And we got firsthand of that.”
It’s not simply soccer. There are indicators of a racial divide all through Lexington, the place a Confederate monument looms over the city sq., the police division is beneath federal investigation for civil rights violations and the colleges are segregated.
Parents are drawn to the Colts partly as a result of they hear about this system’s success tales — individuals like Corey Ellington, a former Colt who’s now a security at Mississippi State University. Or D.J. Montgomery, an NFL large receiver. Or Terrance Hibbler, one of many prime highschool gamers within the state.
Hibbler obtained at the very least 18 school scholarship presents earlier than deciding he would be a part of Ellington subsequent season at Mississippi State in Starkville, about 100 miles from dwelling.
The potentialities are what satisfied Redmond to enroll his sons in youth soccer.
“I just paid attention to that,” he mentioned. “I learned that the earlier they get into it, the better they’ll be on the field. So I just couldn’t wait for the opportunity to present itself.”
Marcus Rogers, the pinnacle soccer coach at Holmes County Central High School in Lexington, estimates that in six seasons, 60 of his gamers have earned scholarships to high schools throughout the nation. Even legendary former University of Alabama coach Nick Saban made a handful of recruiting journeys to Lexington.
For individuals in Holmes County, Rogers added, soccer “gives them something to be positive about. It gives them something to brag about.”
Local faculties, together with Jackson State University, Mississippi State University and Holmes Community College, supply educational scholarships to highschool college students who obtain minimal ACT scores. But in keeping with the Mississippi Department of Education, simply 20% of scholars at Holmes County Central met ACT benchmarks final yr for school and profession readiness, in comparison with 49% statewide.
“Whether you’ve got sports or not, it’s a challenge for kids leaving places like Holmes County, moving into life because there’s so many things they have to overcome,” mentioned Rep. Bryant Clark, who represents Holmes County within the Mississippi legislature.
“Football and sports afford them opportunities to be able to go to college (and) get a free education,” Clark mentioned. “And whether they go further out after college in football is one thing, but the sky’s the limit as far as being able to get out of college, have a degree and be able to be a productive citizen.”
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Sapna Bansil reported for the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism within the Philip Merrill College of Journalism on the University of Maryland.
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
