Throughout the years, we have discovered countless ways to help our community. For instance, we can volunteer our time at shelters, or participate in neighborhood cleanup initiatives. We can keep an eye out for suspicious activity as part of our neighborhood watch programs. Sometimes it can even boil down to something as simple as recycling. However there’s a “community within a community” that could use all hands on deck so-to-speak and it’s source of assistance is coming from an unlikely, yet willing and able set of minds and influential organizations.
According to the NCAA and their Estimated Probability of Competing in Athletics Beyond the High School Interscholastic chart, there were 1,109,278 players on 14,226 teams playing football in this country. Specifically in Florida, that number was 38, 268 participants on 529 teams. The NCAA estimates that on a yearly basis there are 18, 947 roster positions available to freshman. The chances of making it from high school to an NCAA Program? 6 percent. The chances that same 6% make it from the NCAA to the NFL or any other league? How about 0.08%? So how do we band together and help this “community” of ours?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers along with Unsigned Preps are teaming up to provide a one-day student-athlete transition program designed to benefit Bay Area players who have already signed national letters of intent. This educational event is slated for Saturday May 14th from 9:00am-2:00pm at One Buccaneer Place and will be conducted by Head Coach Raheem Morris, assistant coaches, team officials and players. In many regards, it is the prep equivalent of an NFL Rookie Symposium and will look to take the same comprehensive approach to educate the young men of what’s to be expected at the next level from a variety of issues.
“Just being able for me to talk to someone and answer the things I needed answered in high school and college was huge. There were things in high school and certainly in college where I had very little idea about what was going on.” said Ricky Sailor, Founder of Unsigned Preps; a company designed to help enhance the exposure in addition to the non-athletic pressing issues such as academics, social and familial obstacles, and so on.
The core elements of career development, decision-making, media preparation/use of social media, substance abuse, and time management will be stressed. The program was created out of ideas and experiences from locals Eric Vance, the Director of Player Development for the Bucs, (who just so happens to be an award-winning Educator from Robinson High School in 2005); Sailor, a former 2-Time All American at Butte Junior College and Academic All-Big 12 at Texas Tech, as well as Domey Battle, the President of Unsigned Preps. Sailor is also the Defensive Coordinator for the State 3A Champions Jefferson High School.
The program is unique to the Tampa Bay Area and the Buccaneers are the only team in the NFL to have a program such as this kind within the community in the United States. With over 86% of Student-Athletes from Major Division 1 Programs reporting that their athletic experiences strongly prepared them for life after graduation, it’s paramount for the young men to get a better understanding of how to make college work for them the best way possible. As Vance points out, “It is really designed to help the high school student-athlete transition to college life.”
Couple that with 56% of college athletes attributing their sports backgrounds to helping their careers beyond the playing fields, and you’ve got the recipe for some pretty amazing things for yourself beyond football which is why a program such as this can be a revolutionary experience in today’s world. If you’re paying attention to the message that’s being delivered.
The concept of educating the young minds of tomorrow is something that is by no means foreign to Bucs Director of Player Development Eric Vance. A Graduate of Vanderbilt University with a major in Math, along with a minor in Secondary Education, Vance was the 2006 Recipient of the Ida S. Baker Distinguished Minority Educator of the Year Award while at Robinson High School. “I’m still a Knight at heart. I’m very proud of what they’ve done.” Vance was also Sailor’s Mentor while Ricky was attending Leto High School and the two have remained very close since.
“When you’re a ball player you don’t completely understand the influence you may have over someone. I didn’t know the impact I had on him (Ricky) until he had already graduated and started succeeding beyond the playing fields.”
One thing is very clear. They both have an insatiable need to see kids succeed while having the right tools to work with in the process. Although they’ve achieved success on the field, they understood that it wouldn’t be forever and started planning ahead accordingly. They are extremely practical in their approach and convinced that these are things that can only arm the student-athlete with more mental ammunition. Something as simple as addressing the pitfalls of Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace and how one post can change it all. “I had a player lose a scholarship over a Facebook post.” said Sailor. Stories like that will most certainly be shared as a part of the brutal honesty necessary to get through to some athletes in this day and age.
It can be very difficult to make sense of it all; especially if there isn’t someone always available to provide the necessary guidance. Which is where these two forces collide. Vance sums it up perfectly. “It’s not just about the right place at the right time to do this. It’s also about the right people. This program will work you from the neck up.”
BCP YouTube Video