Life is a little tougher for some kids than others. Just a generation
ago, the inner city neighborhood of Lonsdale in Knoxville was like
other communities with several baseball diamonds and basketball courts.
Only 15 years ago, there were community basketball games at the nearby
junior high andhigh school and hundreds of kids playing baseball. But that all changed when the schools closed in the late 1980’s. Four gyms and basketball courts were closed. Four of the five baseball parks were consumed by industrial expansion. Businesses closed. Church attendance dropped dramatically.
But the kids and their families are still there. For many children,
sports and recreation means playing in the streets or sitting at home.
So, the stage was set for lives of children to be impacted in a
powerful way through the compassion of Knox Youth Sports.
In the fall of 2003, the possibility that a season or two of
basketball and baseball would have a life-changing impact would have
been a wonderful dream. But then came reality. Four scholarships were
given to four boys for the 2003-’04 basketball season—and the story began.
Four boys first played basketball, then, a few months later, they
played baseball.
Those two seasons have created the most dramatic transformation of any
life I have ever witnessed. Is it only a coincidence that a 12-year-old
from Lonsdale would hit a grand slam the same month he became the most
improved TCAP student in his entire fifth grade at Lonsdale Elementary School?
A team sport builds character. And character changes lives. The
relationships nurtured during the transportation from our neighborhood
to Lakeshore Park in West Knoxville; the cheering of team members,
teachers, friends, and strangers for our kids; and numerous meals after
practice touched my heart deeper than I could have imagined. And they
have touched the hearts of some 50 Lonsdale children.
One window of hope for Lonsdale children has been opened by Knox Youth
Sports. Boys and girls from SOAR have now been on 21 different teams at KYS.
Many of us have new friends and our lives will never be the same. Thank you for caring.
Russ Smith
Executive Director, SOAR
KYS began an effort to bring children from inner city neighborhoods
into our basketball, baseball, and softball programs as long ago as the
1980’s. At that time a few coaches would venture into unknown
neighborhoods to pick up players for practices and games and return
them afterwards. That effort faltered. Again in the 1990’s that idea
resurrected by former board member and current Knoxville Mayor Bill
Haslam. A meeting with a number of leaders of inner city groups was
organized by Laurens Tullock, president of the Cornerstone Foundation
in Knoxville.
While it may have taken some time for the idea to take hold, this
coming basketball season KYS will enter it’s third year of a
partnership with SOAR. And it’s an effort that has had an effect on KYS
players and coaches as well as children from SOAR.
In 2003, the four players who played hoops were Ivan Freeman, Jacob
Johnson, plus Adam and Duane Bowman. They played on two different teams
and occasionally against each other. Practices were at the Waterside
Gym at Lakeshore and games at Webb School.
According to, Russ Smith, executive director of SOAR, he and the
players expected to have a little recreational fun that season. But, he
says, the boys learned team sportsmanship and they established
friendships. By the end of the season, all four boys came to appreciate
the friends who came to cheer them on at games.
Following basketball, each had been recruited to participate on
wrestling, baseball, and various football teams.
In 2004, all four along with eight other children played
baseball/softball. And Ivan, Jacob, Adam and Duane had never played
baseball before. The highlight of the season was a grand slam that Ivan
hit over the fence on Ruggles Field. Says Smith, the excitement wasn’t
just him rounding the bases or the dugout emptying and showering him
with cheers. The celebration also included the parents of the opposing
team! It was the only grand slam hit by a KYS league player in perhaps
ten years.
At the end of that first season, Adam and Ivan, both 12-year-olds,
played on the all-star team staff member Joe Riffey took to the city
tournament. Adam, who had wanted to play shortstop all season on his
league team, finally got his chance. Ivan, who wanted to catch all
season on his league team, finally got his chance, too.
The number of basketball participants grew to 12 last
winter. Last spring, 23 children played baseball/softball.
SOAR children often fall victim to emotional abandonment of adults,
the lack of opportunities which leads them to give up hope of improving
their situation, and “phenomenal trauma and chaos” of everyday living,
according to Smith.
He says that most Lonsdale children receive only a fraction of the
support while growing up that more fortunate children receive. It’s not
academic or athletic ability that holds such children back but it’s
their environment.
• They don’t eat enough nutritional meals.
• They’re from unstable single-parent homes.
• They’re subjected to traumatic stress resulting from neighborhood violence.
• They’re lacking in structured leisure-time activities.
• And they have far too few positive role models.
All these factors, says Smith, erode a child’s hope for the future.
KYS supported SOAR more in the just-completed baseball/softball season
than in previous seasons, when only scholarships were offered to all
Lonsdale participants. KYS underwrote the salary of SOAR staff person
Cookie Mills and repair bills on SOAR vehicles used to transport
children from Lonsdale to Lakeshore Park. And scholarships are still
provided.
Sports programs at KYS, he says, allow SOAR children to improve their
self-image, build their confidence, and learn what it means to play on
a team.
Lisa Light, principal at Lonsdale Elementary School, has attended
games her students play in and supports SOAR-KYS efforts.
When a child comes to SOAR for the first time, he receives a good meal
the very first day and every day there after. Some 500 breakfasts,
lunches, dinners, plus snacks are served each week at SOAR.
SOAR’s efforts concentrate on helping elementary school children
through a mentor program; an after-school program which concentrates on
math and reading; a summer school program; a program for the parents of
such children that teaches them how to be better parents; and summer
sports camp trip out of town.
SOAR youth ministries provides service to the children of the Lonsdale
area. Right now, SOAR is trying to raise funds to upgrade air
conditioners, windows, and bathrooms. Funds are also needed to match
grants from local charitable organizations as well as for office
equipment and new curriculum materials as well.