Teach One, Reach One

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Twelve-year-old Ethan Kast sits quietly at a folding table with a notebook open in front of him.

The East Manatee Bulldogs PeeWee defensive tackle, who occasionally gets bogged down with homework throughout the season, spends the next hour working on this week’s civics lesson during the Pop Warner organization’s tutoring program.

With the help of members of the Lakewood Ranch High basketball team and program coordinator Stephanie Heald, Kast is able to finish his homework before practice while also receiving advice and guidance from the Mustangs players.

“It’s nice because they take the time to come out and help you,” says Kast, who attended the tutoring program for the first time three weeks ago.

The East Manatee Bulldogs have a scholastics component that reviews the academics of its players and cheerleaders and requires that they maintain a 2.0 GPA throughout the school year. The organization started the tutoring program last fall as a way to support those athletes who may need help with schoolwork.

The program is held from 5 to 6 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the season at the Bulldogs field house. Athletes, ranging in age from preschool to seventh grade, spend time working on homework and character building with their tutors, who also serve as mentors for the younger athletes.

“They teach me about learning and tell me to work hard,” 6-year-old Emilie Roach says.

“It kind of makes me happy because I know someone else also cares a lot about me too,” 11-year-old Cameron Heald says. “It’s be fun because I’ve been able to work with kids younger than me.”

After a successful first year, Heald reached out to Lakewood boys basketball coach Jeremy Schiller about the possibility of his team getting involved. Schiller said yes without hesitation and began sending three players to each session.

“We try to do a lot of things to connect to the community,” Schiller says. “It’s a good opportunity for them to reach out and use their academic skills to reach kids and connect through sports. Other kids look up to them, and it’s nice for them to give back.”

Every Lakewood player volunteers for at least two tutoring sessions throughout the season. During each session, the high school athletes worked with two to three children. In addition to helping with homework, the volunteers also participated in brain breaks where they would toss around a football while getting to know the athletes.

“I thought it would be fun to work with the kids,” senior forward Cameron Darby says. “I thought it (might be) a droning process, but it’s actually been pretty fun. I also played Bulldogs when I was younger, so it was a good opportunity to go out and work with the kids.”

Teammate Sam Hester agrees.

“I just like working with little kids,” the sophomore guard says. “I just tell them, ‘If you don’t understand something try to do it anyways because you’ll get better.’”

Between 10 and 27 athletes attended this year’s tutoring program, which began Sept. 1 and concluded Oct. 16 with a pizza party for the participants. East Manatee plans to resume the program again in August when the fall season begins.

“Our motto is teach one, reach one,” Heald says. “It’s all about giving back. As long as it’s working, we’ll keep doing it. Without the high school boys, we wouldn’t have this program. Coach Schiller and his boys have been amazingly supportive of this program. His team really exhibits exemplary character traits that our younger athletes look up to.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].