Play it Smart: Building on Success

By Annie McCallum

Published: October 12, 2008

Lynchburg City Schools put its faith in a new program for at-risk student athletes last year when it pledged money and support.

Now the Play It Smart program, sponsored by the National Football Foundation and carried out at 159 schools nationwide, has been in place at Heritage and E.C. Glass high schools for about two months.

Funded by the NFF, community donations and city schools, the program puts academic coaches in schools solely to help athletes with schoolwork, community service and college prep.

High expectations and community-wide curiosity have put the fledgling program in the spotlight. So far, Lynchburg’s two coaches are finding their positions to be malleable. They say success comes through trial and error and relationships are essential.

“A lot of this job is just talking,” said Gavin Davis, E.C. Glass High School academic coach.

Gavin Davis and Heritage High School coach Maggie Davis (the two are not related) said motivating students and letting them know someone cares is crucial.

Both report early success stories. They cite students who were struggling and took advantage of the extra support, or students who previously had not considered college but now are enrolling in tougher courses to expand their options.
Both coaches questioned what would happen to these students without Play It Smart.

“They would just kind of fall through (the) cracks,” Gavin Davis said. “I feel the focus wouldn’t be on them.”

Maggie Davis nodded.

“I’ve got a lot of similar situations,” she said. “I’m just trying to seal the cracks.”

She wants her students to buy into the program, respect themselves and ask what is possible. For some of Play It Smart’s students, it’s the first time they’ve been asked what they are capable of and told they are special.

Both coaches said right now they are primarily working with football players, but other athletes have approached them. The coaches hope to spend more time with other athletes once football season ends.

“The word is out,” Maggie Davis said, adding she’s had plenty of athletes approach her for help with the college application process.

The focus on higher education and raising student achievement are both a major component of the program. The NFF reports participating schools have increased SAT scores, GPAs, graduation rates and numbers of student athletes going to college.

As part of the program, both coaches work with students in study halls before and after school. An after-school study hall is mandatory. At both schools, the study halls can sometimes appear chaotic.

At Heritage, there are about 80 students in the study hall, which is held for about 30 minutes each day. It is typically only the academic coach who is present to take roll, instill order and sometimes do a group activity.

Glass study halls, which are longer and not held daily, have about 125 students with a few football coaches or a teacher present to help.

Both coaches said they are still figuring out what works best for the afternoon study halls. At Glass, students who don’t need the additional study time collect recycling from classrooms.

Additionally, coaches are also stressing SAT prep during study halls. The Huntington Learning Center volunteers time to do SAT prep at some of the study halls. The first SAT of the year was given about a week ago and both coaches reported that plenty of students signed up.

While support for the program has come from both in and out of school, both coaches said they know they have to show results and make a difference for their students.

“Now the rubber is hitting the road,” Maggie Davis said.

So far, officials are pleased with the work that’s been done.

“I’m amazed at the progress they’ve made in a short amount of time,” said Al Coleman, director of secondary education. “All the pieces of the program they need to put in place they are doing.”

Coleman said the program’s success will be measured in data. For example, both coaches submit reports to the NFF detailing the percentage of students participating in community services activities and the SAT. They also submit the overall team grade point average and SAT scores.

“The data is going to reflect the significance of those relationships, because the data is going to show if they have that person they connect with. It makes a real difference in their academic achievement,” Coleman said.

“They (the coaches) are the person on site to help them through academic struggles or applaud their achievements.”