CINCINNATI — In a baseball field in Avondale, someone turns on a car parked in the outfield. The sun went down 30 minutes ago, but football practice is still going.
After sprints lit by headlights, Coach Jared Ward huddles his players. The engine rumbles nearby.
“It’s more than just football. It’s more than that,” Ward said. “It’s school. It’s life. It’s your future.”
The players nod.
“Whatever you want to do, we’re here to help you get there,” he said. “Because over here we’re a family. You got that?”
The players respond quickly.
“Yes sir.”
For Ward, this team is about hope. It’s a new post-graduate program designed for kids who couldn’t play in college because of grades, money or lack of recruitment. Ward said it’s the only team like it in Ohio.
“Some of these guys never thought they’d have a chance to play football after high school,” he said. “This gives them a second chance. It gives them an opportunity to be anything they really want to be.”
Ward knows more than most how important that is. Last fall, he drove a player home after practice. The 15-year-old was shot and killed later that night. Ward helped plan the funeral.
It was not the first time he lost a player to gun violence. It’s part of the reason he coaches this team without any pay.
“They need people that are going to be in their corner — even when they’re wrong,” he said. “And I’m proud to be part of that.”
Red gloves hanging out of his pants, LJ Conyers runs to the football. Conyers grew up in Cincinnati and moved away when he was 11. When he graduated high school in Texas, he didn’t know what to do without the sport.
He moved back here to continue pursuing his dream.
“At first, I was nervous. I didn’t know nobody. But I met these people, and they made me feel like I’m back at home,” Conyers said. “They made me feel like I deserve to be here.”
And that’s the goal for Cincinnati United Athletics. To help these young men earn an opportunity to play in college. Or succeed in whatever else they want to do in life.
“These kids are not just saying woe is me. They’re dreamers,” Ward said. “They’re believers. They’re focused on making their dreams come true.”
And so the team practices in the outfield of a baseball field, in a public park with no lights.
“Let’s go!” Ward said. “Run it again!”
