Baton Rouge Bulls Youth Sports Champions
We often never highlight the positive aspects of North Baton Rouge as well as the accomplishments of youth programs in the area. I want to highlight the extraordinary work of the Baton Rouge Bulls and there resiliency to win not only in sports, but also in this journey called 'Life'. The team makes me extremely proud because of their achievements and it deserves the honor and recognition on today. The Baton Rouge Bulls is the exclusive team of the Louisiana Educational Advancement Project (LEAP). The Baton Rouge Bulls were founded by Coach Ricky Collins, Coach Telford Williams and Coach Corey Taylor.
Head Coach Ricky Collins who many might remember as an exceptional football athlete at Mississippi State University in his youth, had a vision for the Baton Rouge Bulls Organization which was he wanted his players to be fundamentally sound. Coach Ricky's philosophy is to "Turn No Child Away" and this has been a proven fact for the Baton Rouge Bulls organization which has over one hundred and fifty children participating in team sports. Coach Ricky states "I believe that children are the future and some of them need a little extra encouragement. I want the Bulls organization to have such a positive impact on the youth that it will encourage parents to continuously want their children to be apart of. We have children who started with us that did not have any sports ability and currently, excel in the basics of various sports. We believe in taking the children as they are and building them up to as high as they can go. The Bulls organization has always been a dream of mind and to see us as champions is a dream come true. I want to just thank all my coaches, parents, supporters who made this possible and with out them it is no way we could have had the success we have had. Our mission is "One Team, One Dream". The Baton Rouge Bulls Baseball team has a truly remarkable story to have only lost one game in the last two seasons. " What the Bulls baseball team has accomplished this season to be undefeated was impressive and see these coaches sacrifice their time and work with these kids day in and day out is remarkable," said Daniel Banguel, CEO, Louisiana Educational Advancement Project. The Louisiana Educational Advancement Project believes in order to change the North Baton Rouge area, we must first change the culture of the community. The culture of North Baton Rouge has been plagued with poverty, violence, and failing education for the past decades and we believe that there is still hope for a brighter future.
Our mission is to make sure children of the North Baton Rouge area are equipped with the basic fundamental tools of life so that they may be successful. We believe in instilling in our children with character traits that will be essential to their future toward becoming a successful adult.
The character traits are: leadership, character build up, discipline, and determination. We will begin to systematically change the culture by impacting the youth of the community. Our programs consists of team sports,after- school learning, and community outreach. Our team sports programs will focus on the following: Learning how to deal with failure, Learning how to work hard, Learning how to work as a team, Learning how to make sacrifices, and Learning discipline. Our Education programs will focus on the following: After school learning, maintaining high academic achievements, and motivating young adults to obtain a higher level of education after high school. Our community outreach programs will focus on the following: Academic Gain, increase self-efficacy, learning beyond the classroom, and promoting team building. We believe that all of these things will change the foundation of our community "I am so proud that the Baton Rouge Bulls are apart of the Louisiana Educational Advancement Project; my prayer is that we continue to build the character and integrity in these young boys and girls,' said Banguel. Foe more info, www.leapla.org
