Members of the Gainesville Red Elephants football team streamed into City Park Friday morning to the applause of men lining both sides of the narrow paved pathway.
Kick-off for the Spring Scrimmage against South Gwinnett High School was still over eight hours away. The players weren’t at Bobby Gruhn Field to do battle on the gridiron at this early hour; rather this event was for the players to meet the men who hope to become mentors in their lives.
Phil Brown is the Director of Development, Graduate Relations and Military/Peacemaker Scholarships with The Master’s Program and he head-manned Friday morning’s gathering. Brown has worked diligently to pair men in the community willing to mentor the next generation with young men from Gainesville High School.
“We started two years ago and wanted to find men in the community that would come alongside our players, and pour into them and be available to them for whatever they have in the way of a need,” Brown said.
Brown says the goal of the program is to build relationships that are life-long, not just during football season or the players’ time in high school. “Our goal is to raise-up young men who will become men in the community, who will become leaders in the community, and have a heart to do likewise for a young man when they become adults.”
GHS head football coach Heath Webb addressed his team as they sat in on the bleacher seats next to their assigned mentor. “We’ve got a lot of new football players here today. We’ve got a lot of new mentors here today. We’re still trying to figure this thing out; we’ve been off for fifteen months.”
Webb was referring to the effects of COVID-19 and the need to social distance. “It’s been fifteen months since we’ve had a chance to do this. We’ve got mentors that have been wanting this; we’ve got players that have been needing this…to have men from this community who take time to reach out and dedicate their time and efforts, in order to better young men.”
“I’ve been the head coach at three different schools, and at three different schools we’ve tried to make something like this happen, and it took Gainesville to make it happen,” Webb said emphatically.
Carter Loyd sat next to Michael Thurmond, chatting and enjoying a breakfast sandwich. Thurmond is a 2000 graduate of Gainesville High School; Loyd will graduate in 2024.
Despite the generational difference Thurmond and Loyd were relaxed and shared a laugh. “We’re getting to know each other. If I need something I know he can help me out. It’s a good connection,” Loyd said.
Thurmond said his involvement as a mentor is because of what happened to him when he attended GHS. “Somebody did this to me, somebody was a mentor to me; I had several mentors and I know that ‘changed men change men’.”
“So I can help my young brother out right here to be better, and hopefully he’ll come back and do this one day,” Thurmond said.
For more information on the mentoring program contact Phil Brown at (714) 315-3042.
