The tensions that arise on game day for Pittsburgh's midget football teams often have less to do with team rivalries than ongoing beefs between the team's neighborhoods. With that in mind, organizers decided to use the All-Star game to bring everyone on the same team.
The Housing Authority of Pittsburgh and the One Hood Coalition came together to host the first annual "One Hood Midget Football Pro-Bowl" Nov. 19. While the purpose of the game was to recognize the accomplishments of roughly 320 young athletes from Southwestern Pennsylvania and Allegheny County Midget programs, the event was also meant to promote unity among all players.
"It's important they stress the fact that we're all from one community and we need to begin breaking down barriers between us," said Richard Morris of the Housing Authority.
"We hope some kind of bond or friendship will come about," said Bob Poston, president of the Midget Football League. "Hopefully, through this, we can stop some of the violence."
Understanding that it would take more than a single football game to unite young people used to being adversaries on and off the field, Morris reached out to the One Hood Coalition to help spark a dialogue between them.
"They asked us to come in to do a workshop to engage young people in conversation about popular culture and how (it) influences daily decisions," said Paradise Gray of One Hood.
The Nov. 17 workshop invited young people from throughout the community to join the more than 400 youth football attendees to a community forum on violence prevention. As the youth were encouraged to create alliances with one another despite being from different teams and communities, they were lead by example through moderators from the One Hood Coalition and the violence prevention initiative One Vision, One Life.
"It's always positive when all types of organizations from all the different communities can be represented at one table," said Khari Mosley of One Hood. "It's really important to have groups like "One Vision, One Life" involved, who have been doing a lot of work on the ground for the past couple years. Now there's new organizations like "One Hood" coming into the fold as partners trying to assist a lot of the good work that's been going on."
To pay homage to their efforts in bringing the community together, One Hood was promised a $500 check from the Housing Authority. But for all parties involved with the Midget Pro-Bowl, the true reward came from seeing kids from Homewood to Beltzhoover form bonds that may not have existed otherwise.
"I think it's a wonderful thing that they brought everyone in the communities together," said Marilyn Stubbs of Beltzhoover, whose son Keenan played for the Southwest All Stars. "This last week, his experience has been so wonderful that he's been coming home from practice talking about "Mom, I played with this team and that team I was playing against. We all came together and became as one."
By Deborah M. Todd
Full Story In The New Pittsburgh Courier
http://www.myspace.com/paradisegray
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