Education is not simply a 9:00am to 5:00pm profession. Education is a profession that one must live and breathe daily in order to become a remarkable educator. Teaching is a nonstop learning experience for great coaches and educators. In this day and age of youth violence, drug abuse, economic hardship, and single parent households, coaches and educators often act as part-time parents for young people. Today’s coaches and educators must be more than what is listed in their job description. We are role models who often represent a constant sense of stability for children in our incredibly unstable world. Everyday we are blessed with the opportunity to touch lives and mold the future minds of our country.

GridIron Institute strives to make a lasting impact in communities throughout the United States by incorporating the excitement of athletics with the fundamentals of education in a safe environment for all participants. As a leader in the field of sports and education, all children deserve high expectations for success. Parents and students respect leaders who lead by example. It is important that leaders in education and athletics establish consistent lines of communication with parents and guardians. At GridIron, it is vital to be fair, consistent, and respectful. A true leader must use all of these qualities to coach, mentor, and educate children regardless of economic status, culture, religion, sex, and race. We will use athletics as a method to teach young people the values of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, teamwork, self respect, discipline, and achieving long-term goals through education.

Written by Marcus G. Davenport

Hi my name is George. What I think about football is that it is a great sport to enjoy and participate in. Even though I don’t play as much, I love to watch the games. My favorite team is the New York Jets, I am for them all day, every day. They did well in the Superbowl. They were close to taking the winning, but they only ran a certain distance. I have faith in them trying to take the title this year.

To me football is very interesting because there is a lot of action going on at the same time. Players are getting hit by defense, the quarter back is either getting sacked, taking it in, or throwing it to his receiver. Football is a very rough sport especially when the Superbowl is here, because a lot of teams are all very competitive and are energized and eager to win, so in that case they would do what they have to win. I love the suspense towards the end of the game when both teams are really fighting to win the game and the scores are close. It gets crazy and to me it’s exciting!

Written by George Jr., a student in the Rutgers Future Scholars program. The Rutgers Future Scholars program is designed to provide academically promising young students from the university’s home communities of Newark, Camden, Piscataway, and New Brunswick with opportunities for educational growth, social development, personal enrichment and economic support. 

GridIron G.A.N.G in collaboration with Michael Anthony’s NJ hosted a Draft Day Luncheon that was filmed by ESPN and NFL.com for the first round draft pick Patrick Peterson. Special guest, Trent Williams, last years #4 overall pick for the Washington Redskins, was in attendance.

Now that the football lockout is resolved, fans are getting hyped about the 2011 NFL Draft– as players are getting traded, re-signed, or released as teams prepare for the next season. The news has been going on a frenzy by closely following this topic, seeing where players will finally sign and what teams are getting who. Multiple high-stake deals have been offered to players– in hopes of getting the perfect player to complete their ‘ultimate dream teams.’ The NFL lockout has grabbed various news attention, especially with the dedicated fans and enthusiasts following the off-season more closely than ever.

Inevitably, Twitter has taken the Internet by storm as followers keep tabs on what’s happening through sports writers, news organizations, and team accounts. According to social media site, Mashable.com, 2 of the top 10 trends on Twitter involved football and the NFL in the past week. Hash-tags with players names and football teams have been all over the Twitter atmosphere, with followers tweeting about the NFL draft predictions and expressing concerns for certain choices. Many of the rumors and whispers of player’s moves have broken out on Twitter– way before the media got the news!

In fact, the digital media increase and usage has surprised many. According to TVbythenumbers.com, “NFL network viewership triples & NFL.com traffic doubles– as fans flock to free agent frenzy. Fans have been tuning in and logging on to the NFL network and NFL.com in record numbers since the list of 2011 free agents was released. NFL Network’s coverage of free agency, trades and cuts from Tuesday to Thursday (7/26-7/28) posted a 288 percent increase in average total day viewership over the same time period last year with an average of 186,000 fans tuning in. NFL Network had live coverage from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET each day. In primetime, NFL Network averaged 290,000 viewers over the three days – a 202 percent jump over 2010.”

As the draft continues and the leftover players continue to find a new spot to call home, the NFL’s digital media platforms are increasing in millions of unique users constantly logging on to check the latest updates of the NFL draft and round-the-clock free agency news coverage. Not only are these users searching for information, they’re also dishing out their own opinions of team picks, by starting and engaging in interesting and heated conversations in the digital world.

With the final picks in the works, fans and savvy sports writers are betting who will make it to the 2012 Superbowl. New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles, and Green Bay Packers are tied as favorites in odds of making it. The Colts, Steelers, Jets, Falcons, and Saints are also up there in terms of a ‘good team’ this season. However, being the early season favorite does not necessarily mean they will be in the post-season. But with all the hype and talks about the players and teams– one thing’s for sure,  it’ll definitely be an intense football season!

Written by: Dennett Davis

SOM/Office of Child Support