Rahmeen Fleet knows that being a student athlete is hard, but he focuses on overcoming his hurdles and speaking up in the locker room to help his teammates.
“I think what I do to help the football community is support my teammates and coaches’ dreams,” Fleet, a student at Vaux Big Picture High School and a football player for the team, said. “I also try to be there for my teammates on and off the field. I give my teammates the space to be vulnerable.”
Fleet also acknowledged what it is like to be a student-athlete and the challenges he could face.
“I would describe it as a beautiful thing, but it can also be stressful. The reason I say beautiful is because, as an athlete, you can build a bond with people who you probably don’t know, and your school most likely looks up to you,” Fleet said. “It does get very stressful, but I take deep reflection days to make sure I don’t get overwhelmed, and I also try to stay disciplined and stay on top of doing my work in class.”
Vaux Cougars head coach Robbie Marsden had a difficult beginning to the program that he started. It took time to find the ins and outs for a winning culture. He did not expect his players to instantly figure out what football is all about, playing for each other on and off the field.
Marsden started a football program at Vaux Big Picture High School to give the kids the same appreciation of the game he had. Entering his fourth season as head coach, this program is turning into what he envisioned.
“The reason I became a head coach is because I got to the school that had kids that wanted to play football but didn’t have a team, and then an opportunity presented itself to start a team for them,” Marsden said. “Football has been impactful in my life and has really given me my identity and my discipline. Knowing how impactful football was for me, I wanted to provide that outlet and that opportunity for the kids at the school.”
Community leader and assistant coach Jordan Holbert seemed highly encouraged by what Marsden was building in his program and encouraged more community support to nurture the Cougars in the neighborhood he grew up in.
“You can like to instill things in kids and like to build a real community with the kids, show them what is around them and tell them to build from that,” Holbert said. “As an organization, we’re going to have community involvement. We’ll have parent involvement and alumni involvement for the first time. Like taking a program that didn’t have alumni. To be able to have alumni that are coming back and asking and like beating down the door to be involved is cool.”
Vaux Big Picture High School is located off West Master Street, within Sharswood. While the student-athletes on the team try to balance their lives in the classroom and on the field, they can face challenges within their community, while Holbert hopes to clean up the area with different ideas.
“It’s an area that’s changing. So just sort of come out and say this is an area that is gentrifying. So, I interact with people who are in all parts of that gentrifying neighborhood. And it gives me a unique perspective. And like with that unique perspective, I almost feel like it’s my job to expand on it,” Holbert said. “Let’s just be productive. What we’re doing isn’t working. This isn’t a radical idea. It’s simple. Just give kids things to do and the resources.”
Statistics reveal several issues facing the neighborhood. Poverty has long been a problem in Sharswood, and there have been many gaps in some categories that fall under this issue that have a considerably greater percentage in Philadelphia, contributing to the negative consequences on student-athletes and community members alike.
The Vaux football program continues to find ways to engage the local community. Fleet has his own suggestions.
“I do have an idea for team bonding,” Fleet said. “I want to take the football team to volunteer at an old people’s home, and maybe one day they can come see us play.”
Marsden, Holbert, and Fleet all share ideas of how they can improve the community while players and teammates thrive in the area, they practice and play in. The three leaders also have big aspirations for the future of the team and how community members can ensure the Cougars get the support they need to succeed.
“I would love to boost parent engagement, it is something that Jordan and I both really want, I just do not know what it looks like,” Marsden said. “I think we have had parents who are really committed and responsive, and I am going to take that and grow it with their support.”
The Cougars are now starting to find success, coming off their first winning season.
“I think right now my mindset is that finally we’ve gotten to a point where we’ve built in consistency and culture, and we have a group of kids that care about each other,” Marsden said. “We may not be as talented on the top end, but we care about each other more. I think that’s where we’ll really start to see more success.”
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