2011 Freedom Academy Roster

# Player Name
1 Aaron Gokman
2 Caleb Killough
11 Chad Clay
21 James Davis
22 Michael Adcock
23 Gary Hamner
31 Johnny Kryminski
32 Joey Lawrence
33 Sammy Reynolds
34 Ben Reeb
41 Luke Hamner
42 Brady Franks
43 Colby Randolph
44 James Williams
50 Jake Hill
51 Gaelen Clark
52 Kemper Gokmen
53 Noah Cain
61 William Moffatt
62 Earl Wells
64 Silas Clark
71 Matt Edwards
72 Jack Dooley
73 David Dunbeck
81 Lawrence Isles
83 James Jones
94 Robert Gordon
95 James Spivey
96 Matt Dennison

Faithful Football: Freedom Academy Cowboys teach purpose, prayer, principles and plays

Published: Friday, August 19, 2011, 6:00 AM
By Kay Campbell, The Huntsville Times

Enlarge Bob Gathany, The Huntsville Times Coach Kyle Collins talks with players. Freedom Academy Cowboys homeschool football team during practice. (The Huntsville Times/Bob Gathany)Freedom Academy Homeschool Football gallery (15 photos)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Volunteer football coach Kyle Collins aims to make every one of the boys playing for Freedom Academy’s Cowboys, think about quitting football. That’s one of the first blocks he throws at kids who join the Huntsville-based Christian football team for homeschoolers, private school students and at-risk boys.

“I want them to get to that stage – and then work through it,” said Collins, who walked on at Auburn University during the Bo Jackson years and eventually worked his way onto the team’s starting line-up. “Because in life, in their family or marriage or job, there are going to come times when they want to quit, and you have to work through it.”

Showing up, working hard, taking hits and getting up, helping teammates, and pushing yourself when you thought you had nothing left – all the skills that football takes are also what it takes to be a godly man, Collins said.

“And we’re trying to grow godly men in a generation that I’m not sure knows what godly manhood is,” Collins said.

Sure, he’d also like to win some football games, and they do. Founded in 2004 as part of the outreach to at-risk boys, Freedom Academy put together an eight-man team, going on to win the National Association of Christian Athletes’ Division 1 championships in both 2007 and 2008. Alumni of the team have won scholarships at NCAA Division 1 universities.

In 2009, Freedom Academy moved to an 11-man team. After their showing in the 2010 National Homeschool Football Tournament, the team was asked to join the Atlanta league. Atlanta? “Yes, we have to travel,” said Lorie Hill, cheerleading coach and wife of team and academy co-founder Brett Hill. “There are not that many homeschool football teams.”

Tim Tebow’s legacy

In fact, the Freedom Academy team is the only homeschoolers’ team in the region. Statewide, it’s estimated there are at least 30,000 homeschooled children. While some states’ athletic associations, including Tennessee’s, allows homeschoolers to play for the school into which they are zoned, if local school boards agree, Alabama does not. Bills named for Tim Tebow, the Heisman-winning quarterback, a homeschooler who played for a Florida public high school, are pending in both Kentucky and Alabama to change the state law here.

But even if the law changed, Hill and Collins can see a need for the Christ-centered team. Freedom Academy does more than just provide football, they said.

“This is a ministry to me,” said Collins, a lawyer whose day job is as senior vice president of Colonial Properties Trust. “I use football as my pulpit. “Through what they face, what we face together, we build a bond. I don’t believe in building self-esteem; I believe in challenging them, so when they overcome the challenge, the self-esteem will come.”

The kids learn the plays for the field and for life, Collins said. “Anybody who has ever played this game understands that it takes a lot of sacrifice, a lot of work,” Collins said. “It’s like life. You have to put your time in now – staying in school, doing your work, being responsible – if you want to reap the benefits later.”

Sponsored by parents, businesses, congregations and individuals, the expensive sport runs on prayer sometimes.

“You can spend $20,000 just like that,” said Brett Hill, a minister who helped start the team in 2008. “It’s the most expensive sport you can do besides hockey.” But it’s worth it, he said. “Football is the only game I know where a boy out here has to literally, physically, put his body on the line for his fellow players – and that’s no different than Christ laying down his life for us.” “I don’t know of any better tool to mentor boys,” Hill said.

The Freedom Academy Cowboys’ coaching staff includes alumni of both Alabama and Auburn football programs. Both the football team and the cheerleading squad are open, without try-outs, to area homeschool, private and at-risk students. On-going enrollment.

Information about supporting the athletic ministry posted at the team’s website: www.FreedomAcademyCowboys.com, FACowboys@yahoo.com, 256-476-8710.