A Ralph Waldo Emerson quote is among many inspirational messages lining the walls of Arkansas Athletes Outreach's P. Whitaker Sports Center, a four-court, 43,000-square-foot volleyball and basketball facility. It reads: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."
"Our mission is building champions for life through the transformational power of sports," says Frankie Rankin, director of development. "If you look around the facility, you can see that our messaging is really trying to inspire [our kids] and to motivate them to work hard, believe in themselves and try their best."
AAO’s Game Time Gala
When: 6 p.m. November 11
Where: Four Points by Sheraton, 211 SE Walton Blvd., Bentonville
Cost: Please see website for information
Information: aaoteam.org/gametim…
Founder and AAO Director Brad Freiss is a former University of Arkansas basketball player whose own experiences alerted him to the need for student-athlete mentoring opportunities.
"Obviously, sports played a big part in my life," he says. "But sometimes you grow up in a culture of sports where, because you are a good athlete, it's very easy to have a sense of self-entitlement built in, a somewhat distorted self-view. I was a part of that culture, too, but I was able to go to a summer sports camp when I was in college, and it was there that, for the first time, it just clicked. I said, 'Wow, I now see my true worth and my true purpose.' I felt like God had given me a platform as an athlete to really use this to benefit others, where before I had always kind of seen it as a way to benefit myself."
Freiss says that the organization's original mission involved working with University of Arkansas athletes.
"For 15 years, all we did was work with the off-the-field and court development of U of A athletes," he says. "We transitioned from that as we saw this emerging younger generation, and we thought, 'Let's take everything we've learned working with elite college athletes and bring it down to a local level for a youth athlete.'"
Freiss explains that AAO has four primary programming components: basic skill development and mastery to teach kids in grades one through 12 the fundamentals of basketball, summer basketball camps, a local basketball league and a regional basketball league.
"We now have teams that are based in Central Arkansas, and we also have them based in Northwest Arkansas and in Jonesboro," says Freiss. "Between the guys and girls teams, we have over 30 teams from across the state that we manage."
In the Northwest Arkansas region, Freiss says, they manage about 75 teams.
"It's quiet now, but you should hear it on the weekends," laughs Rankin, speaking of the huge facility, which is silent on a weekday. "From November to January, our gym is packed every Saturday from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m."
In addition to their basketball leagues, AAO also partners with Ozark Juniors Volleyball, which runs its programs at the AAO facilities.
Freiss says the coaching staff is one place that AAO distinguishes itself from other organizations.
"We've got a pretty stringent vetting system for our coaches and training, so what you're going to get is a higher level of coaching, a higher level of expertise," says Freiss. "You're going to get more time spent in a practice, so if you're on one of our teams, you're going to have two to three practice days a week."
AAO coach Trey Trumbo has worked with the organization for around five years.
"Today's adolescent spells love one way: 'T-I-M-E,'" he says. "The more time you can pour into them, the more they grow. The challenge is finding enough time in today's busy society to assist them to be the young men God intended them to be."
Trumbo says that AAO's focus is different from other organizations, too.
"We focus on developing the young man first, developing the basketball player second," he says. "We forgo the enticement to coach to win a youth basketball game today over developing skills and knowledge that lead to achieving long-term goals but are very difficult in the short term. We focus on excellence over success."
Freiss and Rankin say that the organization does not turn children away, regardless of their ability to pay.
"We have a policy that no kid will ever be denied access or participation in our programs," says Freiss. "If they have the commitment, the competency to want to be in it, then we provide a robust scholarship program for every child.
"One of the things that we've developed over the years is that we have a helping hand, not a handout, policy. We found that, if everybody pays something -- it might be $5 -- what we find is that ... there's a higher commitment level."
Last year, Rankin says, AAO gave out approximately $20,000 in scholarships. AAO events and fundraisers -- like the upcoming Game Time Gala -- provide critical funding for those scholarships, as well as help to underwrite the programs to keep costs low.
"If you look at other regional participation fees and registration fees for programs like ours, ours are much lower, because we want people to be able to participate," says Rankin.
Honorary host for the November 11 event is Dan Bartlett, executive vice president of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart.
The Game Time Gala is, Freiss says, a relaxed event that will allow each adult to just "be a kid" for one night.
"We really focus on setting this event apart from other galas in that it's more casual. It's a tailgating event," agrees Rankin. "You come in jeans and your favorite team gear, and we'll have tailgating games like Baggo.
"We keep it fun."
NAN Profiles on 10/30/2016