Five years ago, a tradition to honor our nation’s military men and women was born. Coach Michael Favors coaches a group of Buford’s finest young boys in all things football as a part of the Gwinnett Football League or GFL. Favors received an email from the father of one of his players five years ago saying that he wouldn’t be able to make his son’s games, that he worked overseas. The father as it turned out was in the military.
That year, Favors’ football team sent a care package to that father’s military unit overseas. That care package would have a big impact on the father’s unit. They went on to present Coach Favors with an American flag at their banquet. The father explained just how much that package meant to the guys in his unit, the cards in particular.
Coach Favors decided to make it a tradition and each year in conjunction with Veterans Day, the boys on his team gather up items to send to the soldiers like calling cards, batteries, personal care items and more. The most coveted items in the care packages are the cards and letters that each player creates for the soldiers. The players look forward to this project each year.
Something so seemingly simple like gathering items for a care package for our troops can teach a valuable lesson to our youth. It teaches the boys about caring for others, how to organize/plan projects, and more. Coach Favors and his coaching staff consisting of assistant coaches Terrence Chandler, Chad Cole, J. J. Chatmon, Brian Boozer, and Brian McGraw, as well as, trainer Anthony Richey take their job of helping to shape our youth into productive, caring members of society.
The Buford 9-year-old National North team was second in their conference with a record of 8-1. They beat the Duluth National North team in the first round of playoffs on October 26 but were not able to beat Archer this past Saturday to continue in postseason play.
The 2019 Buford 9-year-old National North team members are #3 Armani Osorio, #4 Tripp Chatmon, #8 Hudson Favors, #12 Barnes McGraw, #15 Maddox Litt, #18 Bryce Carey, #25 Stone Thompson, #27 Ethan Collie, #28 Joel Busby, #32 Liam Cole, #34 Irvin Balenger, #36 Jackson Blankenship, #40 Cayden Holman, #46 Brennan Ford, #72 Cade Richey, #89 Boden Boozer, and #99 Kaan Azaklioglu.
— By Alicia Couch Payne
