International Academy of Flint even fielding a high school football team this season is in itself a feat.
IAF hasn’t finished a season without forfeiting games due to defections from already small rosters since 2021. Entering this season, that was also the last season the team won a game. IAF doesn’t have a home field, so they play exclusively road games, and for practices, they have to walk about a half mile to McKinley Park each day. To say the program has had some challenges is an understatement, but first-year coach Gerald Bateman was undaunted when presented with the opportunity to keep football alive at the school.
“For the last couple of years, I’ve been in the building,” said Bateman, who also teaches at IAF. “I’ve walked through and I’ve seen that these kids are no different than kids anywhere. They have what it takes to win, it just takes the right person to come in and bring it out of them and get them to believe in themselves.”
After being unsure whether the program would continue after last season, Bateman and his staff kept the program going at the junior varsity level this season. Their first step has simply been to try and instill confidence and begin building a culture. They do still have a small team, but there is some leadership from upperclassmen who have stuck with football despite the program’s struggles and, for the first time in recent history, there is some buzz in the school about football and a team that is actually growing.
Seeing a Tangible Result
The first step for any new coach, especially a coach taking over a program that has dealt with a lot of losses and challenges, is simply getting players to believe. Bateman has experience – he coached for two years in Grand Blanc’s middle school program, and then spent nearly nine years coaching in a Montrose program that has historically been one of the Flint area’s most successful small district football programs.
Bateman’s focus as a head coach at IAF has been taking what he’s learned in previous roles and applying it here.
“Kids thrive on energy, kids thrive on excitement,” Bateman said. “Wherever that is at, they’re gonna go where they are loved. Whether that’s the streets, whether that’s at home, whether that’s on Xbox, whether that’s in sports. We are trying to build and give them a place (in this program) where they are loved. These kids are starting to become a family, and you can kind of see it starting to happen.”
Bateman and the coaches at IAF haven’t made winning the focus. With an inexperienced team, the primary goals have simply been building consistent habits, teaching the nuances of the game, and starting with a solid foundation that can sustain the program beyond this season.
But in the first two games of the season, players have seen immediate success. IAF opened the season with a 28-7 win over Saginaw Valley Lutheran on August 27. They followed that up with a 26-12 win over Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant on September 3. With those wins has come belief, but that work started long before they even got into the games.
Tristan Walker, who is one of only a few seniors on the team and plays running back and middle linebacker, credits the closeness of the team as a key reason they’ve had early success.
“What’s working really well for us this year is the fact that we’re not playing as a team, we’re playing as a family,” Walker said. “We always have each other’s backs no matter what goes on out there. If somebody’s upset, we come calm them down. If someone makes a mistake, we still hold it together and play as a family.”
For Walker, his love of football started at a young age and is also rooted in family. He had an uncle who spent time with him when he was younger and taught him a lot about the game, and he also had an older brother he watched play when he was in high school.
“It’s not really something I love about football, but someone who made me love football itself, which is my uncle,” Walker said. “He loved football before he passed away, it was his favorite sport, and I play the game for him. And then, watching my brother play, that also got me intrigued about football.”
Building a Foundation
The day after their win over Sacred Heart, coaches were leading a film session with players, breaking down different elements of what went right and wrong on the field. Even after a successful game and a win by more than two scores, any coach can still find things to correct. Part of Bateman’s “leading with love” approach also includes correcting mistakes.
The film breakdown exposed a few mistakes here and there, players not finishing blocks entirely or other missed assignments that didn’t change the outcome of the game, but the bulk of what coaches are imparting to players right now is not just how to win games, it is the interconnectedness of the sport and how one player’s mistake impacts the entire unit. Every football team experiences losses, but the best ones bounce back through resilience and learning through mistakes, which is what coaches are teaching players. Building resilience requires learning to take accountability for mistakes, but the IAF coaching staff is teaching that within a protected environment where those mistakes are treated as moments to grow.
“I don’t really care about winning games this year as long as we’re building the foundation correctly,” Bateman said. “Because if we win this year and lose next year, that doesn’t do much for us. I’d rather build the foundation, then be successful in the next coming years. We’ve gotta establish the steps in the foundation correctly so that when we build it, it doesn’t topple over.”
The players have bought into that concept, too. For the three seniors on the team, legacy is important – they want to leave a program to their younger teammates that continues, and they want to be able to come back years after they’ve graduated and still see IAF football thriving.
“We’ve been going up and we have been growing from the previous years and I want them to continue to keep growing,” said Sirmichael Woolfolk, a senior who plays running back and receiver. “That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Walker, who described the team’s mentality heading into each game this season as “it’s a business trip,” is confident that the culture the seniors are helping establish prior to graduating is something that will continue in future seasons.
“We’re building something right now, and I’m glad to leave on that note,” Walker said. “I’ve played with most of these players for so long. It just makes me happy to see that they’ve grown alongside of me.”
Tapping Into an Athletic Tradition
Although the football program has struggled in recent seasons, International Academy has a long and proud athletic tradition in other sports. Bateman knew that if the team could just build a little momentum, it would spread quickly. So far, he’s been right.
“At International Academy, the keys to be a winning or successful program, they’ve already been embedded into the DNA here,” he said. “We’ve got a successful basketball team, we’ve got a successful track team. It’s about getting the kids to tangibly believe. And now they’re starting to kind of look around and feel it. It’s a different energy when you walk in the room. They’re not heads down, there’s palpable energy in the building. Kids want to be at practice. We’ve got kids recruiting other kids in the building (to play football). You’ve got teachers that feel the energy. The building is just buzzing with football and that’s awesome.”
Excitement for football within the school has been built in part by simply seeing the joyful environment players and coaches continue working to establish.
“(When people watch us) They’re gonna see teamwork, they’re gonna see that we’re actually a brotherhood and we come together as a unit, we’re not just individual people out there,” said Willie Owens, a sophomore who plays offense and defense. “We actually have great talent, a lot of skilled players, and we just play together.”
Junior Rodney Williams, who plays quarterback and has played several other offensive and defensive positions, has noticed a definite growth in football excitement within the school and even among people in the community.
“People are wanting to come back, like people who already graduated,” Williams said. “Seeing people want to come to our games, it feels good, because when they were here, they couldn’t experience that. So I’m just happy we can give it to them.”
The excitement has also helped the program itself. IAF is still a small team, with around 20 players, but Bateman said that they’ve picked up a few players during the season thanks to kids on the team sharing their experiences to recruit friends.
A Brighter Future
Ultimately, the goal for IAF is to return to competing at the varsity level.
Junior D’Sean Campbell, who places receiver, running back, and cornerback, has been excited by the improvements the offensive line has made and also by the team’s quarterback play, understanding the need for both physicality and leadership.
“(The biggest differences this year are) Having an O-line that believes more in the change and impact they can make, and having an understanding quarterback who can take leadership and developing other people,” Campbell said. “I feel very good about expanding the program and seeing the culture change and improvement. I wanna see varsity wins come next year.”
In addition to keeping a pipeline of players engaged in the program in the coming years, gaining game experience and getting prepared for the tougher competition in varsity football are key to being able to establish success at that level. But above all, continuing to nurture the trust and belonging that has developed this season is what the program needs most to keep growing.
“It’s really just the guys, man (that he loves about football),” Williams said. “Just being around people and stuff. Like when I’m at home, I’m really just in the room by myself. When I’m here, I get to be around people and communicate.”
Bateman’s priority since day one has been trying to establish that type of environment.
“These kids have allowed me to pour my love into them, and they’ve poured it right back,” Bateman said. “That’s been my driving factor since day one, when I took over the job.”
Underclassmen on the team are now tasked with bringing that strong culture forward in future seasons, and it is an assignment they are excited about.
“We brought football back at International Academy of Flint,” Owens said. “A lot of people didn’t think it would be back, but we brought the energy back up. People want to play football now.”
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