When Gerald Bateman took the International Academy of Flint football team’s coaching job in 2024, the program had experienced prolonged hardship. Due to roster defections, the Phoenix hadn’t finished a season without forfeiting games since 2021.
Bateman, who also teaches at IAF, got an early sign that the kids in the program would be moldable and hungry to build something before he’d even had a practice with the team.
“When I took over the job in December (2024), one of the first days it got announced, I’m in my classroom rummaging through things, just trying to get a game plan together, and the first person that introduced himself and said, ‘I’m with you, coach,’ was Greyson Klett,” Bateman said. “He was a part of some rough teams. And I’ve been so glad to have him.”
Klett, now a senior, plays primarily center, but also plays other positions on the offensive and defensive lines. He has been part of an important group of upperclassmen who have helped Bateman and the coaching staff create a new trajectory for the program. For players like Klett, who weathered those tough circumstances and stuck with it, it is gratifying to see the togetherness of the team grow.
“ I’d say my relationship with the guys was definitely why I stayed with it,” Klett said. “They help me. They pick me up a lot. I help them. It’s just generally love for each other. We’re a team. Coach Bateman, he also picked me up, especially during my injury. He always kept checking on me, always kept asking about me, making sure I got stuff done, so that definitely helped me stay with the program.”
In Bateman’s first season in 2025, the team competed at the junior varsity level because they only had a few seniors. That season allowed the Phoenix to do a couple of things they hadn’t done since that 2021 season: win some games and also complete an entire season. They finished 6-3, and the wins were nice, but getting a full season’s worth of experience is what should prove most valuable in Bateman’s second season.
“I think the biggest thing for them last year was they were able to play nine games,” Bateman said. “They never really got to finish a season, so the biggest takeaway is just experience. It’s hard to gain experience when you play just two or three games in a season and then shut it down. It took us a while to change some of our body language, how we interacted with each other, how we coach each other at times. That’s the biggest thing that I’m excited for them to not have to get over, is fighting themselves. Now we’re just fighting the other team.”
With about 14 players returning from last season’s team, IAF brings back some experience as the team moves back up to play a varsity schedule. They’re also bringing in some continuity and the beginnings of a strong culture.
“I don’t wanna say we’re just focused on winning games,” said junior running back and linebacker Willie Owens. “We want to play the right way.”
The early struggles of the program have given the team’s more experienced leaders a realistic view of what success looks like – namely, that winning is nice, but there’s a bigger picture they’re trying to lay the groundwork for, which is long-term sustainability of the program.
“It felt real good to win last year, and it feels bad to lose, but it felt good to lose at the same time because we got better,” said senior receiver and defensive back DeSean Campbell. “We know that our program is growing day by day. I was glad to see the younger kids get some wins (last year) that I didn’t get at that age.”
Playing for Respect
The team is proud of its accomplishments in 2025. But in many ways, moving back up to the varsity level this season, they have to prove themselves all over again, especially playing in the always competitive Genesee Area Conference.
It is hard to tell how the Phoenix will match up with some of those teams, but they’re not necessarily centering their goal on the team record. Instead, their approach is a pragmatic one: simply adding to the foundation many returning players contributed to last year.
“I think we’re more focusing on just earning people’s respect,” Owens said. “Like, we want people saying who is that kid? Or, dang, I never knew this team would be like this. We’re just coming for respect. It’s not all about just wins and loses because losses are gonna happen, that’s life. But I just want them to respect us more.”
Owens is one of a handful of offensive and defensive playmakers Bateman said the team will rely on to contribute. That group also includes Campbell, Marshawn Atkins, Dramel Fulton, and Rodney Williams. But any successes the team has this season will be the result of collective effort.
“For us, it’s the net,” Bateman said. “We’re probably not gonna have one guy that people are gonna be like, ‘Oh my God, this kid completely won us the game.’ It’s the net of the team. That’s been our message to the guys the whole time, it’s not about you individually, it’s not about me individually. It’s bigger than all of us. Those guys that have been with me for a while, I’m leaning on them heavily. They might not stand out in the same way in every game, it might be different guys each game, but they’re our difference makers for sure.”
Williams, a senior who plays quarterback and defensive back, is looking forward to the opportunity to show off the team’s talent.
“We might be a little school, but we got a lot of talent,” Williams said. “These are my brothers, man. We all stick together. We stand behind each other.”
Williams himself is a good example of being willing to sacrifice or extend himself for the team. A talented defensive back, he was asked to play quarterback last season and learn the position for the first time. He likes the leadership aspect of the position as he learns it, and he said it has also helped him as a defensive player.
“I’ve been really working on my passing, quarterback was something new to me,” Williams said. “I had to step up, and I had to get used to it, honestly. It really helped me grow my game because now when I’m on defense, I know how a quarterback thinks and it’s easier for me to read them.”
More Firsts
Beyond just playing football, International Academy has other exciting milestones on the horizon this season. For the first time, they will have a home field and home game after it was announced they would use the newly renovated Haskell Community Center football field, named in honor of legendary Flint Northwestern coach Glen Kelly, as their home stadium this season. Their first game at their new stadium will be against Beecher on September 3.
“It feels good, especially going into my senior year,” Campbell said. “We never really had a home game, so it feels good to be having a first game for my senior year and having a real homecoming game this year.”
International Academy opens its season on the road against Marine City Cardinal Mooney on August 28. After that, the Phoenix will have a long stretch of games against local opponents – Beecher, Bendle, Genesee, Flint Elite, Flint Southwestern, and Atherton before closing the season on the road against Perry and Vestaburg. Last season, Flint Elite won the Genesee Area Conference with Bendle finishing in second. But the league was competitive, as four of the seven teams had four or more conference wins.
“They’ve been through a lot, this group of seniors,” Bateman said. “They’ve gotten kicked around in life some. We’ve really gotten to know certain challenges that they’re going through, and their biggest quality as a whole is perseverance. Every single kid out here has gone through some stuff that we don’t know about. They’re fighting battles that they won’t talk about. The biggest thing is that they’re not giving up. Even if we lose, we’re not gonna lose our character. Not for one play do we ever give up or sink our heads.”
Football, and in particular the team environment at International Academy, has been an important outlet for many of the players.
“We were set back for a lot of years, but we haven’t just been taking baby steps,” Owens said. “It has been like, okay, big leap, big leap. We like winning, and we have a great coach who leads us in the right way, and he wants it even more than we do. That’s all we needed. Even through hard times, we all are behind each other.”
Klett and his teammates know they’re playing at a higher level than last season and will face teams they haven’t played before, but they all believe they’re capable of surprising opponents this season if they maintain the consistency they started building as a group last season.
“We have to keep trusting the process, working hard every day, coming to practice, showing up consistently,” Klett said. “We have a lot of love for each other as a team. We’re like brothers. We’re capable of a lot. We’ve seen that some of the predictions for us are pretty bad, like people saying we’re gonna go 0-9, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I like this team. We’re going to make sure we try our hardest every game no matter the wins or losses.”
For the group of seniors, they’re hoping to leave an impression on younger players in the program that helps them keep building in future seasons, but they also want to end their high school careers on a high note after starting out during a rough era for the program.
“It all really started when we were all younger, coming out of middle school, trying to play football but we barely even had enough players to really start a team,” Williams said. “When we did get a team, we were losing almost every game. Last year was really our first winning season, so it’s like this year we’re just hoping that we can build off of it.”
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