Durham youth football team requesting community support

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Two dozen eager boys, ranging in age from 6 to 14, were focused on football fundamentals Saturday.

The boys are part of a larger group of young athletes participating in the Bull City Bulldogs program organized by Fred Evans.

"I once was one of these kids," said Evans, "and someone helped me see that there's a different way of living, a different way of becoming a young adult."

He and other men from the community spend much of their weekend away from their jobs, teaching the youngsters life skills along with football.

"I'm a delivery driver. We have security guards, we have a systems analyst. So we have different jobs but when we're here, we've got one job--these kids" Evans said.

Their example of service and encouraging words help the boys build confidence and character. Evans told us they must be involved in community service projects to practice and play, and that service is not necessarily sports related.

"We're planning on 'adopting' a family for Christmas and Thanksgiving," he said. "We're gonna do a toy drive."

To donate, he said, "Visit our website. There's a donate button there, we have phone numbers on the website as well."

He said dozens more have signed up so there are enough players for two and a half teams. They'll compete with teams from Wake County while proudly representing their hometown on the field and in their community.

"Durham gets such a bad rap about a lot of things. We're trying to put a positive spin on it," said Evans.