A Week in Watts Page #7

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everybody's deciding

am I joining the gang for protection

or am I going to do something else?

The percentage of gang members

and gang memberships is very small

compared to the general population

in this area, in any area.

But the influence is huge.

When you become a victim

of your environment,

and it takes a lot of strength and courage

to be that person and say,

"I'm gonna go against the grain

from what I'm seeing every day. "

For someone who doesn't live

in this type of environment,

it's easy to say, "That's wrong.

You shouldn't do that lifestyle. "

But if you see it every day,

you become conditioned.

And so, it takes the individual to maybe

see someone that can help them be...

you know, make the good decision

not to go that route,

and it can be difficult if you're

not seeing the right positive people.

Perfect example is Rob.

He is the best example of

an individual making a choice not to join.

His path into the gangs was set.

It's in his family.

It's in his neighborhood.

All he had to do was walk into it.

Thank God for Coach Maye and Theresa

and the rest of the staff and the officers

and give all the credit to Rob.

So far, he's made the choice

that he wants a better life,

and he has an ability

to know the consequences

and I really believe

he's going to stay on that path.

I actually see Officer Coughlin,

he was at the park where I was at.

So one of my friends...

he had one of my friends,

and we was like... and he was, like,

"Make sure you stay away from this guy

because they said he was doing bad. "

So my friends, we don't hang out

with that boy no more.

Oh, my Rob. My sweetheart.

I love him.

Rob started with Operation Progress

three years ago.

He was going into the sixth grade.

And he was identified by

the Watts Bears' coaches.

So, we took a chance on him,

and he has just flourished.

And he's really just come to his own self

in making the best decisions for him.

I got to make it for my family,

especially my mom because my mom,

she always make sure

everything's good for me.

So, I want to make sure she'll have

no worries when she's old.

I can take care of her.

Rob's a good kid.

And I met Robert when he was

a sixth grader,

and Coughlin came to me and said,

"I got this kid that I want you to meet. "

He's this kid we're trying

to get into our program,

and he's going to come to school here.

So, when I first met Rob,

I knew right then and there,

I said, me and him

are gonna get along real well.

His energy is just...

you can feel the energy that he brings.

Yes.

He said it's chocolate curry.

Steve. Live and direct.

Alright, come on, Rob.

You can do it with your little arms.

Live and direct.

- First one, huh?

- Live and direct.

Amir came into

Operation Progress three years ago

when she was identified by Officer Goosby

who was working in Imperial Courts,

and he saw what a sweet girl she was

and how great her parents really were.

They were really on top of her,

very involved in her life.

And so, he thought she'd be

a great candidate for OP.

It turns out she has been.

And she's exceeded

all of our expectations.

She's always achieved

above a 3.5 every semester,

but she's one of the quiet ones.

Amir's that quiet kid who really just

kind of sits back and pays attention

to what's around her.

It's going down. Y'all better be there.

Y'all better be there.

It's going down for real.

We're going to have

a football game going on.

We're gonna highlight two of our students

who are two of our premier players

on our football team this year

with one being Robert Turner,

eighth grade,

and one being our future

with Keywon Brooks in the seventh grade.

Everybody really coming out

to see me if y'all didn't know.

I was always told

not to talk before the games.

I be scoring, like...

my career high is six touchdowns.

So it still gets better dudes than them.

Them... if they really pass me the ball,

every time I touch the ball,

it's a touchdown.

I'm on Keywon's team. I'm team Keywon.

I'm team Keywon today.

Robert's our MVP in football, though.

Robert led our team with touchdowns

this year with flag pulls this year.

Robert has been our MVP

for the last two years in football.

So Robert's kind of the go-to guy

around here in football.

So to kind of have Keywon,

which is our future,

which is who will take his place

when Robert leaves next year,

kind of go at it with him a little bit,

it just brings some fun

and some good, exciting energy

to our school.

- It's all about...

- Robert.

No. Coach Maye's team.

Robert.

- Because my boyfriend isn't on that, so...

- And my... friend,

- her jug is on that.

- My friend.

No!

I'm rooting for Robert

because I'm on his team

and because I think

he's very good at football.

And we have a good team

and a lot of good players.

Who's wearing what color? They all

look like they're wearing the same thing.

They are. But they're gold and black.

See how some have black and gold

and some have gold and black?

Okay.

That's a slight variation of the uniform.

Make some noise.

Officer Goosby is going to be

our referee for the day.

Everybody say Goosby.

Goosby...

Officer Goosby and Holliman

have been involved in Operation Progress

from the start.

They have a great interest in the kids,

and it's not just the kids they mentor,

it's all of the kids.

They're two amazing men.

They just don't get enough credit,

and they really should. They deserve it.

It's a great combination, a great

partnership that we have with them.

I never played football before, but...

Let's go black team!

Let's go gold team!

Rob's gonna surprise

a lot of people in high school.

A lot of people look him off

because he's short,

but if you see the guy play,

he has things that, as a coach,

I couldn't even teach him,

whether it's his quickness,

his lateral movements, his...

just everything, his IQ for the game.

So Rob's the man.

I look forward to good things

for him in high school.

- That was a good game.

- Did you think so?

- Yeah, but-

- Was it better than being in class?

- No.

- No.

That's my Robert. That's it.

It was a tie game, though.

So nobody won.

I would like Rob to get an education

and to do something that he wants to do.

He talks about owning businesses

and things like that.

He really wants to be in that position.

And, you know, ten years from now,

I think he's 14 now, 13 or 14 now,

he's 23, 24.

I look at him graduating from school,

opening up a business somewhere.

You know what I mean?

Or on that route.

If sports don't work for him.

After I scored that first touchdown,

I popped my leg back.

- It feels good.

- It started feeling good.

Then the second one, the second one hurt.

I stress to Rob a lot

about having a backup plan,

like, how sports can be taken away

from you just like that.

It doesn't matter how good you are,

you know what I mean.

You can get hurt, and that can be it.

An accident can happen. That's it.

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