“Stick-to-ed-ness.”

It may not be a word found in Webster's or Oxford's English Dictionary, but that doesn't mean there's no clear and precise meaning associated with the term. Akeem Davis uses the term to teach young kids the importance of staying committed.

Six years ago when Davis began giving feet to his vision of starting a football camp, devoted to teaching young kids about life through the lens of football, he couldn't foresee Tropical Storm Cindy in 2017 and a worldwide pandemic known as COVID-19 in 2020 that would threaten the annual camp from continuing.

Davis, who gave feet to his vision in 2015, continues to give feet to his "pillars" (character, leadership, discipline, follow-through, finish, and grit) in 2020.

"Grit is stick-to-ed-ness," said Davis on Saturday evening. "How committed are you to the process, long after the feeling of which you said it has subsided. If you're committed, and adversity comes, 'grit' will give you the gas to keep going."

Last Saturday evening, Davis held his 6th annual AD47 Football Leadership Academy in the wake of world events that have canceled or postpone practically everything else. The football camp was hosted 'Between the Bricks' at Laurel High School, where the camp has been hosted since 2015.

"We're still rolling, and it's a blessing," said Davis. "And the only reason we're able to keep rolling is because of this community. We're strong, and we're together.

"I appreciate the corporate leaders who continue to step up and identify with what we have and our vision for this camp."

Davis admitted that he was hesitant to host the camp this year in the wake of COVID-19.

“I dragged my feet back and forth with COVID-19 [on whether or not to have the camp], said Davis. “But as I introduced the idea to the leaders in our community - the Chief of Police, the Mayor, and those guys I seek when I need wise counsel - they said go for it.

"We're maintaining CDC guidelines - checking temperatures, sanitizing at every station, no one's drinking out of community water bottles, etc."

Other than adhering to CDC guidelines, one other change was notable. This year’s camp was given the additional title, “Cops and Cleats.”

"In light of what's going on in our world, like the George Floyd case [and others], cops are given a bad name," said Davis. "Well, I know good cops. My uncle is a cop, two of my good buddies are cops, and I have Highway Patrolmen with whom I'm friends with. [Cops like with the George Floyd case] happen to be bad people, who happened to be a cop. Every cop is not a bad person. You have football coaches that happen to be bad people. So what led me to this is the Lord pricked my heart and said, 'listen, you put this on and hopefully kids will see that. When you get these kids with these cops, they'll see these cops are not bad people. And you get these cops with these kids; they'll see that every little black and white kid in the community has dreams and aspirations.'"

Of the 50 camp attendees on Saturday, 49 attended AD47 Leadership Academy in the past.

"I think that is tremendous," Davis said. "That builds a pipeline, and these kids are getting nailed with the same message. At some point, what we're teaching is sticking with them, and they're going out and living it. Hopefully, it's sticking with them, and a seed is planted, and fruit is growing on their tree that will impact others."

Area high school coaches, Division 1 coaches, former Laurel players, and area cops helped with this year's camp as instructors. Those on hand included Todd Breland, Ryan Earnest, Randy Pettis, Kelvin Bolden, Dontreal Pruitt, Thakarius Keyes, Troymain Crosby, as well as Laurel Chief of Police Tommy Cox and other LPD officers to name a few.