Before the football and cheerleading season gets underway at Old National Park, the 11 and under Old National Red Knights of the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) will be in Kissimmee, Fla., on July 22, trying to win the 2012 Elite World Series.

“It’s been an unbelievable season,” Red Knights head coach Brice Farmer said. “We won the last four tournaments. Became state champs in Georgia for 11-and-under baseball. The boys have their championship rings which is a big accomplishment.”

Farmer also believes his team’s strength lies in its versatility.

“We’re gifted to have athletes who can be shifted around and perform in pressure situations,” he said.

While the baseball team is down in Florida competing, Farmer’s football players of the same age and Calvin Lamar’s 13 and 14-year-old players are preparing for the start of the season on Aug. 25.

“We prepare them for high school,” said Lamar, who has been with the Old National Youth Athletic Association for 38 years. “We have a very good success rate. Majority of the kids who have played on our teams have gone on to starting positions at Banneker, Tri-Cities and Creekside.”

“We play good football,” Farmer said. “We are competitive in the Metro Atlanta Youth Football League. It has been deemed the SEC of youth football. The competition doesn’t get any better. You will get the same level of experience and expertise from the coaches too.”

Also serving as commissioners, Farmer and Lamar hope to teach their players the importance of succeeding away from the field.

“Besides teaching them football we try to teach them life skills,” Lamar said. “We teach them about what it is going to take to make it in this world.”

Jerrett Mumford and Cameron Nowlin are two young athletes who have gone through the program and are now ready to display their skills on the next level. Mumford plans to tryout for quarterback at Banneker while Nowlin plans to tryout for wide receiver at Westlake.

“I let them know the next level is always going to be harder than the previous level but your main objective is that you are looking to get an education,” Lamar said. “Football can get you a scholarship. Everybody is not going to make it to the NFL.”

Currently, the players are practicing four days a week for two hours a day. Once school begins, practice will be three days a week, and once the season gets underway games are scheduled on Saturdays at Old National Park.