Alabama football stars have converged on the Annual Chris Rogers’ Paintball Tournament for two years, but this year’s events will also include A-Day Giveback, an event on Friday featuring Carolina Panther Robert Lester, Chris Rogers and defensive back John Fulton.
Rogers, founder of Together Assisting People, said TAP teamed up with Academy Sports and Outdoors to provide kids from the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program of West Alabama with a shopping spree in addition to signing autographs from 5-6 p.m.
“TAP’s A-Day Giveback with Academy allows some of the youth of Tuscaloosa, who normally wouldn’t have the opportunity, the chance to meet, spend time with and hopefully cultivate a relationship with some of their favorite players from The University of Alabama,” Rogers said. “The Giveback is a great opportunity for the athletes to give back to the community that helped to shape their career.”
On Saturday, Mark Ingram, HaHa Clinton-Dix and others will participate in the paintball tournament. The public is invited to watch free of charge, but donations will be accepted at the door. Rogers said those donations go to fund educational and recreational sessions for high school and college athletes that will help mold the “complete athlete.”
“The symposia focus on financial literacy, personal branding, social media etiquette, self-introduction, dressing for the occasion, tying ties and finding which program fits them best,” he said. “To the younger student athletes, TAP stresses the importance of giving back. That is a part of personal branding. Positive personal branding is something you need whether you are an athlete or an everyday citizen, but it’s very important athletes understand that.”
One of TAP’s major programs, Rogers said, is Changing Athletes Spending Habits, which teaches proper money management. CASH fits with TAP’s mission to prepare athletes for successful lives beyond their athletic careers.
“Athletes lack certain skill sets, often because so much attention is focused on athletics instead of life skills. TAP’s mission is to address those issues,” he said. “Athletes have an entire separate life outside of athletics, and they need to make sure they’re fully aware of that. They also have to have a life once their sports career is over, so it’s vital that they build life skill sets that would allow a smooth and successful transition.”
Ronnie Smith, a TAP participant and volunteer, said professional athletes often go bankrupt because they try to “ball out” whenever they can on top of their living on costs. He is an incoming freshman at Alabama State University and said he started to get involved when he saw that athletes needed to understand how their mistakes happened to learn from them.
“[Teaching these skills is] very important because finding out during a situation is way too late,” he said. “If more athletes are aware, less fall victim.”
Developing athletes can have an effect beyond the lives of the athletes themselves. Rogers said connecting athletes to their communities is essential.
“They represent their community, but don’t often get a change to serve it,” he said. “I try to get them to realize that, just as my mother, grandmother and coach Saban did with me, they have to do their part by contributing their time and efforts to something that’s bigger than them and the game. I want to help produce successful youth, and that can be done largely by the examples the athletes set.”
The Giveback will be from 4-6 p.m. on Friday at Academy Sports and Outdoors, with autographs starting at 5 p.m. The paintball tournament will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Central High School, with registration at 5 p.m. Teams can register until April 18 at tapinc.us.
