Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Letticia Gilmore. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Letticia, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Wow, taking a risk. At some in our lives we all take risks for something is important to us, something that has meaning, gives us purpose. If there was ever a time in my life that I took a risk, it was deciding to start Solid Ground Sports Academy 5 years ago. I’m not from Sacramento so nobody here really knew who I was. I had just started to get involved in the community. There were already so many youth sports organizations here, so many basketball programs, but because I wanted to level the playing field by offering quality fundamental basketball training and development to the kids in my community, particularly where I lived to give black and brown kids opportunities they may not otherwise have. I remember the very first basketball camp I had; it was just 2 kids. That was very discouraging, and I honestly felt like quitting at that point. However, because I love what I do I kept going. The next camp was 10, but I still had a long way to go to establish myself in the community. Initially, I didn’t get a lot of funding from companies or the city. We got our first grant a year later, but I kept getting passed up for others. At one point someone who I thought was supportive of what I was doing said that I should said that I should quit because I wasn’t making any money. What I do isn’t about making money, but about impacting the lives of the next generation. Fast forward to now and our future looks bright! We now have an all-girls flag program and just help our first empowerment summit on bullying, which was a big success. The work that we’re doing at Solid Ground is starting to get noticed by various leaders in our community and support for the work we do is increasing. When we take risks in life we never know if what we do will succeed or be a total failure. But when you’re consistent and your heart is in the right place, the risk you take will eventually pay off. Nothing worth having in life ever comes easy, but involves hard work, sacrifices, and risks. But I am witness that if you keep trying and trust God every step of the way nothing is impossible!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I got into coaching over 20 years ago at the high school level, but I have coached kids as young as 6 years old. I am in my 2nd year of coaching flag football and my 2nd fall season of running our own flag football league. Solid Ground Sports Academy offers mentorship through free sports programs for youth and young adults ages 5-24. Part of our mentorship program is connecting youth with business professionals and entrepreneurs in our community to learn about the work they do or the business they run. We also have workshops and events such as our recent empowerment summit on bullying in our schools because this is an issue that is getting out of control, and I believe that it’s for those of us in the community to work with our schools to come up with solutions to combat this issue. We will also be having workshops financial literacy and college readiness. We work with our parents to connect them with resources in the community such as food banks, employment services and with other community organizations. Every program we offer is free of charge to the families to every child/ young adult an opportunity they may not otherwise have. We have couple of new programs that we will launch in the coming months as well as a partnership to serve affordable housing programs in our community. We’re always looking for new donors and sponsors who believe in the work that we do to bee difference makers in our community.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start?
Well, the initial capital to start Solid Ground came from me and my husband and at times still does. The first basketballs I purchased came out of my own pocket. From time to time, I would purchase more balls and other training equipment as I had a little extra money and cover the initial costs to start the non-profit I launched Solid Ground in March 2018, and we received our first grant in March 2019. Funding is a challenge to get as a non-profit when you’re first starting out, especially as a youth sports organization, but consistency is the key to building a solid reputation and a reliable track record in the community.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
I think what has been most helpful for succeeding in the work I do is to have a passion for working with our youth. You have to love working with kids, for me love sports, but most importantly want to make a difference in their lives. If you’re not passionate about what you do, you won’t be consistent in your work and you won’t persevere through the difficult times. Loving what you do gets you through the challenging times, is the reason why you get up everyday, and seeing a child you’ve been working with make strides in what you’ve been working with them on is fuel enough to keep you going!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.solidgroundsports.org
- Instagram: Solid Ground Sports
- Facebook: Solid Ground Sports Academy/She Rocks Sports and Community Outreach
- Linkedin: Letticia Gilmore
- Twitter: Solid Ground Sports Academy
- TikTok: She Rocks Sports