Football runs deep in Arizona Football quarterback Khalil Tate’s family. His older brother Akili, also a football player, got a great idea to bring the community of Inglewood together over sports.
Arizona Football quarterback Khalil Tate has a big brother who also played football in college. Akili Tate was a wide receiver at Hiram College in Ohio. The elder Tate also attended Serra High School just like his dad Brian and younger brother Khalil.
But what happened after he graduated was that he missed playing the game. Akili started coaching younger kids in touch football and had a blast. That’s when he and his friends came up with an idea of a 7 on 7 pro-am league when athletes could play the game they love and fans could come for free to cheer them on.
After high school football, only 6% of players play in college and 1.7% play in the NFL. So there are plenty of people who would love a place to play. So, when Akili brought up the subject with his brother, Khalil was all for it.
What a great idea! We thought we would find out more about it, so we asked Akili a few questions. For those of you who have never heard of 7 on 7 leagues, the teams play touch football on just a half of a field. The same type of football young football players plays to get ready for Pop Warner and High School football.
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ZZ: What inspired you to come up with the idea to start a 7 on 7 league called Lace Up?
Tate: This past couple of years I’ve been working at the Drew League with In the Front Row and other media companies and I was blown away by the support the Drew League receives from the community and the competitive atmosphere of the game. The Drew League gave me the inspiration to start Lace Up with one of my best friends Justin Manson.
Note: Many former (Ryan Anderson, Chance Comanche, and Jordin Mayes) and one current Wildcats (Ira Lee) play in the Drew that is a pro-am summer basketball league in Compton, CA, for professional, high school, and college players.
One of the reasons we started Lace Up is because in the summertime any NFL and Collegiate football player will tell you that other than the training facilities like STARZ there is no organized league that they can participate in and work on their skills. Besides Collegiate and NFL players, there is another demographic that is not able to play the game that they love.
Lace Up also gives these athletes who weren’t able to play collegiate or professional football an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of their community.
We came up with the name “Lace Up,” in part to help stop violence (give them something to do) in Los Angeles and for people to simply settle their issues on the football field and “Lace Up.” I see Lace Up as a community that invites local photographers, videographers, reporters, writers, food vendors, and other artists to come together with athletes and create an event for the community.
ZZ: Is the league based on any other sports organization?
Tate: Definitely, we both love the Drew League and the atmosphere they have created in that gym and most importantly it is a positive event for the community. We are striving to bring these same elements to Lace Up. Free admission, concessions, top-tier equipment for the players and eventually a foundation.
ZZ: Who can play in the league?
Tate: Lace Up invites all athletes over the age of 18 to play in our league, male or female.
ZZ: How many teams will play in the league? Will there be uniforms?
Tate: So hopefully we will be able to play the games at Edward Vincent Park in Inglewood at Champions Field. This park holds a special place in my heart because I played youth football for the Inglewood Jets from ages 5-12 and I practiced at Edward Vincent Park (Centinela Park). I know this park very well and am confident that we will be able to play at this park for many years to come.
Each game will have two referees and a spotter to mark the football when it is downed. We are currently bringing our staff together and plan on having a check-in table at the entrance to the field and scorekeepers for each game.
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ZZ: Where are the games played? Will there be referees?
Tate: For our inaugural season we plan on hosting 10 teams with a minimum of 10 players on each team, but we are very optimistic about hosting even more teams. Our uniforms for the first year will consist of dri-fit jerseys designed by a good friend of mine. But we are very excited about the jerseys because each team will have a unique team design that represents their goal for the season. More news will be coming out about our uniforms, but this is all that I can currently disclose. Follow our twitter @Laceup_football for this announcement.
ZZ: Where do you want to take this league eventually?
Lace Up Soccer, Lace Up Baseball, Lace Up Golf. We would like to bring the Lace Up Football community atmosphere and apply it to other sports and expand to reach even more athletes in the community. There are so many athletes that are playing professionally that would like to give back to the community in the offseason and simply put play in front of their family.
ZZ: When you got this idea, did you pass it by Khalil? What did he think?
Tate: Of course he was one of the first people I spoke to about it he thought it was great, “I like it… We don’t have anything like that in LA.”
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ZZ: How would a team sign up to play and when does play start?
Tate: Sign Up is relatively simple, go to our website laceupfootbal.com, click “How to sign up,” fill out the boxes with your information and submit it to us. We are currently scheduling our first games to be May 20, 2018.