Lancaster coaches, parents and neighbors are calling for reforms in youth sports after a shooting left a beloved head coach dead. NBC 5’s Allie Spillyards reports
Saturday marked one week since a disagreement between coaches at a little league football game turned deadly, leaving coach Michael Hickmon dead.
Following calls for change, coaches, parents and the community came together to come up with a plan to end senseless violence at youth sports events.
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WATCH HERE“All of us are Mike Hickmon. I could’ve been Mike Hickmon that day. That could’ve happened to me,” said Leneric Edwards, who knew Hickmon personally.
“He was very conscious of how other people felt. He was a very good guy,” he said.
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SIGN UP Edwards also coached Hickmon’s son in track and attended the town hall to be part of the prevention process moving forward.
LANCASTER YOUTH FOOTBALL SHOOTING
“A lot of times when something happens, people lose sight or vision,” said Edwards.
Instead, those who were present focused on what can be done today. That included the formation of a coalition of parents and staff to develop a code of conduct along with enhancing qualifications for coaching staff, moving games to school grounds where rules can be better enforced, and in some cases, employing sheriff’s deputies to stand on the sidelines.
They also pledged to communicate better with each other to keep so-called bad actors out of their organizations and off of their fields.
Monday, the coach accused of killing Hickmon, 39-year-old Yaqub Talim, surrendered at the Dallas County jail.