SAN ANTONIO – Nathaniel Borrego is excited to play on the Young Men’s Leadership Academy’s (YMLA) first varsity football team in San Antonio. 

What You Need To Know

  • Young Men's Leadership Academy launches varsity football team

  • Lions the academy's first varsity team in San Antonio 

  • Team entirely comprised of ninth- to eleventh-graders

  • Dealing with tough competition, and the coronavirus pandemic 

“Yes, [we're] going to be a little bit inexperienced, but I’m sure once that first hit comes, you know, we’ll say, ‘okay,’ and we are ready for this,” junior offensive tackle Nathaniel says. 

Tony Green was named head coach of this extremely young football program back in May. 

“Being a young school, being a young athletic program and just only having [ninth- to eleventh-graders], we had promising numbers out here and we were getting better,” Green says. 

The Lions had a ton of momentum figuring out their identity, but they were blindsided by an opponent they didn’t see coming.  

“And then when it came to that hard stop, it was like, man,” Nathaniel says. “We were feeling good in practice, we were cheering each other on and then, bam!” 

They were hit by the spike in San Antonio’s COVID cases. 

“With the shutdown and being a young team, time is something that is very, very valuable,” Green says. “Every second that we can get with the kids, it really, really matters.” 

Two members of the YMLA Lions walk the football field in this image from August 2020. (Jose Arrendondo/Spectrum News)

Coaches have hosted Zoom workouts and the players are working out on their own. Nathaniel goes for runs every morning and also trains in martial arts, something he says helps him mentally. 

“Like I said, I try to run every day. Not that many people in my block run around,” Nathaniel says. 

The team can return to practice on September 8 where they will complete a week of strength and conditioning. 

“As long as the city officials and SAISD and everyone feels that it is safe for us to get out there,” Green says, “we will get out there and battle.” 

YMLA will play against powerhouse programs like Wimberley, who made it to the 4A Division ll State Championship last year, but they won’t be the Lions' toughest opponent this year. 

As COVID cases continue to rise in Texas, there may not even be a debut football season, but Nathanial wants to keep his squad poised. 

“We got a lot of things going against us right now and, you know, just kind of have the hard reality of it, but also try to find creative ways to work around it,” he says.