Billingsley High School was recently announced as one of the winners of Alabama Power’s Power to Play grant.

The grant, which awards $2,500 to 36 schools in the state of Alabama to support athletic programs, came about after BHS athletic director J.T. Lawrence said he applied for it on a whim.

“We heard about it and looked at it,” he said. “We put in for it and figured if we lose, we weren’t out anything.”

Unlike some grants, Lawrence said the application for the Power to Play grant was not a hassle.

“It was super easy,” he said. “It was all online. A lot of grants take a lot of legwork.”
Lawrence said going into the application process, he knew where the money would be allocated.

“We’d like to invest in softball equipment (and) in the weight room,” he said. “Every athlete here uses (the weight room).”

Lawrence said the majority of the grant will be used to help the softball team purchase new equipment after several thousand dollars worth of equipment was stolen before the Bears made a trip to the Class 1A South Central Region Tournament in May 2014.

Equipment stolen included two sets of catching equipment, two catcher’s mitts, six batting helmets, an equipment bag and about 12 bats, valued at around $3,000 continued.
Lawrence said the theft not only hurt the Bears for games, but practices as well.

“It was all of our game equipment, some of which doubles as our practice equipment,” he said. “Pretty much everything you’d need to run a practice or a game.”

Once the application was turned in, Alabama Power then selected Billingsley to be one of the schools up for receiving a grant.

Once selected, the Bears relied on an online voting process to secure one of the 36 grants given by Alabama Power.

“We were excited because the grant was online,” Lawrence said. “The students and the athletes helped us get the word out there.”

Voting ran from Sept. 22 to Nov. 23, 2014, with the Bears being presented their grant on Jan. 15 at a ceremony at the school.

“The (players) are excited,” Lawrence said. “Anytime athletes get something new, it’s like watching a kid at Christmas. All of them are excited.”

While considered a setback at first, Lawrence said the theft served as a valuable lesson.

“The whole experience from the time it was stolen, you tell the athletes to stay calm,” he said. “We constantly preach control the things you can. It’s turned out to be fine; we’ve grown from it. It’s turned out to be a blessing.”