COACH         DUCK​

Alan “Duck” Richards first founded the Griffin Grasshoppers Youth Association, Inc. in 1993. As an Atlanta Police Officer at that time, Mr. Richards provided recreational and social activities for his children Alan “AJ” Richards, Jr., Nala Richards, Zalan Richards, nephews Jeffrey “JP” Peeples, and Edjuan “EJ” Richards which he knew was wholesome and drug free. Neighbors and friends heard about the Griffin Grasshoppers and wanted to get their children involved in sports and educational activities especially during the summer months. Mr. Richards developed an outline for a summer program and through volunteer efforts, the program for summer activities began.

Mr. Richards had a vision which would assist youths (including his youngest son Alando “Lil Duck” Richards) and families by combining sports and tradition with family values in today’s society. Having gathered years of family history along with research of the disadvantaged and impoverished youth in his community, Coach Duck University was developed January 2017 to mentor, educate, train and inform. His wife, Dr. Shalesia Richards, a specialist educator, helped to refine the program they have today which includes a “Say-No-To-Drugs” component. The thrust of the program is to give youths the stamina they need to keep drug free, to stay in school, and to adopt positive family values.

Mr. Richards decision to develop a non-profit Coach Duck University was the culmination of an abiding desire to bring this much needed aid to young urban youth with emphasis on youth that may have behavioral, mental and physical challenges. The goal is to empower these children and families by providing them with a comprehensive family/sports and educational oriented learning program. The program was designed to give young men and women more positive choices in their lives, mentoring (giving them a needed shoulder to lean on when life’s problem become overwhelming), and providing them with sufficient knowledge so that they could learn to meet life’s challenges by making difficult decisions in an informed manner while learning the basic fundamentals of basketball through the use of skills and drills.