Redefining Athletics and Academics

In the Summer of 2021, ABF Learning Center and Academy aimed to redefine the relationship between athletics and academics with the establishment of its new sports academy division. ABF’s Homestead location formed the organization’s first baseball program soon thereafter, and Manny Crespo Jr. was hired as the school’s first Head Coach and Director of Baseball Operations. Before long, sports academy enrollment reached well over 60 student-athletes, and the Bandits began to take shape at the Varsity, Junior Varsity, Freshman, and Middle School levels. By August of 2021, the ABF Homestead baseball program was competing in prestigious fall leagues against public, private, and charter schools from the South Florida area and beyond. And, in the Spring of 2022, the Bandits played their first, full regular season.

While the baseball program at ABF Homestead was garnering the attention of many and catching the local industry by storm, ABF’s administration was already making efforts to expand upon its newfound success in the athletic realm. The baseball staff expanded with the hiring of further support staff and the appointment of Manny Crespo Sr. to the position of Senior Advisor and Director of Player Development. ABF administration began exploring ventures into other sports as well, and announced their intentions to explore the addition of softball, soccer, and track & field in the Summer of 2022. However, conversations to expand did not stop with the slew of new sport offerings. Instead, those expansion ideas blossomed into the eventual realization of a brand new location.

During the late stages of Summer 2022, ABF Academy announced its acquisition of the institution formerly known as Champagnat Catholic School. Immediately following the move, ABF moved into the heart of Hialeah and opened the doors to its second location for the 2022-2023 academic year. The short turnaround time from acquisition to school open provided the organization with ample time to make arrangements. During that time, ABF was hard at work hiring dedicated administration and staff members as well as coaches, assistants, and tutors. When classes eventually began in late August of 2022, the newfound ABF Academy Hialeah campus brandished an athletic program that offered full-time support for two sports: baseball and basketball.

The ABF Academy Hialeah athletic program, under the moniker of the “Cowboys,” immediately opened its doors to athletes looking for a new opportunity in high school baseball. Under newly acquired head coach Alec Hernandez and hist staff, “The ‘Boys” assembled a varsity team that immediately challenged some of the city’s most storied programs. ABF Hialeah’s fall campaign, which took place mere weeks after the school’s inception, resulted in a handful of benchmark wins over storied South Florida programs and a third place finish in league play. Before long, the Cowboys were attracting increasing levels of talent and making preparations for their inaugural season debut in the Spring of 2023.

Meanwhile, ABF Academy was in the process of making plans to kickstart its Hialeah location’s basketball program. In August of 2022, ABF announced that Art “Pilin” Alvarez was set to join the organization as its Director of Basketball Operations. “Pilin” was charged with building the foundation of competitive, high school-level basketball program focused on elite training and development, premier competition, and the advancement of student-athletes to the collegiate level. Shortly thereafter, ABF officially opened its doors to a horde of international basketball student-athletes, and the Cowboys Varsity basketball program was born.

The 2023 calendar year was one of ABF’s most successful to date. ABF’s baseball programs at both locations fielded teams at the middle school, freshman, junior varsity and varsity levels that traveled both in-state and around the country; Hialeah’s basketball program, which contains both a junior varsity and a varsity team, has since joined the circuit of the prestigious Sunshine Independent Athletic Association (SIAA); and the Cowboys of ABF Academy Hialeah introduced Varsity Football (11-on-11) in the Fall of 2023. More importantly, over 20 student-athletes that have donned either the Bandits or Cowboys jersey have joined (or are set to join in the near future) collegiate athletic programs in their respective sports as of December 2023.

Planning for the Future: Expanding Horizons

Since its inception in 2021, ABF Academy has always been focused on expanding its offerings and providing student-athletes and their families with robust academic and athletic programming. That focus is what allowed the organization to grow both the number of its sport offerings and the number its physical locations. Across the Homestead and Hialeah campuses, ABF provides full-time, year-round support for three sports. The journey will not stop there, however, because ABF Academy remains committed to the continuous growth of its athletic programs. From new facilities to new locations to increased support for even more sports and beyond, the ABF family of programs will continue the never-ending pursuit of completing its mission: Providing student-athletes with diverse and purposeful learning environments to master both their academic and athletic talents far into the future.