January 16, 2024
The Villages Charter School’s Deshawn Bellamy Committed to Ava Maria University
By Kyle Coppola
The Villages Charter School’s Deshawn Bellamy Committed to Ava Maria University
The Villages Charter School football star Deshawn Bellamy has committed to Ava Maria University which is an NAIA program located in Ave Maria Florida which is located near Naples and Fort Myers. Deshawn who goes by “Diggy” was one of The Villages best defensive players in 2023. The Villages also had senior Cliff Bridges, Cole Logan, Malik Williams, Connor Cook and Johnathan Harding who contributed heavily on the defensive side of the football. All of those players are returning next year other than Bridges and Bellamy who are seniors.
(Diggy Bellamy had 59 tackles during the 2023 season which would be his senior year. Photo Credit – TVCS)
Bellamy is a 5’10” 180lb defensive back. He also is listed as a running back but focused primarily on the defensive side of the ball in 2023. Bellamy was impressive and garnered 59 total tackles in ten games with 14 solo and 45 assisted tackles. He also had an interception and a forced fumble this season.
Bellamy was also a force his junior year amassing 49 tackles with seven tackles for a loss. He certainly caught the eye of many colleges with those numbers and had at least 13 offers from schools such as Rochester New York, Kenyon located in Ohio, St. Andrews in North Carolina, and many others. Ultimately Bellamy decided to commit to Ava Maria University.
(Bellemy was one of The Villages top senior defensive players this season along with fellow senior Cliff Bridges. Photo Credit – The Villages)
Ava Maria is coming off back-to-back 4-6 seasons. The Gyrenes have had some struggles the last few years at keeping teams out of the endzone. Bellamy should be able to help the Gyrenes out in many ways on the defensive side of the ball. He is an athletic player who does what is asked of him and more. It was a privilege to watch him play for The Villages the past few years.
We look forward to seeing what he can do at Ava Maria University. Congratulations to his friends, family, teammates, and coaching staff. Go Diggy!
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
