FERRIDAY — Ferriday High School football coach Dwight Woods will travel to Pomona, Calif., this weekend to be a part of the Martin Luther King Jr. California Classic All-Star Game festivities, which start Friday and run through Sunday.

Woods was chosen to be a speaker at this year’s banquet by a representative from Plays and Grades Inc., a youth athlete management organization that has been hosting the event for 20 years.

The banquet, Saturday night, will focus on highlighting how to prepare students for life after football.

“Anytime you get chosen for something like this, it’s an honor,” Woods said. “It’s all about getting the kids motivated in the classroom, and they have to understand what they have to do academically. Anywhere I can go to find that out, I’m interested.”

While the event will mostly feature coaches from high schools and colleges throughout California, Woods said he was one of approximately five coaches from other states selected to participate.

“They (Plays and Grades Inc.) are interested in expanding and going to states where football is big,” Woods said. “One of the reasons they picked us was because Ferriday has shown academic improvements in areas such as testing. They wanted to see what we were up to, and our school and community should be proud.”

Woods will also be an observer during game play on Sunday as it will be the last time that the contests will consist of only California teams. One school from Louisiana and Texas are confirmed to compete in 2018.

“It’s a new experience for me,” Woods said. “I want to see how they set it all up, because we always want to improve and be better at what we do.”