Kevin Carroll Katalyst Blog: April 2007 Archives

We here at Red Rubber Ball Entertainment are sending a video camera to Uganda to document the run up to this year's in Copenhagen, Denmark, from July 29th-August 4th. We want Team Gomo Tong to tell their stories THEIR way.
Our source with - young Jeremy Goldberg - tells us that an entirely new squad of young men and women will compete for the HWC title.

Coach Robert SSemakula, fresh from a Katalyst-sponsored intensive coaching clinic in Portugal, is back again, with new training methods gleaned from the clinic...

and ably assisted by several of last year's team members.
Look for team bios and diary entries from Team Gomo Tong '07 players coming soon!
Let's go GOMO!

!
I received this email: "Kevin ..

. John Moore here from Brand Autopsy. Reading your blog updates tells me your trip to Japan was more than worthwhile!

I have a friend, Heidi Durham, who is taking a one-year sabbatical from Starbucks and spending it in Ethiopia with the group. She's blogging about her adventures and I'm sure you'll find something inspirational in her updates. You can read her blog here:"
Read about Heidi and her inspiring, transformative experience.

It's only just begun!
Salem from Ethiopia, Friends..

. it's Sunday evening in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, six days since I touched down into the land known throughout the world as the birthplace of coffee. I thought I was prepared.

I had lived abroad, traveled in the developing world, was steadfast in my purpose, had a solid group of some of the most wonderful friends and family cheering me on, and was simply ready to share some of the goodness that was given to me as a child through the joy of play. All was in order.

Manifesto of the Charlotte Chargers.

..

We will do the “lonely work" because we have accepted the fact that champions are made when no one is watching.
We will be a team of young men who are willing to take RESPONSIBILITY forour own successes and failures.
We will value and seek EDUCATION.

We will understand and appreciate that regardless of how good we become, we can always get better.
Regardless of the challenges we face, regardless of who’s running the race, regardless of who’s currently setting the pace, we will always keep a positive ATTITUDE..

.Slow to anger but quick to reconcile.
We will stay MOTIVATED.

Motivated to Dream Big and accomplish great things. Encouraging ourselves and one another.
These are the five ingredients that will catapult The Charlotte Chargers to extraordinary achievement on the court, in the classroom and in life.

DREAM! DREAM!!

DREAM BIG!!!

"
"My job with Kevin Carroll is, amongst other duties, to document through the blog and using video, the "Kevin Carroll experience." This job offers me an amazing opportunity to apprentice with someone who is living a dream. Writing books and speaking to thousands of people, encouraging them to look at their lives at the deepest level and live their dreams, IS a dream job.

And if you know where Kevin came from, you know his life today verges on the miraculous.
Kevin describes what I do in part, as being a 'witness.' He's allowed me to be a witness to different cultures - first Cape Town and now Japan.

I've been allowed to see Kevin in action, not only speaking to gatherings, but also interacting with jazzed audiences after the fact.
KC uses a James Michener quote which proposes that "the master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play." Talk about the personification of one sentence!

Its hard to tell what Kevin enjoys more: the speech part, or the line of attendees waiting to speak with him, have their books signed by him, have their picture taken next to him afterwards. The aftermath is often twice as long as one of KC's speeches. But as he has explained it to me, the audience breaths the energy back into him that was expended on the stage.

Kevin spoke to the Tokyo International School and had the students and the teachers buzzing, so much so that when we returned 2 hours later and were given a tour by school founder, Patrick Newell, the kids who caught sight of him were like, "ooh, ooh, there's Kevin...

hey, KEVIN, come here...

" It was like being with the Pied Piper or Santa Claus after he's delivered a present. The "present" in this equation is a "license to play," to be six years old again that KC delivers. And everybody wants one.

Kevin spoke to close to 700 folks with the Marine Corps Community Services outfit in Okinawa and it was just the same. The folks know that they are going to hear an "inspirational/motivational" address, so some enter with a healthy dose of skepticism. That skepticism is assaulted over the first few minutes of KC's talk - he hits on the fact that a ball changed his life.

"Hmmm. What does that mean?" Drawn in a bit.

Then they hear the story of Bowling Green, VA. "Wow, that's horrible/crazy/sad."
By the time Kevin pulls out an envelope and invites one of his audience members, who is now stage right, to risk opening it and they do - the audience is in the palm of his hand.

These moments transcend culture. Kevin's story transcends differing cultures and I say that as his professional witness. His story is a tool that he offers for others to use to liberate themselves.

Its the classic, "if I can do this, so can you! You can reclaim the childhood dreamer, the embalmed artist, the joyful creator that lies dormant in your adult-accessorized body. Don't let the child in you D-I-E!

!!"
Why I have this job - I don't know.

I often say that I'm extremely lucky - to be able to write and shoot video for a living(?!), to have a great boss who gives more than anyone I've ever seen.

Its like the answer to Clint Eastwood's famous question: "well, do you feel lucky punk, do ya?" The answer is a resounding "YES!"
But my dad used to always remind us, "you make your luck.

" And I think that Kevin, too, reminds us that we make our own luck. He made his luck. Nobody gave him anything (other than encouragement).

And this is a critical message in this society especially because too many of us have an "entitlement" mentality, when it is an "empowerment" mentality that is required and that KC exemplifies. And they call this work!
This man makes the best french toast on planet earth.

Chef Fred the Rocker, aka, TBOR Rocks, is the man at Tokyo's Grand Hyatt Hotel. Jeff Hen baptized us with Fred's specialty: french toast that tastes like candy. Syrup was completely unnecessary, the texture was magnifique and the hospitality and service was down home homie!

Design Ninja Jeff Henderson chats up Japan Times writer/photog Eric Prideaux In Tokyo.
Patrick Newell, founder of the Tokyo International School (TIS) hosted our whirlwind school tour.
Lady M and KC after his speech at Camp Foster, Okinawa Marine Corps base to the Marine Corps Community Services staff and families.

Lady M made a beeline for KC's Homeless World Cup ball because her son is an avid soccer player.
Greg Wheeler, DC native, showed us the sites and sounds of Okinawa. He prevented us from being arrested by the MP's when a gate monitor pulled us over for suspicious video cam operation.

We owe you, Greg!
KC spoke to the Marine Corps Community Services staff on Tuesday Wednesday (April 10th 11th), roughly 600 people strong. The work that staff do supporting the men and women serving in the Middle East and their families is incredibly important and Kevin was truly honored to speak to them.

"Using a highly energetic presentation style to relay a truly meaningful message, Kevin's delivery of thought-provoking concepts on the importance of "play" in everyday life was right on target! Our folks can't stop thanking us for our decision to inject such a positive dose of FUN into the work place! Thank you Kevin for providing such a great message to our team and for Humanity!

"

Skelly, Director of Personnel Training
(Command Sergeant Major, Ret. US Army Special Forces)
Kevin Skelly was there to make sure that we had everything we needed, whether it was having transportation around the island to shop or eat and any other provisions we required. He let us us know he was on call to hook us up at the drop of a hat.

Thanks for all of your help.
Both of these men were grrrrrrreat hosts and awesome human beings and we met a bunch of those. Gotta give a special shoutout to Greg Wheeler (DC in the house!

) for good naturedly tooling us around Okinawa to find bargain football jerseys and just generally having a ball. We look forward to working with Marine Corps Community Services again in the future.
Coming soon: Video of our Tokyo and Okinawan jaunts.

Stay Tuned!
A couple of our friends warned us to avoid, Avoid, AVOID the Okinawan Fruit Bat.
Fortunately, we did.

Our visit here, to the isle of Okinawa Japan, to speak with the Marine Corps Community Services staff was FANTASTIC! The hospitality and generosity of Steve Pauli, Kevin Skelly, Carlos Saldana, Greg Wheeler, Jesus Hernandez and many others was off the hook!!

Stay tuned for more in depth reporting over the next few days.
Why Is This Child Smiling?
Perhaps because a Red Ball bounded "anonymously" onto his playground and invited him to P-L-A-Y!

Yesterday Tokyo, today and tomorrow Okinawa. We're meeting with the families of US Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as well on-base staff. Our mission: boosting their morale.

More Red Balls will likely fall and hopefully more spirits will be raised.
Speaking to the Monday morning assembly of students in the multi-purpose gymnasium..

.
Yesterday, Jeff Henderson, design guru and brand strategist gave us the warp speed tour of Tokyo's diverse neighborhoods and parks. Part of the method to our madness was doing a dry run of "Ball Drop Theory" Japanese-style in Yoyogi Park.

Very hush-hush concept; more details later.
(One side note: the Grand Hyatt Tokyo has the BEST breakfast on Planet Earth..

.at least until the next discovery)
Stefan Bucher is still requesting and receiving 'Open Source Monsters' from his friends and fellow artists up to the challenge of creating loveable monstrosities. Beasts and boogey men wearing three-piece suits and sporting three eyeballs, compete with mutant dragon-like divas for the title, "The Greatest Monster of ALL TIME!

"
I've got an idea: how about YOU trying your artistic hand at a ???

?
In his ongoing mission to stimulate and challenge the artist in all of us, Stefan now seeks a not necessarily kinder, but in fact,
Insert, here, a sober lecture about living the dream..

.

Drawing is good for your blood pressure..

.It actually opens up previously entombed hair follicles..

.It, it is, uh, mmmm, good for your complexion..

...

LOOK, it's just good plain F-U-N, okay?!

..
Sharon Smith-Mauney is a katalyst in her own right.

Director of Diversity with the United States Tennis Association's , she is all about taking tennis to communities of color and growing the game. And from personal observation, Sharon is the hardest working person in the tennis biz.
Ms.

Smith-Mauney used her ample powers of persuasion to secure another Katalyst for the keynote address at the NorCal section's celebration of all things tennis - The Big, Bold, Bash - "featuring workshops, clinics and tennis competition for those who love the game."
Collaborating on other projects in the Bay Area with 'Lady Mauney' is a must!
To quote the old DC/New York sportscaster, Warner Wolf:
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the year 1947.

However, MLB's actual date of racial integration was likely the year 1887, when James Madison Toy, of partial Indian ancestry, integrated the League.
Where does baseball stand now?
is an interesting reflection back and a look at the present state of Indian affairs in the Majors.

ALSO...

.
Baseball is an extremely hard sport on the arms of its key player: The Pitcher. Read about the strain on baseball's golden arms.