Are the right players in their positions?

Spring training is underway. In baseball, having the right players in the right position is a well calculated, tedious and significant investment designed to yield results. Every team hopes they have the right formula to win. A formula dependent on having signed the right players, in the right position.

Tackling poverty and failed educational outcomes for black youth in Atlanta requires the same intentionality, the right players in the right positions and a plan for success. Georgia has one non-profit charitable organization for every 361 people. It is ranked in the top 1/3 of states with the most charitable organizations. Georgia’s charitable organizations are generous with both their money and volunteers.

Why are we not seeing better outcomes from these dollars for young black males educationally and economically?

It is clearly not a lack of resources nor a lack of goodwill. However, it is time to ask ourselves if we are really making progress and creating authentic change. Authentic change requires authentic people with authentic experiences. Here are three reasons why I want to be chosen to help solve problems that have generationally plagued our city.

Tilling the ground
“It takes but one person, one moment, one conviction, to start a ripple of change.” Donna Brazile

Reaping a harvest begins with tilling the ground followed by planting and nurturing seeds. If we do not till the soil, seeds, no matter how good will not take sustainable root. Tilling is painstaking, laborious and often uncomfortable, however, it is necessary to weed out the undesired and can lead us to conviction. At times, weeds, posing as wheat, have overgrown the field, choking out good seeds. Planting seeds without a thorough tilling of the soil first, paves the way for waste. Effective changes always begin with a thorough tilling by a farmer with a track record of success.

Born for this

“You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.” Michelle Obama

Born and raised in Atlanta, I am one of the 4% to make it out of poverty. Educated in Atlanta Public Schools, I fell in love with baseball over 30 years ago, dreaming I would one day have the on-field talent and toughness of Jackie Robinson and the off-field charisma and consciousness of Martin Luther King Jr. Little did I know my life calling would be to shape the future of young men like myself.

There is no substitute for experience. Unless we understand another’s context, it’s hard to solve their problems. Transformational change of solving the educational and economic challenges of young black males today requires positioning the players with authentic experiences and successful track records.

The program helps:

• Launch student athletes toward educational opportunities after converting their raw talent into the skills required for entry into college athletic programs
• Expose teens to service and local enrichment activities in order to instill a sense of responsibility, belonging and investment; key requirements for building a civically engaged individual
• Advise players, coaches and parents on the process of effectively supporting dreams of playing baseball on the college level
• Direct young men toward their promise by using the historical journey of past African American legends as the road map

Tens of thousands of young Black males living in the inner city of Atlanta need the three B’s in order to live a life of significance. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

Belonging

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.” — Brene Brown

As a child, both of my parents modeled their work ethic in the comforts of my home. I was blessed to wake up to a father and mother in my house every day. But I grew up in poverty. It was hidden from me through designer clothes, a mandate to use articulate speech and annual visits to the Fox Theatre to see “The Nutcracker.”

I felt that I was better than my neighbors who lived in the same segregated Hollywood Brooks (Bankhead Atlanta) apartments as I did. I grew up feeling I was learning the right way, which had resemblance of the “White way”.

Atlanta will never become a world-class city until hundreds of thousands of Black males are living a sustainable life of significance.

L.E.A.D. Ambassadors Harris Clement and Deangelo Nowell along with Coach Desmond Stegall

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

I’m grateful that I am able to live and lead on purpose everyday as the CEO of L.E.A.D. Inc. (Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct). That is my why.

I was born and raised in the inner city of Atlanta. As a child, I dreamed of playing professional baseball for the Chicago Cubs and one day becoming a leader like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I watched a lot of Cubs games on television with my Grandfather in the summer. He liked them, so I liked them, too. As an Atlanta Public Schools (APS) student at Grove Park Elementary School in the 1980s, my Grandfather and I talked about Dr. King a lot. Dr. King was also an APS alum, graduating from Booker T. Washington High School.

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” — Desmond Tutu

The Facts

Photo by Rodney Cofield

I have been developing elite level hitters for more than 21 years. And I would have to admit that Antonio Pierce was one of the least talented athletes I have ever coached.

Before I explain, let me define a couple words I used in the above description.

Coach is something you do to get people from a place of being to a place of becoming. Talent is something that you do well.

Before the word coach was used in the context of sports, it was reserved strictly for transportation. There was a horse, a coachman (who controlled the horse) and a coach where the passengers rested. A coach took you to where you were supposed to be. Today, that doesn’t happen as much because too often there is a fear of accountability.

Talent is the beginning. It is followed by habits and skills. Black boys mistakenly want to be called talented. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that talent is really starting at the bottom. That’s the reason reading is such a fundamental tool.

Habits are things that you do well repeatedly without thought, while skills are the things that you do well repeatedly without thought while under stress.

We all know the saying: Skills pays the bills.

Antonio Pierce will graduate from the New Schools at Carver (Atlanta) in spring 2019. When he does, he will be the first in his immediate family to do so. L.E.A.D. has partnered with Antonio’s family since he was in the eighth grade. It has used its proven Pathway To Empowerment Methodology to move Antonio and hundreds of Atlanta Public Schools Black boys grades sixth through 12, per year.

Can you recall the last time you told yourself everything was going to be okay, and it wasn’t? You probably went through the day faking it to make it. Today may just be one of those days.

It’s not okay because the world is full of problems. We need you to live on purpose and become a solution.

Getting from “here to there” is something that I think about daily.

At 42 years old, I aspire to retire as the CEO of L.E.A.D. at age 50. From there, I would like to work full-time with the NCAA to increase the number of Black males who are competing academically and athletically as baseball players.

“Atlanta bred, Atlanta cred.”