LaVaughn Kelley
Appearances
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I'm going to say a structure, a structure piece as far as how we implement certain programs, how we have certain milestones and checkpoints to make sure everything is running accordingly and efficiently, right? We know everything is not cookie cutter. We try to apply it and we have to be adaptable. So we Every day, there may be a change, right? But we always say as Intel, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
The enemy has a factor in this decision process, right? So what we do depends on the enemy, right? So we just can't go out and just run A through Z. It's not how that works, right? So the enemy always has a play in that decision. And I think the next piece, when it comes to development, the mentor piece, I'm not the yes man, right? I haven't been that person. I don't know if I ever was that person.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So I can't be with a client and say, being my own person if I don't really give them the pros and cons right pluses and minuses the risks that maybe they have to be able to live with right with any decision that they make as a prior as an intel officer my career so I was always looking at the adversary courses of action as to how do we defeat this?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Whatever the issue was, I try to find a way to defeat it, but I got to understand what the issue is, right? And I got to bring that. And a lot of people consider that to be the devil's advocate piece and think I'm the negative person, but I'm just like, I want you to be able to think every manner in which this may play out. And then whichever one is best for you, that's fine.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And then let's look at the risk that we got to take on. We probably can't buy down the risk all the way to zero, right? So any form of fashion, whatever that may be. If we can just buy it down to somewhat because we thought about some of these processes that actually have to take place, then it may become an acceptable risk. And that's part of the military too, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Collateral damage, should I say, right? Things of that nature. But if it gets to a point where you're acceptable and you know what it is and you're able to swallow that, then okay, if that's what you want to do, then we move forward. But we move forward without second guessing, right? We take that, we move it in the right direction, and then we go, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And then if something else arises that we weren't prepared for, that we hate, we got a break point, and then we just got to adjust, adapt, and We keep moving on.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I'm very, very keen. I'm a strong proponent advocate that success leaves clues. I don't think I have to go out and reinvent the wheel all the time. Times change. Right. So you innovative ways to come across. But the methodologies don't really steer too far from history. repeats itself.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So I look for, well, who, whatever I'm trying to do, if I'm trying to get to a certain goal, well, who's completed that goal, right? Then I do some research. Well, how do they get it done, right? Does this apply to me? Is this a timely manner? And the time that it took them is that, do I have that time and space to do that? If I do, okay, well, I might start marketing. If I don't,
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Then I got to figure out how do I speed that up? And if I speed that up, what am I losing? Right. What is the value that I'm going to miss out? Right. I may miss out on a learning tool or I may be so far ahead that I've missed out on a production. So it may get me there faster, but then I can't sustain it. Right. And that's not where I want to be at either. Right.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So you got to find that balance when it comes to that. And I think that other than success itself, you got to understand that just kind of what you said, your mentors may not always be in the industry that you're in. Right. So I love to have out of the box thinkers, someone that has nothing, a fresh pair of eyes, because when you're in the thick of it. You kind of get tunnel vision sometimes.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
It is hard to step away when you're in the problem. But if I can go to someone who has no bias, right, no dog in the fight whatsoever, but just honorable person, someone that just has some forward thought that can kind of take things and just give me that honest opinion and evaluation, I'm all about it.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I think the different generation, probably the biggest thing is that they have to understand that they themselves now are no longer really a football player by itself, right? You're not just a player. As you transition to the professional side, that's a profession, right? So you got to understand that, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Being a profession, now you got to understand that you are brand, you are your own business. So technically, once you graduate, you become a CEO, whether you want to or not, with no skills, no knowledge of anything, that title is on you. And for them to grasp that, some of them do, right? Especially NIL when it comes into place.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
If the proper education is given to them, I think they understand that and that transition is a little bit easier, but some don't. And it's a rags to riches kind of deal. And those are the other things for just responsibility, being financial like literacy, right? Understanding how that works, how money works, how it can work for you.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Small things, things that we're accustomed to now as I'm older, right? But I know no one was talking about that to me when I was younger, right? Like, I think NIL brings an open platform and a space for us to start having those conversations a little bit earlier, especially now in the high schools. Right. As they go to college.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I truly appreciate it and happy to do it.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So with the collective deals, those are the things that you have to have taxes. Right. Some of us just is just not aware. Right. And they may not be thinking about it until you bring it up. Then they're like, oh, you know what? You're right. You know, and those are things you just kind of got to pull on. But I think once.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
they see that you're trying to open them up to things that they should be aware of. Maybe they're not, but it's going to allow them to be better. They're very much more receptive. So it's not always a fight, right? It's not always a bad thing. Some of them just don't know what they don't know, right? And they receive it as you come with it.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And as you're being authentic, right, transparent, it's nothing that you're kind of hiding on the back scene. It's very much more receptive than anything else.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Yeah. Yeah. Social media. Facebook started when we were in school. Matter of fact, it was still so fresh when we were while we were in school. When you went to sign up, you had to have a school email address. Right. The Naval Academy handle was not even in there. You had to put it in there, right, to be added. So that was funny.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
But to manage the distractions, I mean, you really just have to tell them, I need you to be mature about this, right? You got to be it for the long game, the short game. The distractions today will definitely affect you two, three years down the road. And you don't want to look back and say, hey, four years ago or two years ago, I would have been here.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
But you took that time to do certain things, right? Players may go to training. I'll give you an example. Training, right? Getting ready for the season or getting ready for their pro day, combine, anything, right? And social media is very heavy, right? They're on their downtime. They're probably on social media following whatever I do.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
But when they're posting their training or they're after training and they want to post it in the gym, that's great, right? Acknowledge document. That's all well and good. But then all I do is I ask. I say, let me ask you this question. The time that you took out to go get your phone
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
to go position yourself, to sit up here, to show that, hey, you worked in the gym and you worked out and you wanna flex, right? Like what else could you have been doing, right? Because I'm actually this, does that little time, right? If you add them all up collectively, it's gonna get a couple of hours in your life. Is that playbook time? Is that another workout? Is that another rep?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Is that another set, right? Is that something that's going to propel you on the field? If you look at your phone, no phones on the field. There are no phones in between the white lines, right? So that aspect of your training is nowhere to be found, and you can't translate it from that little moment in time, and it's going to make you a better football player. So I simply ask the question.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I put it on them. Right. I don't I don't I'm not the parent for them. Right. I just make sure they're aware of what they're doing. Again, I let you know the risk. Right. That's the risk that you run into as much as time as you put into that.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
If you miss a beat or you don't hit a mark, I'm always going to be like, was there any other time and space that we could have done in that in that time frame that we could have probably got there? Now, if you tell me you've done everything and the social media wasn't. I don't know, right? We'll see.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
But I can tell you that the person who has put the phone down, who's taking the time to sacrifice whatever time that is to focus on their craft, I'm always going to say they're going to be the better player. That would be my bet, hands down.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
My purpose is to walk this earth to be able to have my daughter as a parent, right? To have my daughter look at me and say, hey, my dad was somebody, right? The overall theme of everything I try to do, I try to make sure that when she looks at me or hears my name or my name is spoken, she has a sense of pride in her as well as I have when I see her.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I would say, Darren, every time I've touched the field, I've never lost to Army. So I don't know how that feels or how that even happens. So if I'm a betting man, I say that I'm going to give us 10 points. I think we got a 10-point win. I know Coach Munkin. Coach Munkin was coaching at Navy when I was there. So I love Coach Munkin. I mean, Coach Munkin, he's a dog. He would listen.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I love that, right? He's it. He see it. He goes for the kill. But I really do think that we have a team that can definitely match up, and I'm looking forward to the game. I'll be there, of course, so I can't wait.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Fourth of July. Fourth of July. In Florida, yeah, we were big on fireworks. I love fireworks. In Virginia, you really can't do them, so we'd go to the parks when they kind of set them off through the city. But, yeah, we've always been with fireworks, family time. So, yeah, I love that time frame.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Like a couple of years, Super Bowl winners? Yeah. Tampa Bay.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I'm a Hurricane all day, so that won't change. I'm still going to be a Hurricane fan.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I know what you're asking. I just can't give you what you want right now. College basketball.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I'll wear a couple Jordans. I'll do that for you. That's about it. There you go.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
There's a lot of them. It's tough to choose one. I mean, growing up, I mean, Deion is always in my position, always been. But I will say, I know when I was growing up, Bo Jackson, I had the cartoon, remember the cartoon All-Stars?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Yeah, so that was to get up. I used to have a little Raider pajama set, the bed set spread and everything.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Right now? I mean, it's kind of the grind season for us as we... continue to keep recruiting and getting ready to, to close some deals and bring some clients on the board for this next draft class. Um, so we're still here trying to better ourselves. I'm actually, so like professional development, we always say we're trying to learn, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
There's actually Harvard business, uh, business school has this executive leadership course at June. So I just applied for that. Hopefully I get in. So pray for me, whoever's out there to pray and to pray and folks, please pray for me. I can get into that course and just to be better at my craft. Um, Now that I'm retired, I'm just all I want to do. I don't want to do anything else.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I don't want to do the corporate job and do an agent on the side. I'm a full-time agent, so I wake up and do this weekends, anything. It don't matter. Like I said, for Thanksgiving, so my high school here in St. Thomas, we practice on Thanksgiving. because he typically went to playoffs. I flew home.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So I flew to Florida to go to practice, go to Thanksgiving, saw my dad, went to the game Friday, flew out Saturday. Now I'm in Texas visiting my mom right now. And then I fly back to Virginia tomorrow. OK. All for the work. But I love it. And she knows that she loves it, too. So that support factor.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And I would say I would say that when you have a good circle to support you, that's one of the best things in the world. You really can't put any value on that piece. And I'm talking about just from parents to those parents are still around that can still push you not just as a student now, but as a professional and let you just kind of grow and cultivate on your own space.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I would trade it in for the world.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I make it very simple. Instagram and Twitter. It's just my full name, LaVon Kelly. So it's LaVon, L-A-V-A-U-G-H-N underscore Kelly, K-E-L-L-E-Y.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I appreciate it, man. Definitely. Definitely. I thank you for this opportunity. I wish you all the best and continued success for you as well. And I'm looking forward to doing this again with you.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Oh, that was a hard decision. Leave it to my own guidance, I never went to the Academy. One of my biggest mentors, Wayne Blair, was probably my biggest supporter to drive me in that era.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Got to, got to.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Oh, that was a hard decision. Leave it to my own guidance, I would have never went to the academy. My mentors, one of my biggest mentors, Wayne Blair, was probably my biggest supporter to drive me in that era. Coming from South Florida, I mean, I'm a Miami Hurricanes fan, right? So growing up, I mean, I'm Afro, I'm Blurry in the back, everything, you know?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So to see me transform and getting that first haircut, cutting my hair all off to go to that realm. My dad was in the Air Force for a 23 years. So I caught the back end of his service and time. So never really saw like the deployments and away from home kind of trying to drive from him. But I had a little bit of what military was about, right? Not how it interacts, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And I never really had that exposure. So taking that ride was never on my radar. Even when they came to school, offer letters, I put them in a shoebox and threw them to the side, right? Never really paid attention to it. But as time went on, like I said, I was definitely a Hurricane fan. They didn't come around, right? I wasn't at that caliber yet, right? I was small, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I was always the underdog trying to drive up and get that eye, right? Trying to prove myself, should I say. But my mentor, he went to Tulane, so he knew the kind of regular morals of going to be a collegiate student, play for the CFL for a little while as well. So, you know, Florida big football, so... Yeah, I want to go to the league, too.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
You know, that was always something in the back of my mind to kind of keep going. But he saw the bigger picture and I never saw it. Right. And he wanted to make sure that I was in that place. And my parents, of course, they were driving. They want me to be happy wherever I went. Right. So we took some school visits. UCF, FIU was getting a new program again. prominent.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So he was offering us and kind of talking our way through. But I mean, my mother really left it to me to kind of figure that piece out. So with him and prayer, a whole lot of prayer, I was able to make that decision. Went to the prep school first. I went to Rhode Island. Never been a road out of my life. Right. It's snowing in October. I'm a Florida, right? Yeah.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So I'm, listen, I'm in the orange Dickie shorts, some Nikes and watching this snow come down in October. Didn't know what I was doing. Right. Didn't know what to do other than stay inside. Right. Stay warm. Yeah. But got through that first year and then really had to make a decision. Okay, now I was on to Naval Academy.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And it's from the guys that I met there, the football team and the nucleus we started to build. And we were winning. We did pretty well for ourselves. So we knew that we could go in as a unit and change the program. And that was our expectation. So we did it. We went on. Our first year was, of course, still rough. We didn't win any game by freshman year. So that was something new to me.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I'm from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florida. So I'm used to winning. I'm used to looking at it.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Right. Used to looking up and saying, yeah, committee teams, and saying, hey, we just playing for second. You know, that's how I kind of really boiled to. But looking in the stands, looking for my parents, always trying to find that noble, simple face that wasn't there, right? So I had to really dig deep, and football really became a heavy, heavy factor for me just to maintain my college career.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
My purpose is to walk this earth to be able to have my daughter as a parent, right? To have my daughter look at me and say, hey, my dad was somebody.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
It's evolved a little bit. I would say initially we still are faith-based, right? That hasn't changed. I think our driving point was that we knew as agents, right? That we're faith-based. So we want like minds and we try to expand it as much as we can.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I think if they would have took football away from my apartment, I'd have to reevaluate some things personally just to kind of stay put. But it kept me there, and it allowed me to flourish and allowed me to – Be great as a midshipman, then commissioned as a naval officer. There was opportunities that we were trying to seek. A couple of classmates of us to try to go play professional.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
But 9-11 actually happened during our freshman year. So the nation was at war. So at that time, it was very, very difficult for anyone to allow us to go on to play professional. So got stationed down in Virginia. Was there for a couple of years. There was a couple of semi-pro teams. I kind of just stayed around football. So I played a little bit. And then...
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I was on a ship, so we went out on deployments, so now I'm across the globe, touring the world, defending the country and just kind of having that security. So that football, playing, I had to hang those cleats up at that point, right? I took on other responsibilities, and that was the men and women of the Navy, my division, my department, right? Those I had to lead at that point.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
I took them on and was able to complete 20 years of service. So I was able to come home every time I took away and bring my guys back too. So it's definitely a blessing. My mom has always been a cornerstone of my rock. My dad was giving me guidance at some of the military aspect as well. And then the family and friends that I actually met through the military, I wouldn't change it for the world.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And I knew as I transitioned out, I still wanted to do something. I coached when I was at short duty. So when I had opportunities, I was able to coach at two different high schools Also training a couple of guys and watched them go from high school to college to NFL. Right. So I watched those phases of progression to go out and I was able to be a part of it to help mentor. Right.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Wasn't my ability by any means. Right. And I wasn't trying to live through them, but I just wanted to give them what I necessarily didn't receive as I was going through that process. And I think it proved. to be great dividends for them and they did well. And now some of them actually back coaching high school. So I actually attend some of those practices sometimes.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Just sit, fly on the wall, right? Never wanted it true by any means. And they ask me questions like, coach, was I like that? Like, yeah, that was you back then too. You know, it happened that way. But I'm happy they're embracing it and they're figuring out ways to lead their guys too, right? And motivate them to get them to do what needs to be done.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And I'll also give them a platform to be successful well after football. So I definitely appreciate and love those guys as they continue to do that.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So I would say probably the first time I could probably say I felt a glimpse of that was once I graduated, they allowed us to go back to the prep school to coach. So that was my first experience of something that I love with football. And I was able to teach high school students how to play the game, how to play my position. I was a DB coach and special teams coach.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So watching them in a high school atmosphere like, right, is what they come from and bringing those guys to gel them together. And they're looking to me, right? I'm their pathway at this point, right? I have to lead them. It's learning that playbook and being able to play it four years ago when I played, but when I had to teach it, two different things, right? That's two different things.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And if I would have actually probably learned and knew what I was teaching at that point four years ago, I'd have been a totally different player. I would have definitely had better insights.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So I think at that point, when I started to watch them and then when I say, hey, when they've arrived, they've seen some of these things, they learned the tendencies, they're doing the drills correctly, they're being coachable, right? And they're doing those things that you ask of them. And then you have to find out a way to motivate them. Every person is not the same.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And that was another factor is that I had to be adaptable and I had to be able to do it quickly in order to keep everybody on the same load. Because I couldn't focus on one person all the time because I would leave the rest of the group behind. So I had to figure that person out real quick, right? What makes them tick, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
And how do I can get them to be motivated to continue to go on and go on and go forward to do great? So that was probably my initial clips. What it felt like, I think the biggest feeling was when I was in the military, I was at my second command. So I was at a staff group. So after the ship, I went to a staff unit. And at that time, the staff construct is our Commodore at the time.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
He's a head of multiple ships. So I answer up to him. He was the head for the most part, but it was other captains on each ship that owned their own ship and their personnel. So I like an overseer for the most part. Well, I reported to him, but certain units reported to me. Now, mind you, they're not always in the same place.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So when I give certain directions or get certain reports, I have to be able to be very clear and concise when that happens. So I had to work on how I speak, had to work on how I deliver messages, had to work on how I convey things, because how I'm hearing it in my mind may not be how they receive it on the other end. So I had to figure that out.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Once I figured that out, I think I was golden, right? Because I knew once I put something out, it was clear what I taught it to train them to be in a better place and then watch them go on and do it and execute it far beyond what I imagined. It felt great, right? Because now I'm like, okay, I might know a little something, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
But they're executing it, and whatever innovative ways they may have added to it, they've actually made it better. So I learned from them, right? When they came back with certain things, I learned from them, and I just was able to take some of that in and apply it to the next phase, right? And it's a continuous cycle, right? It's always learning, always some professional development to happen.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
So I appreciated it, and it was a great feeling at that time.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Gotcha. So with Divine Sports, so I didn't necessarily find it. It was two founders prior to me. They brought me on with them, right? One of them actually mentored while he was at the Naval Academy, actually. He's a 2014 graduate. So from their nucleus, they didn't find a way, because we both played football, right? So it was always a pathway.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
The biggest thing for us, first, is Savers Academies, right? Trying to find a way to the league. You still want that. Some still have those dreams and aspirations, even though we know we have to go and,
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
serve and there's a commitment once we graduate to serving the armed forces there's always that slight chance that that hope that you say i may have an opportunity to go forth and that was always something we wanted to be able to tap into um still is right still a desire of ours as we continue to work through this but we faith-based right um we always understand what it took
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
for us and we knew how many times we had to fall on our knees to make sure that next day was to come, right? And we were prepared for it. And we believe everyone has a purpose because we have our own purpose. We learned through the Naval Academy coming from boys to men, right? How that changes those sacrifices in life and then getting to the fleet, right?
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
Or to the military or to the Navy, just the commission you actually received at that point. As you got developed, your purpose began to become a little bit more refined, right? And you learned some tools and you got some assets, right? to actually get us to a place. And that allowed us to be there at that point. So we appreciated it at that point.
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
It's evolved a little bit. I would say initially, we still are faith-based, right? That hasn't changed. I think our driving point was that we knew as agents, right, that we're faith-based. So we weren't like mine, and we tried to...
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
expand it as much as we can but then we kind of figure out like it's not just the athletes right like we want the family we want the nucleus drive we want to be an extension of family as it comes about the transactional pieces that happens in the business of the sports industry we do our best to shy away from right we want to be able to build those relationships to be a part of that um and we even started a bible study that we have as an agency every wednesday right so
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
anyone that's affiliated in the sports industry industry that we have either a reach to or we can touch we invite them right when we go through books or go through certain passages in the bible every wednesday for the men and we know that we have to kind of walk that walk right you just can't be out here just preaching it and you're not living it what you live your creed right um so we do our best to not only be that example that others can emulate right but we try to pass on those tools because you never know when somebody's paying attention right and
Mick Unplugged
LaVaughn Kelley | From Naval Officer to Sports Mentor: LaVaughn Talks Leadership and Faith
when they do, what they take from you, right? Now, I'm not trying to say that I'm perfect by any means, right? I know I'm no saint. And I know where my shortcomings lie. But at the same time, I do know that I'm on a path that I try to instill in myself and in those around me a better way forward. And if I can touch one to just kind of be motivated to do that, then I think I've done my job.