Friday Photos - New Player Development Content
How Aymiel Fleming Impacted Galveston County
Friday Photos?!
So, in a newsletter a few weeks back I shared some photos from my time in the role and the overwhelming response was to continue to share the photos.
This is a new content initiative I am creating to help highlight some programming I have done over the years and the incredible individuals who have been a part of it.
In most of these Friday Photos I will share the why, the how, and the outcome from the programming you will see.
In creating this it will also allow me to reconnect with the stories, pictures, and impactful programming I was fortunate enough to be a part of. Being out of the role I miss these moments and this initiative has been so fun for me personally and professionally.
This Week’s Photo - Aymiel (uh-meal) Fleming
So, in 2016, my first year in the role we created this community impact initiative called “H-Town is Our Town” s/o to Grace Muscarello and Adam Khordaji for the inspiration for the name. As you may have guessed this was a city wide intiative to get impact our city. The city of Houston has a lot of talented HS football players and graduates from other universities, so this was a message to our city and programs coming to recruit that this was OUR TOWN.
I went to Coach Herman and asked him if we could order shirts for those who went into the community and impacted Houstonians. He approved and we ordered the shirts for our players. Well eventually Coach saw that certain position groups didn’t have a few players who had the shirts, so he started calling out coaches and players and asking why their group is not committed to the community. These were the shirts that were given after impacting the community:
One of our freshmen DL Aymiel Fleming came to my office one day, sat on the couch, and politely asked for one of the shirts.
I responded by letting him know he hadn’t been in the community yet.
He responded by pulling out his phone ad showing me rows and rows of photos of him at a senior living center.
I asked him how long he had been going and spending time with the residents.
He informed me his mother worked at the facility and he had been going there for some years to be with the residents.
He seemed shy when talking to me about it and asked for the shirt but did not want the time he spent their to go towards his hours.
I respected his wishes, but as our team and coaching staff found out more about what Aymiel was doing it was hard for his great work to be kept to only those in Galveston County.
We made sure for his future visits to give him his jersey, some UH gear and memorabilia for the residents. They loved the time with Aymiel and we had a new set of Coogs fans.
The Aymiel Fleming story was growing and growing with, and media was now covering it.
UH D-lineman Aymiel Fleming shares special bond with residents at senior care facility
Aymiel won the community service award at the Las Vegas Bowl we played in that year and now his story was national. Which you can see down here:
This is one of my favorite stories in the Player Development role.
What I Learned
The biggest thing I learned from Aymiel was to ask newcomers when they come in are there any areas, they are passionate about and currently serving in.
From that point on I also broke our community impact into separate areas as well because in having conversations with Aymiel I found out he wanted to make an impact by visiting local schools.
There is a lot to learn from our athletes in the role. Make sure you are taking notes during this masterclass.
The Player Development Conference
The Player Development Conference is less than 3 months away!
Building on the incredible momentum from last year, we are excited to continue to provide a collaborative learning experience for those serving athletes around the WORLD.
More information will be shared in the coming weeks.
Player Development Conference Resources and Opportunities:
PD Conference Mailing List
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COURSES
Guide to Player Development Online Course - Self Paced
Player Development LIVE Cohort Course Interest
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BOOKS
Player Development Guide eBook
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COACHING
Player Development Coaching Program Interest