As I sit back and reflect on my nearly six months working with AWP I can honestly say I've learned a lot, but that is not even the point.  I sought out a mentorship where I could network myself, learn more about the industry, and enjoy my time doing this mentorship and I did that.  But that is not even the biggest accomplishment I had during this experience.  I found out that I truly love working with people and using sports to build character, find a sense of purpose, and guide and advise people.  I have mentored young people in the past and I feel like I do a good job of it, but I have a ton of room for growth.  This experience has coincided directly with a lot of management classes that I have taken and I've realized that although my MBA concentrations are in Sport Management and now Marketing, my breadth of knowledge gained from the coursework and this mentorship is far beyond simple business, it is a philosophy on life and it is reiterated daily in my constancy of purpose which is a leader.  Success is not possible without successors to continue on the path that is started and although being a mentor myself has been difficult at times I know it is appreciated and I know I can make a difference by imparting knowledge and continuing to master myself.  

I have always said if I can sell history to a high school student, then I can sell them on anything.  I believe in my principles and morals and my time at AWP has emphasized what I have done, but built on it in a faithful way that allows for me to see more perspectives and reach a much wider audience.  The men at AWP are some of the most influential people I have met and their character is a shining example of the possibilities that are present if people allow others to lead them and allow others to influence their lives.  Ultimately the people process, something I learned a lot about in management recently, is the most important factor in both business and life.  A mentor can only do so much unless the protege allows full disclosure and full constancy of purpose to be supplanted into the character of the protege.  

I found a lot of the blogging quite difficult as most of the specific information I had to share I was unable to share, but I hope the blogs provided some insight to what I was learning and what I was feeling at the times I was in contact with the staff and the team.  It is a unique situation because I have had a lot of coaching hours under my belt and the culture was quite familiar to me.  My duties of coaching have always gone far beyond the playing field and it was nothing new for me to do those things at AWP even though some of it was done on my own initiative I was told it was appreciated.

As I complete the mentorship I have been afforded a great opportunity to continue to cultivate my skills as a part of AWP and hopefully spread the positive message beyond just Fort Wayne, Indiana.  

Well it was made official yesterday, AWP has agreed to a partnership with the Ft. Wayne Cubs! This is a great step in the right direction for AWP to grow as an entire sports training brand.  The Ft. Wayne Cubs have been a class organization of youth baseball and travel baseball and softball in Northeast Indiana and with the merger those players will now get quality performance instruction and character development that has been a staple of AWP Sports. 

From a business standpoint it puts AWP in a bigger market and without being bias, creates a situation where the market is driven by AWP.  We have seen other athletic facilities and clubs in northern Indiana attempt to merge and create similar services, but they have failed or they are at the very early stages.  What will make this such a dynamic partnership is that the AWP Cubs program will continue to train sports specifically at The Diamond facility and sports performance (strength/speed/agility/etc.) will be coordinated by and instructed by AWP staff.  The next level to this business will be a continued effort for female sports growth and hiring more female staff members (which is already happening) to appeal to that market.  Our competition in the marketplace is increasing, but AWP is at a point where it is putting pressure on other sports training facilities to expand or be left behind.

I have a few meetings scheduled with my mentor that I will not be able to document, but it's very exciting and the experience has been tremendous for learning and reaching the goals I first set out.  To be honest, I have learned much more than the goals I intended to reach and about three days into the mentorship I realized my goals are simply benchmarks in my growth process.

A link to the story on the partnership can be found: http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/sports/130808-awp-sports-fort-wayne-cubs-travel-baseball-218928871.html