ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s become a recurring theme here on the show, how we often meet former professional sportsmen who have since taken their knowledge of teamwork, strategy and incremental improvement to the realm of community betterment.
Today is no different, as we get to meet a man who went from playing professional baseball to leading in others’ personal development.
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This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews JonPaul Reed, founder of Pure Momentum LLC., a firm with a stated mission to specialize in helping student athletes unlock their full potential and gain exposure in their areas of interest.
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“Pure Momentum is a organization that specializes in development and exposure for student athletes, so it’s one part development, one part exposure, one part mentorship, one part recruitment services,” Reed said. “Imagine a parent that has a kid that has a talent in the sport, but they’re not sure the route, they’re not sure what to do, then I share who they should listen to. So we kind of come in and help them manage some of these situations, because it’s a journey, you know what I mean? Taking a kid from start to finish is a marathon and you need the right people in your corner to make sure you’re making the right steps, and also to offer that tough love in certain situations.”
Reed graduated from Florida A&M University after ending high school as a four-sport athlete, later going on to play professional baseball in the American Association and the Pecos League. He said it was at FAMU where he developed much of the leadership and entrepreneurial skills still in his toolbelt.
“It was a lot of team building, a lot of leadership skills and qualities that I wanted and that I saw a lot of athletes with. Like, you know, quarterbacks, they’re leaders of men; being point guard, you have to be the guy that understands the information and can kind of orchestrate the team on the on the court; being a pitcher, you are the person that had the ball first, and everybody had to kind of like take your cue or nothing could happen. So I liked the spotlight, but I also wanted the qualities that went with the fame, so to speak, you know what I mean? I always knew that, you know, being in the environment I was raised in, I didn’t want that to be my end goal, I wanted to elevate past where I was and I knew I needed a certain skillset, so sports was probably the easiest way to accumulate these skills that I needed to kind of like impress people along the way to give me opportunities,” Reed said.
In his current roles as a motivational speaker, life coach and community leader, as well as a husband and a father of two, Reed said he’s made significant impacts on countless lives.
“I‘m a person that believes that if you do something you’re passionate about, you know, it’s not real work, so I knew that I needed to develop something that could help other people. Once I got done playing pro ball, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I started training kids,” Reed said. “Before, I was playing and then I had a car accident, and then the car accident kind of caused me to kind of take a pause. I didn’t know whether I was finished or not, but once you get past a certain point, it’s expensive going to these camps and these tryouts, so I was like, ‘OK, let me go ahead and start earning some money while I’m doing this,’ (...) this is a training of pure momentum, right? And so what we’ve established initially is a platform for student athletes to, one, develop the skill set, and then to be exposed to the market, and so what we try to do is try to facilitate that from start to finish with the kids and families that are a part of our organization.”
Hear the full interview and more in Season 2, Episode 32 of “Black Men Sundays.”
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