It is true, today is my birthday
It is true, (as much as I attempt to manipulate the math), I’m now 69 years-old
It is true, attaching those number of years to my “me” is absolutely 100% surreal
It is true, (as I’m want to do) I’ve sought some song lyrics (in this case Paul Simon’s The Boxer) to assist with my perspective to all of the above…
“I’m older than I once was…and younger than I’ll be but that’s not unusual”
What is also true (as I told my wife a few months back)…
“It’s time for me to do more!”
I’ve known this for a while now and, though one can never be certain it seems events in my personal life during the past 3 years were this “time to do more” mindset…
(Losing our Dad in January of 2016, then our Mother in February of 2017 and then in June of 2018 the miracle of birth…our first grandchild!)
Clearly, each of these are unique to me and have profound blessings attached!
Our folks lived into their 90s…Dad lucid until the end, our mother not as much but never seemingly suffered…
Our grandson is a blessing too amazing for me to describe, however…
It was experiencing first hand the valor, fortitude and resolve an 8-day old boy exhibited during his first “fist-fight”…spending the next 23 days in ICU fighting for his life and his place in ours that grabbed me profoundly, hasn’t let me go since and clearly induced me to action NOW!
(Formulated as a 501c), The Fifth Quarter Project is a concept whose roots are an amalgamation both of the intellectual and relational capital I’ve been fortunate enough to collect during the past 47 years in “search”, as well as the invaluable lessons collected during my formative years in the playgrounds of Philly…
(I was not a particularly good scorer so passing it to those that could become my ticket to getting picked to play…learning to “share the ball” was then and is now such an important lesson to learn and skill to possess.)
There’s a concept paper explaining The Fifth Quarter Project in fairly explicit detail for any individuals curious or intrigued enough to learn more but for the sake of this writing I’ll attempt to use the wisdom of a teacher of mine (Seth Godin) who says “You get 10 words”
Below in BOLD/CAPITALIZED font are my 10…their goal is to describe not only me but also my “ask” of anyone able to assist on this 26th day of June 2019, my 69th birthday
A (possibly) CRAZY yet COMPETENT and CONFIDENT older guy is COMMITTED to DISRUPT the existing education model so is ASKING for any assistance acquiring any combination of TALENT, and/or MENTORS and/or MONEY and/or TESTIMONIALS
Magic (Johnson) is right… self-evaluation is hard, hard, hard!
His comments about having to go “deep inside myself” and “not as good as I thought I was. I gotta go back to work” are incredibly accurate, eerily impactful and continue clanging and clanging around in my brain!
It is in fact simply time for me to do more!
(If you excuse the expression from my youth)…do this old guy a “solid”…
Have a gander at www.thefifthquarterproject.org
If you have the time and or resources to “share the ball” I’d be grateful beyond words and, more importantly, you’ll be assisting a deserving person to accelerate the careers and lives!
TALENT, MENTORS, MONEY, TESTIMONIALS explained
In order to scale the foundational concepts of The Fifth Quarter Project to serve more athletes in need, the organization requires Talent, Mentors, Money, and Testimonials.
TALENT: As emphasized above, The Fifth Quarter Project must find, assess, educate, and inspire those individuals genuinely interested in optimizing their potential. There are two avenues of participation.
- The Fifth Quarter Project will partner with “sponsoring” institutions, coaches, athletic directors, alumni, and business leaders who will provide the nonprofit with candidate participants.
- Individuals interested in applying click here OR
PLEASE WRITE TO MY PERSONAL EMAIL WITH RECOMMENDATIONS: barry@barrykleiman.com
MENTORS: Mentors are needed to ensure that participants in The Fifth Quarter Project curriculum are supported educationally and emotionally. The Fifth Quarter Project coursework is rigorous, and life beyond formal training can offer many challenges as well. Our model is one of ongoing support; the quality of our mentors is critical to the organization’s goals. Each participant must feel they have advocates and champions on their “team.”
PLEASE WRITE TO MY PERSONAL EMAIL WITH RECOMMENDATIONS: barry@barrykleiman.com
MONEY: Financial support will provide access to technology, content production, administrative support, marketing, and materials during the start-up phase (first two years) of The Fifth Quarter Project. In time, local businesses, former coaches, booster clubs, and institutions will be aware of program success stories and will be approached to become “sponsoring” community partners.
(Donations to The Fifth Quarter Project should be directed to: https://bacr.org/fifth-quarter-project-donations
TESTIMONIALS: Testimonials are always beneficial to validate the worth of an individual or entity. Although the need is not new, The Fifth Quarter Project’s being along with its agenda is both new and unique. We will continue to seek the recommendations of anyone familiar with our ability to structure and deliver the content we offer. These Testimonials will provide ongoing leverage to access more readily each of the above.
PLEASE WRITE TO MY PERSONAL EMAIL WITH TESTIMONIALS: barry@barrykleiman.com OR
Use my LinkedIn profile www.linkedin.com/in/barryckleiman
Thanks so much for considering “sharing the ball” and in some way assisting The Fifth Quarter Project to achieve its mission
-Barry