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player ready...He grew up in a Philadelphia neighborhood “running after, kicking, catching, passing and bouncing a ball.”
The ball was Kevin Carroll’s coping mechanism for parents who abandoned him as a toddler and a grandfather “who already raised his kids” but reluctantly allowed Carroll and his brothers to live in his home.
Every day, people told Carroll “bouncing that ball will get you nowhere.”
The doubters didn’t stop Carroll. He kept dribbling the ball all the way to the National Basketball Association. But he didn’t get there as a player.
After a stint in the Air Force and a job as a high school health educator, Carroll became head athletic trainer for the hometown 76ers in 1997.
While advising professional basketball players, Carroll made good use of his undergraduate degree in speech communication and master’s studies in sports medicine.
“I had a different thought process than most trainers,” Carroll said during a recent phone interview. “I likened myself to a United Nations diplomat when I approached each athlete on the 76ers. There were rules of engagement with every player, ways to communicate with them, get them motivated and contributing to the team.”
Carroll’s ideas were noticed by top executives at Nike, who especially liked the trainer’s ability to explain what pro players wanted in their athletic shoes and gear. Nike offered him a position in 1999 without identifying exactly what he would do.
The lack of a job description didn’t faze Carroll. He saw an opportunity to launch more than new shoes or vented sports clothing.
“I’ve long thought we need to broaden the definition of play in this country,” said Carroll, 43, single father of 18- and 22-year-old sons. “This job gave me a chance to send the message to lots more people.”
Carroll said too many Americans equate “play” with exercising or participating in sports. “Play is putting your body in motion, period,” Carroll said. “In my mind that could include a pianist who is trying new material or a couple on the dance floor. It’s about understanding the movement of your body, how it literally makes you feel better.
“But another part of it is moving people’s souls figuratively. If Nike doesn’t inspire people, then I say, `Why exist?’ I am constantly reminding employees that is our main purpose at work.”
Some people might blanch at corporations inspiring our sense of play, yet there is no denying the positive influence possible from the likes of Nike and other firms marketing the active lifestyle.
Nike, for one, has conducted many theme campaigns through the years that soft-sell its product and go harder at ideas such as “enjoy the weather” (no matter if it is cold or rainy) or, of course, “just do it” (rather than promise yourself to start a new fitness regimen, um, next week).
If you still are troubled by a corporate stamp on personal fitness, consider that most runners, renowned for being rugged individualists, still read the shoe and gear ads in magazines such Runner’s World with equal fervor to the articles.
Carroll sees himself beyond any corporate tethering. His unusual job as “catalyst” at Nike is primary evidence.
“I am the voice, connector and conscience of the company,” Carroll said. “I travel around the world to promote the spirit and culture of Nike and encourage people to be more playful in their lives. My job is never to be in my office.”
Carroll said that none of us should take our right to playfulness for granted. He is especially adamant about parents being good role models for children.
“The idea is to show kids that creativity and imagination are the key to play, not necessarily which team you join,” he said. “We need to teach the younger generation a better way to define play.”
Carroll said his theories on play developed when he had the good fortune to meet a teacher at his school who lived across the street.
This teacher became a sort of mother to him. More important, she never discouraged Carroll from trying new activities.
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For example, when Carroll decided to learn how to play the cello in 4th grade, the teacher said, `Why not?’ Despite a budding four-sport athletic career, he played in the school orchestra through sophomore year in high school.
The teacher also didn’t laugh when Carroll decided to join a Shakespearean theater group in 5th grade.
“One aspect of play is sampling,” Carroll said. “We should always try new things. How do we know what truly inspires us if we don’t try it? That’s what play can do for each of us.”