(image above: our company’s name and logo, unveiled! This post is dedicated to sharing the story behind the name and logo, and why we are so excited about what it stands for).
Although the history of athletes goes back thousands of years, we chose to connect the dots back to a time of the Olympians, the Greek, and the Spartans. History tells us that athletes of Greek society were purposely built from childhood with more than just the abilities to perform on the field, they were also soldiers, philosophers, statesmen, astronomers, scientists, craftsmen, designers, engineers, technicians, politicians, etc.
Their society recognized that the total value of a complete athlete is excellence on and off the field; it was deeply and purposely part of their DNA.
Fast forward to today, the definition of an athlete has predominantly evolved into only asking “how well does she perform on the field?”
What is a Student Athlete?…
I’m going to repeat a little bit here from my original post. A student athlete must live two lives at the same time, she must be a student and an athlete. A student athlete is a person that has made the decision to devote a lot of time, effort, passion, and focus to achieve excellence on and off the field towards her pursuit of purpose. The purpose of trying to achieve very lofty goals and to do something very few people can do. She makes many personal sacrifices along the way.
Our Logo Explained…
I’d like to use an analogy here. When we look at those well rounded and “complete” athletes, known as the Spartans, they always went into battle with only two items, do you remember what they were? A sword and a shield, nothing more. To us, the sword symbolizes her athletic ability and the shield symbolizes all of the rest of her abilities. When the overwhelming majority of today’s athletes go into competition (battle), they only go with their sword. But, both are absolutely necessary to win.
Her coaches help sharpen the sword by helping her improve her performance and achieve excellence on the field, but who helps her build her shield and achieve excellence off the field?
Building excellence off the field so she can make an amazing impact around her, combined with an understanding of her performance on the field is what will help her stand out and set her apart from average players. It’s what college coaches look for, it’s what they are impressed by. We will help forge and build her shield, and by doing so, build the complete athlete.
Her physical capability combined with her ability to positively impact those around her is the stuff superheroes are made of.
Every athlete is different, so her shield must be cast from a unique mold. Our logo symbolizes the careful process of forging and building her shield by pouring raw molten metal over the top (“pouring in” hard work, commitment, practice, passion). As her shield is built, battle scars are seen, symbolizing the student athlete’s journey that is full of sacrifices, injuries, and most importantly resilience.
Our Company Name…
Building a shield requires two things: (1) the perfect place, and (2) hard work, commitment, practice, and passion. No better place than a foundry to build something great, from the ground up. So, together with hard work, discipline, and focus, the Athlete Foundry is the premiere place to forge and build your shield.
We at the Athlete Foundry truly believe student athletes are in a league of their own, many don’t know it, most don’t fulfill it.
They have the opportunity to create admiration for their performance on the field, plus the opportunity to impact all those around them off the field.
Achieving both are their superhero powers.
Why do we say this? Pick any superhero and recall what happens when he or she shows up. Superheroes save the day with their “performance on the field” and leave a lasting positive impact to the people around them “off the field.”
Our Vision at Athlete Foundry…
(simple)
Every student athlete is a superhero.
Our Profession at Athlete Foundry…
There is a great scene in the movie 300, where the Spartans run into the Arcadians on their way to fight the Persians. After a comment by the Arcadians about how the Spartans didn’t bring enough soldiers to the fight, King Leonidas asks the Arcadians “what is your profession?,” each answers with various responses. King Leonidas then asks his Spartans what their profession is, to which each answers AWOO, AWOO, AWOO! Translation? They all have other skills as part of society (and they are excellent at each of them too, by the way). They knew their purpose. They were soldiers first.
Why is this relevant and how is this applied today? It’s about having the right mindset. We all have roles and skills in our workplace today, such as engineer, programmer, accountant, marketer, physicist, scientist, technician, cashier, logistician, vice president, or CEO. These roles join forces to help the organization achieve a movement, purpose, vision. More often than not (way more often than not), people forget or lose sight of the vision because it’s too complicated, not clear, or it’s not meaningful enough. The Spartans have multiple roles, but they never forget their purpose — to be soldiers first.
At Athlete Foundry, we will have teammates with a variety of necessary roles to make our company strong, successful, and meaningful. However, our purpose and profession are clear. If you ask them “what do you do here?”
Their first answer is…
“Turn Student Athletes into Superheroes!”
So, what’s your profession?
KC Chhipwadia
CEO & Founder
Athlete Foundry, LLC
PS
Any of this excite or fire you up? We will soon be looking for individuals who are entrepreneurially-minded, humble, ridiculously driven, and like to have fun to join our team! Superhero makers with social media, marketing, design, sales, game design, and data science superpowers that want to join our mission, send me a short email at mysuperpowers@athletefoundry.com.
PPS
We have recently selected our initial cohort of passionate parents of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade student athletes to build their roadmap to college sports and beyond — for free. If you are interested (or know someone who could benefit) to be considered for a possible second cohort, just email us at contact@athletefoundry.com, and we will add you (them) to our waiting list.
PPPS
Next update will be in 1 week. I’ll share what college coaches told us about achieving excellence on and off the field, and how we link that to forging and building the student athlete’s shield.
Missed the Beginning? Get Caught Up On Our Story…
Link to blog post #1
Link to blog post #2
Link to blog post #4
Link to blog post #5 (free roadmap download!)
