Former Bengals & Buccaneers Tight End Damian Vaughn to Guest Star on Insightful Player™ Streaming Video TV Show on MingleMediaTV.com
Tuesday, August 9th 7 PM EST
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Former Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Damian Vaughn, one of 32 current and former NFL players recognized as Insightful Players will be the guest of the new weekly Insightful Player online show on MingleMediaTV.com this Tuesday, August 9 at 7 p.m. ET. Mingle Media TV produces and broadcasts over 40 hours of web series and event coverage each week.
Chrissy Carew, a Master Certified personal and business coach based in Nashua, NH founded Insightful Player™ in April 2010 with a vision of providing an answer to a crucial worldwide calling for messages of hope that provoke positive actions. “Through my online show on MingleMediaTV.com I’m able to showcase Insightful Players like Damian Vaughn and have their stories told to the world,” said Carew, who serves as the host of the show. Carew was inducted into the International Coaching Federation (ICF) New England Chapter’s newly-established Hall of Fame on June 13.
Vaughn is one of the 32 members of the Insightful Player™ team. To be named to this team, one must be a person of integrity, such as a current or former NFL player, who shares their personal message of hope for the sole purpose of lifting the spirits of all, especially children.
The short-version of Damian Vaughn’s Insightful Player story is available on InsightfulPlayer.com. The full-length version will appear in the Insightful Player book that will be published by Morgan-James Publishing in September.
On the show, Carew will discuss how Vaughn’s approach to life has enabled him to help other players find the meaning of success and how it can be used for a higher purpose through his work in establishing The Vaughn Center in Phoenix, Arizona, which helps athletes focus on their minds and bodies through meditation. Vaughn, who is starting a PhD program in a few weeks for Neuroscience positive development psychology, has also completed a book and is talking with publishers.
Excerpt from Damian Vaughn’s Insightful Player Profile
Former NFL tight end Damian Vaughn has spent many years contemplating the meaning of success and how it can be used toward a greater purpose. His passion is helping top-tier athletes tap into their greater potential as role models and inspirations rather than just as sports heroes. The drive to play a sport well is important, he believes, but far more important is learning to accessing the well of motivation that lies within each of us and harnessing it for more profound results.
In Damian’s own case, the desire to be the best player he could be had both a down side and an upside. To his enormous credit, he demonstrated superlative effort and stamina as a young athlete working his way to the top. On the other hand, he believes it was this determined bent toward overachieving that ultimately resulted in career-ending injuries. Today, one reason he has devoted his post-sports career to helping athletes recognize their potential is with the hope of helping others avoid the pitfalls into which he stumbled.
As Damian sees it, parents and coaches need to help children strike a balance between working hard to develop athletic abilities while also keeping sight of the other areas of potential in their futures. He recalls an incident that took place when he stayed with friends in Florida last year. While sleeping in the room of his hosts’ teenage son, he spotted a poster on the boy’s wall that posed the question “Why do I play football?” Also on the poster was the boy’s answer: something along the lines of “so that I can get more girls and be popular and people will respect me.” Though Damian admits he felt the same way as a fourteen-year-old high school player, he found it alarming to see the sentiment so nakedly expressed.
Wanting to impress girls or be popular is an extrinsic motivation, he says – as is having a goal to be an All Conference player, go to the championship game, or be a leader in your position among your peers and your league. By contrast, “when you’re intrinsically motivated, your focus becomes much more about presence and awareness, being fully present in everything that you’re doing.”
A parent of a young son and daughter himself, Damian believes many parents make the mistake of micromanaging their young athletes’ games. “When you see parents getting overly aggressive with their kids’ coaches, they’re not allowing their kids to really shine and develop for themselves,” he says.
On the other hand, parents who are able to look for teaching moments in children’s sports can do a great deal of good by modeling resilience. “For example, if a kid is not getting the playing time that he wants, he sometimes tells himself ‘My coach doesn’t like me’ or ‘I’m not good enough.’ As a parent, you can teach your kids to stay true to their passion regardless of what the results appear to be. It’s so critical at every single moment to recognize that you’re either contributing to positive growth or moving in the opposite direction.”
As a youth, Damian says he was less athletically gifted than some of his teammates on the high school squad in Orrville, Ohio. But the drive to prove he could play Division 1A football led him to Miami University in Ohio to play as a walk-on rather than accept a football scholarship at a smaller school. “So my dad said, ‘I’ll pay for this one year, and if you don’t get a scholarship then you’re on your own.’”
Damian played as a tight end for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then went on to the Barcelona Dragons in NFL Europe. Although his stats were good, injuries plagued him throughout his career, cutting his pro years short.
The lessons Damian learned from both his triumphs and his adversities would serve as a launching point for his subsequent career as founder of The Vaughn Center in Phoenix, Arizona, which helps athletes focus on their minds and bodies through meditation.
It is in that role that he hopes to effect genuine change in the world of sports. “What you miss when you’re not playing anymore is the feeling of being the hero. But once athletes realize they can leverage that same kind of leadership for a higher purpose, their careers after sports can be truly amazing.” Damian says. “The transition from a sports career should be a stepping stone to ever greater achievement and impact.”
The Insightful Player™ is brought to you by Coach Chrissy Carew, Master Certified Personal and Business Coach. Chrissy has been deeply inspired by her father, the late Coach Walter Carew, Sr. Her beloved father is in several Halls of Fame as a high school football coach (as well as high school and college player). He used the game as a way to help kids build strong character and teach them valuable life skills. The Insightful Player™ was created to help make our world a much better place.
Launched on February 8, 2010, online media and live web TV Network Company, Mingle Media TV produces and broadcasts over 40 hours of web series and event coverage each week. It’s audience reach online is over 250,000 weekly views of their video coverage, web series and live broadcasts and are currently in the top 20,000 websites in the U.S.
For more information on Coach Chrissy Carew and Insightful Player, visit www.theinsightfulplayer.com and call 603-897-0610.
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