Today we’d like to introduce you to Devon Teeple. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Devon Teeple is an award-winning entrepreneur and baseball mentor. He educates, advises and provides building blocks for amateur, collegiate, and professional athletes (pre/post-retirement) who struggle with mental health issues to grow and turn the experience into something positive.
Since Devon Teeple’s days of competing at the collegiate and professional level are behind him, he now has the opportunity to teach the game through coaching, clinics, and writing. Through The GM’s Perspective, he wants to enlighten his readers with his articles, give back to the community with his lifetime knowledge of the baseball game, and continue to grow his audience through the gift and enhancements of this new and unlimited age of multi-media.
Ignite CHANGE is a passion project founded by Devon Teeple to maximize people’s full potential with a philanthropic feel. Sports has been the constant with teamwork and the belonging piece always being a calming voice. For Devon, giving back to the community via the game that has provided him many opportunities is a blessing.
Ignite CHANGE does research on sports leadership and its positive impact on people, specifically athletes dealing with mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It is always tough as a one man army, but the passion I have for my businesses trumps all the difficult times.
Working full-time, being a father and husband, and pursuing a doctorate is all part of the journey and the long hours are totally worth it because you never know who is reading or watching your work.
My motto, If I am able to help one person, that’s what matters. If I am able to provide at least one hour of relief for someone struggling, then I did my job.
However, my own battle with anxiety/depression/OCD has led me to this point. By opening up, I have been able to become more self-confident and in turn speak with athletes current/retired and other personalities about their struggles. The more we open up the better.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Devon is the founder of ignite CHANGE, a non-profit community organization that combines performance baseball coaching and mentorship with mental health awareness. It is specifically tailored to playing baseball the right way by integrating components of leadership, attitude, and behaviors.
He is also the Founder and Executive Director of TheGMsPerspective.com, a site dedicated to the business and operations side of baseball at all levels (MLB, Minor, and Independent Leagues) in Canada, the US, and wherever the game is played.
Baseball has been a huge part of my life. The game provides extreme highs and lows and has taught me to be humble. Since the conclusion of my professional baseball career, I have participated in multiple internship and volunteer positions and have founded The GM’s Perspective and newly created ignite CHANGE as an outlet to help others.
I leverage my 20+ years in the game beyond playing baseball to operations ranging from success planning, player and team stats to marketing and customer service to help my partners seeking coaching services.
As an effort to extend my professional experience to other members of the community I provide coaching for SMEs to help them unlock their true remarkable potential. I help them improve in the areas of operations, strategy, sales, finance, risk, legality, business development, administration, staff development.
We (ignite CHANGE in conjunction with The GM’s Perspective), launched a $1,000 scholarship to help students who have a passion for making a difference. I believe a student’s personal passion and motivation is the driving force behind everything. Our objective is to allow students to take full advantage of what’s in front of them.”
In turn, I have also launched a Youtube channel = Wellness Wednesday. The objective of Wellness Wednesday is to provide support for anyone struggling with mental health issues, to provide a live living document of mental health and wellness links that people can search for assistance, and most importantly, provide a sense of community and relief for those who need it.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
No luck. Hardwork 100%.
I was never the biggest athlete, but I took that always burning desire to push my abilities to their limit. Translate that over to my professional career; over 10 years in finance working for two of the most renowned financial institutions in the world, to creating a platform to share in the lives of athletes on and off the field while providing the necessary tools to allow people to be successful.
I attained my BA 12 years after the fact and while working full-time attained my Master’s from Northeastern University after a seven-year journey!
Contact Info:
- Email: devon@thegmsperspective.com
- Website: http://thegmsperspective.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gmsperspective/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/devonteeple
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DevonTeepleTheGMsPerspective/about
- Other: http://ignite-change.ca/
