Have you enjoyed the series on living your dream and what to do when your dream is shattered? It is possible to create a new dream. You must never give up, just keep moving forward.
Before I close out the series, I want to share with you one more story about Andy Schindling. If you aren’t familiar with him yet, I invite you to read the first article, “Living Your Dream”. You’ll learn all about Andy and the dream he had and how he lost it. In the last article in the series, “Putting the Pieces of Your Dream Back Together”, you learn how Andy was able to create a new dream by focusing on all the experience he had gained and what he learned during his journey. But that’s not where the story ends.
When you start to create a new dream, you often find this new path is much greater than the one you thought you were meant to travel on. As the saying goes, “When one door closes, another one opens.” You clear the way for something new. I don’t think Andy realized how big of a door he was walking through.
Clear the way for something new.
With the program he created, The Complete Player (TCP) Charity, Andy started teaching and developing youth in an athletics-based program and a business and leadership program. This past summer, he was able to take a group of ten-year-old boys, their parents, and siblings on a baseball missions trip. A missions trip can be a short- or long-term trip, typically to a disadvantaged and/or underdeveloped area, centered around Christian service. This would be a life-changing experience for everyone on the trip.
Twenty-seven people, which included thirteen youth between the ages of 7 – 12, traveled to the Dominican Republic to serve the community, specifically the baseball community. They brought along with them 34 bags of baseball equipment ranging from gloves to uniforms to give to the teams.
TCP hosted a camp to inspire and bring new kids to baseball. The boys played baseball against each other, but they also played with each other. Combining the teams gave them the opportunity to use baseball as a common language to interact with boys from a different country and culture. The baseball fields there were nothing like what they boys from America were used to. So much so, they were reluctant to play. In America, they typically play on landscaped fields. There the fields were covered in rocks and pebbles but it didn’t stop the Dominican boys from playing. Baseball is truly an outlet for them so they will play any chance they get. Seeing the passion in their eyes, the TCP team was inspired to get out there and play, pebbles and all. This was a great experience for everyone, but it was not the highlight of the trip.
A wood house and a tin roof.
TCP partnered with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, to bless a coach who does nothing but serve the baseball players. The Coach and 
his family had been living in a home made of wood. Tin served as a roof but it was full of holes. When it rained the house would flood and the house didn’t even have four walls. Through the work of the Fellowship of Christain Athletes and TCP, enough money was raised to build a new home for the coach.
The house had not been finished yet and the TCP team was able to finish the job. The team put windows on the new cement home and lots of painting was done. It will be hard for everyone to forget the look on the family’s face when they walked into their new house. For the first time, they had a house with running water and no more leaks in the roof.
The boys were in awe seeing how impoverished the family was and what poverty really looked like. They would come back at night asking questions, acknowledging how good they have it in America. They talked about having so many things they don’t really need; things families in the Dominican Republic would literally die for.
It was such an incredible feeling for Andy to see were his new dream had taken him. Believing in himself, becoming passionate and staying in faith he created a program that is changing the attitudes of the children he works with. He is planting seeds that will grow into mighty strong trees.
Kids are our future.
Andy knows how often we hear someone say, “Kids are our future”. I know I have said it myself a time or two. But he takes it a step further by saying,
“Kids are our future. We need to be able to shape our future. We have to help them understand they are in charge of their future. A lot of boys and girls, none of them really think about it. They are just engulfed with what they are doing right now. Who is doing this on Facebook or Instagram, not focusing on who they are as a person and what they want as a person. Too many kids are floating through life. I tell them a dead fish can make it downstream. You can float through life and make it somewhere. Don’t be a dead fish. I really want kids to start taking charge of their future. The more knowledge we can present to them, the more doors they can open as well. ”
Andy is a great example of someone living a dream and losing a dream. Having to make a choice to either stay in darkness or start a new journey, creating a new dream. When you feel like your world is falling apart and your dream becomes shattered, know that you too can start over, creating your new dream – one bigger than you ever imagined.
This series of articles is adapted from a podcast interview on “Let’s Coach”. You can listen to the full interview at “Opening Doors To Successful Futures”. The Complete Player Charity (TCP) is able to do the work it does with the assistance of sponsors and donations. If you would like to sponsor or donate to the TCP program, please visit the website at “What Can You Do”, or email Andy directly at tcpcharity.as@gmail.com
Carolyn R. Owens has over 25 years of proven experience and serves as a Career Strategist, Executive and Leadership Coach. She is the President of Infinity Coaching, Inc. where she can help you up-level your skills, so you can up-level your income, career, business or life. Infinity Coaching, Inc. provides one-on-one and group coaching, organizational training, personality assessments, and a signature program, the Infinity Coaching Inner Circle. Carolyn is certified to give both The Energy Leadership Index Assessment and Myers Briggs Type Indicator Assessment. You can find out more he about both assessments and other products and services at https://infinitycoaching.net.
