Collegiate Times

Carroll displays a ball made from banana leaves that he traded with children during his travels.

Author and motivational speaker Kevin Carroll was in town Wednesday to speak about his message of play and finding one’s life passions.

The writer of “Rules of the Red Rubber Ball: Find and Sustain Your Life’s Work,” “The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play,” and “What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?,” Carroll’s message of play has been spread to countless groups worldwide.

Carroll also spoke at the inaugural Beyond Sport Summit, which took place in London in July 2009, along with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Before speaking at the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson Brown, Carroll took time to speak with the CT.

COLLEGIATE TIMES: A good deal of your books revolves on a focus on red rubber balls. It seems very simple, but why is this something you have put so much focus on?

Kevin Carroll: It’s at the inception and the epicenter of meaning in my journey. I started to realize that it could play a role as a metaphor for anyone in what they’re chasing, and I started to recognize the iconic ball had a global appeal.

The more that I traveled, the more I realized that sport and play had a tremendous responsibility and role in a lot of lives and communities. I also saw that having something, a source of passion, source of purpose, a source of inspiration every day for something they’re chasing could also be that same thing for people.

So I just started using that word, that icon as a literal thing for me and for anyone involved in sport and play, but for others, metaphorically what they’re chasing every day.

It works so well because it is such a simple thing, and we all have a play history, so we can all relate to play on a fundamental level.

CT: So should Virginia Tech students be tossing aside their textbooks and finding the nearest jungle gym?

CARROLL: It wouldn’t be a bad thing. One of the top five global trends through the Mintel News, which is one of the global trending organizations; they identified playfulness as one of the trends for 2009.

One of the reasons it was identified was that it allowed people to deal with uncertainty, upheaval, challenging times, and they said that people were using playfulness to develop resourcefulness and their resolve, and I thought it was really interesting that play was being seen as a valuable coping mechanism.

I absolutely think there’s value for Virginia Tech students to make sure they have a moment of play, and recognize it’s not just frivolous, it’s not just blowing off steam. There’s great value in those moments of joy and playfulness in what seems to be frivolous.

CT: Do you think people in general are losing sight of the idea of play in their everyday lives?

CARROLL: Well, I think as you get older, there’s some other things you’re facing, and other challenges and responsibilities.

What’s happened even more so now is that we’re being challenged with so many things, we may not necessarily know how to deal with that uncertainty or to solve that problem or how to deal with that obstacle.

I’m hopefully reminding people that you have the wits about you, sometimes you just have to hearken back to what you were able to do in your youth, and how you were able to do a lot with a little, and how you were really resourceful, and how you could use materials and how you could repurpose those.

How can you find the solution to something that’s seemingly impossible to solve? Well, we’re facing those types of challenges, and we’re facing really difficult times.

The more that you can take a deep breath and tracking the fact that you have within you the ability, maybe you allowed it to atrophy. You just need to reawaken it, and keep it strong, agile, and nimble.

I truly believe the human spirit can transcend out of any circumstance, given the opportunity to work that problem out to find a solution.

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