Coach Kaelyn Buskey is an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Baltimore Ravens. She is one of four strength and conditioning coaches on staff, one of three female coaches on the Ravens coaching staff, and one of 15 female coaches in the NFL.
Kaelyn is a former D1 college softball player. She says she fell in love with strength and conditioning there when her coaches saw value in her as a female student-athlete. She had such a positive experience that she wanted to give that same experience to the next generation of female student-athletes. Ironically, she works with professional male football players.
"Grown men take direction from me. That's not a flex. That's a fact... well, maybe that's a flex,"
—Kaelyn.
On Friday, January 24, during a pre-game reception before The Classic, a time-honored Baltimore tradition in girls' basketball, Kaelyn addressed Maryvale parents, coaches, donors, employees, and alums.
She hoped everyone in the room would take away four tangible leadership lessons from her presentation.
1. It's okay to admit when you're wrong, but it's also okay to be right. "When you're wrong, own it. Be accountable."
2. Find a mentor; nobody is above learning from someone else. "Learning from different people with a diverse range of experiences makes me a better leader." She stressed your mentor doesn't have to be older or at the top of the food chain. "Smart people don't only exist at the top."
3. Leadership looks different for everyone. You do not need to take up the most space to be a leader or be the loudest person in the room to be a leader. "Consistency, confidence, and intention make me as much of a leader as anyone else on my staff."
4. Leadership is real, raw authenticity. Leadership is about trust and trust takes time. "Leaders are 100% of themselves 100% of the time." Be real and genuine in you actions.
Coach Kaelyn stressed that she is a 28-year-old woman who had a generation of women leaders who worked so much harder than she did to make her dreams possible.
"There's not a padlock on the door anymore because of them and even if there is, we are teaching our daughters to kick that door down with a vengeance and diligence and the tenacity to be a leader that some people still think we don't have the right to be."
Click here to view Missy Little's recording of Coach Kaelyn's speech.
