It started in Rochester.
Before there was a platform, before there were rankings and profiles and a book on a classroom desk, there was a gym in Rochester, New York, and a kid who needed someone to believe him. I was from there. I grew up there. And I learned early that talent was never the thing in short supply. What was missing was the village.
On the microphone, doing the work the whole platform grew out of
My brothers, Al and my late brother RichardThe people who made me
I come from a family that showed me what showing up looks like. My brothers, Al and my late brother Richard, are woven into everything I build. Some of the people who made me are not here to see what it became. That is part of why I cannot stop. When I tell a young person that someone is in their corner, I mean it the way it was meant for me.
It was never just a coaching job
It started as scouting and grew into something I could not have named at first. Beyond Athletics Scouting. Next Level and Beyond. Coaching varsity at University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men, standing in front of rooms full of boys who reminded me of me.
I was following kids from the youth level all the way up, some of them to the professional level, and staying in their lives long after the whistle. The offers and the highlight tapes were never the point. The point was the person the young man was becoming either way. Football ends. Education remains. The human being remains.
Everyone deserves a village
Not just the five star recruit. The kid who is told he is too small. The one carrying something at home that nobody at school can see. The reward is always greater than the circumstances, but a young person cannot see that alone. Someone has to stand next to them until they can.
The mission got bigger
In 2020 I moved to Atlanta, and that is where Keys to the Journey grew into itself. The mission did not change when the zip code did. It got bigger. The books came. Soar High, Dream Big for the young ones finding their why. Keys to the Journey for the ones ready to build the plan. And then this platform, so that being seen would never again cost a family money it did not have.
Still in their lives, long after the whistleDevelopment first. Scouting second. On purpose.
Keys to the Journey is the whole thing in one place now. A free profile for every athlete and every artist. Eligibility taught, not sold. Real journeys on the wall, so a kid can see someone who made it through the exact thing they are in right now.
The room is still where it startsThe journey has a next level, and beyond
I still carry one more picture in my head. A school. A place built on the Five Pillars, second grade through twelfth, where all of this lives under one roof. I have drawn it. I am not done.
If you are a parent, a coach, a counselor, or a young person reading this, that is not an accident. You are the village too.
Keys to the Journey is what Next Level and Beyond grew into
Before the platform there was NLB, a 501(c)(3) afterschool mentorship program founded in Rochester, New York and now running out of Atlanta. Same coaches, same students, same work. New name, and finally the tools to match it.
In memory of Coach Rick, 1961 to 2025, who built this alongside his brother →
Every NLB jersey on this site is one of ours
If you see NLB on a shirt in a photograph, that athlete came through the afterschool mentorship program. The graduation cap sitting on top of the letters was never decoration. Education has been the center of the mark since the day it was drawn.
Next Level and Beyond is a registered 501(c)(3) not for profit. Keys to the Journey is the same organization, grown into a platform so the mentorship does not stop at the end of a season.
Jamari Johnson, NLB student, now a tight end at Oregon
Youth roster at Pylon
Visit to Ohio State University
NLB alumniFive pillars, and none of them is a highlight reel
This is the foundation the afterschool program was built on years before there was a website. Every feature on this platform traces back to one of these five.
Athleticism & Physicality
A weekly conditioning program focused on speed, strength, endurance, and overall athleticism, built in part to push back against childhood obesity. The training is real, and it is not reserved for the athletes who are already good.
Visibility
Exposure to colleges, recruiters, and networks so a student can see what a college athletic environment actually looks like. Seeing it is what keeps a fourteen year old motivated to stay eligible for it.
Life Skills
Career development beyond athletics, run with area professionals in interactive forums: leadership, financial literacy, bullying, interviewing and communication, and peer pressure.
Education
Nutrition workshops, mentoring, tutoring, and seminars on NCAA academic eligibility standards delivered to the student athlete and the parent, in the same room, at the same time.
Community Involvement
Participation with local Big Brother and Big Sister chapters and Boys and Girls Clubs, visiting hospitals, speaking to less fortunate kids, and volunteering with organizations such as Camp Good Days.
The same five, at scale
The platform is what happens when a program that could reach one gym full of students at a time decides it wants to reach every gym. Same pillars. No cap on the room.
Athleticism
Visibility
Education
Coach K with the McCourty twins, tackling cancerThis started on fields and in auditoriums
Every photograph on this site is from an actual Keys to the Journey or Next Level and Beyond camp, seminar, school assembly, or campus visit. No stock imagery anywhere.
Recruiting camp
Eligibility seminar
Official campus visit
7v7 tournament trip with the NLB Bats, Virginia
Jamari Johnson, where it all began
Coach Johnson, NLB
Parents in the room
Program standardsBook Coach K to speak
This is the story I tell in every room. Kala Gause brings Keys to the Journey to schools, districts, teams, youth and juvenile facilities, and families, assemblies, college and career readiness, SEL workshops, parent nights, and whole-family sessions. Real, not rehearsed.