Story First: How TASG Turns Listening into Community Impact

On September 23, 2026, Team Avenue Sports Group (TASG) ran a think tank / mastermind with students from Professor Alexandro Castellanos’s AI class at the University of South Florida (USF). Sessions like this are how TASG works—operators and agents in the room, students on live problems, and a conversation that starts with people before it gets to platforms.

The day sat inside TASG’s Applied Industrial AI talent-room presence: part industry moment, part classroom extension. FootSnap was featured. AI, automation, and the path from demo to operating system were on the table. What held it together was not a one-off event narrative. It was the model.

Who we are in the room

TASG is a relationship-driven, athlete-led platform across sports, tech, and real estate based in St. Augustine, Florida. Managing partners Thomari Story-Harden, who played first base in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, and Ricardo Shepherd-Bey build across sports, tech, and real estate, in no fixed order. The ownership pathway is Locker Room Connections: rooms and relationships that turn development into durable next steps.

TASG brought live briefs and operators. After the session, USF faculty told Thomari they want to expand collaboration with TASG. One professor and one group are already pointing toward the next stage: Florida chapters.

The TASG model: from story to finish line

The philosophical core is simple enough to say out loud—and strong enough to build on.

It starts with listening to people’s stories. Listening creates human connection and empathy. Communication turns into collaboration, and collaboration is where alignment happens. Then TASG reverse-engineers the path to the finish line, meeting students where they are and meeting companies where they are.

That work connects to capital: private equity, venture capital, and family offices—with grants and endowments as a separate, distinct lane. When you combine science, sports, tech, and real estate, the impact reaches a community level. Community is where TASG’s heart is: helping the next generation with solutions—and sometimes the solution is meeting people on a human level.

“Everything we build starts with a story. Listening creates connection, connection becomes collaboration, and collaboration creates alignment. That’s how we reach the finish line,” said Thomari Story-Harden, Managing Partner, Team Avenue Sports Group.

“We meet students and companies where they are, then map the path together and walk it,” said Story-Harden.

That is why sessions like the USF think tank matter. They are not theater. They are the model in public: stories first, then systems that fit the people in the room.

Inside the think tank

The mastermind stayed practical. How can TASG help other organizations adopt AI and automation without drowning operators in dashboards? How do partnerships become the most valuable asset in an R&D arm—university talent, camp tech, performance operators, and capital that understands relationship-first sequencing?

FootSnap gave the room something concrete. FootSnap turns a single smartphone scan of each foot into a 3D model and measurements. Not a medical device. It showed students applied tech that serves athletes and partners—not abstract AI slides.

“Community is our heart. Sometimes the best solution is meeting someone on a human level before handing them a tool,” said Story-Harden.

Internship and incubator: live briefs, real operators

TASG’s internship and incubator program is where that model becomes a ladder. USF students work on live briefs with TASG operators and partners—intake, matching, demos, and feedback from people who will actually use the work. Interest has been strong, and TASG is building the intake to match.

The path is clear: apply or join the interest list, get sorted into the right lane, and earn a seat on work that can travel from classroom to partner table. Standouts stay close to the house. Partners get talent that has already touched a real brief.

Apply or join the interest list: teamavenuesportsgroup.com/incubator · thomari@teamavenuesports.com

Florida chapters: the next stage of the model

Faculty energy after September 23 did not stop at one more meeting. One professor and one group want TASG to open chapters across Florida. TASG is treating that as the next stage of the model: the incubator expanding chapter by chapter—same listening, same live briefs, same connection to capital and community—without forcing a single campus to carry the whole story.

Chapters are how the house scales with empathy intact. Meet people where they are. Align. Reverse-engineer the finish line. Repeat.

AI, robotics, and automation—in service of the model

AI is extending into robotics, process automation, computer vision, and decision support that sits beside human judgment. For sports performance, that means measurement and adaptation. For operations, intake and workflows that reduce chaos. For real estate—labs, recovery environments, athlete-adjacent places—it means smarter facilities ops and partner matching.

None of that replaces the model. It rewards it. Tools without listening become noise. Listening without a system stalls. TASG’s bet is the combination: story → collaboration → alignment → finish line—with science, sports, tech, and real estate as the stack that lifts a community.

Partner with TASG

Partner with us. Bring your students, your company, or your capital into a house that starts with stories and ends with outcomes. Join the internship and incubator interest list. Ask about Florida chapters. Explore FootSnap, AI and automation advisory, R&D partner seats, Performance Lab ties, and real estate when the relationship is ready. For grants and endowments, we keep that lane distinct—and open.

Start here: teamavenuesportsgroup.com · teamavenuesportsgroup.com/incubator · thomari@teamavenuesports.com · ricardo@teamavenuesports.com · 559-761-9421

Team Avenue Sports Group · St. Augustine, FL · September 23, 2026 USF Applied Industrial AI think tank