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Football players come to camp and are handed a binder filled with plays, formations, and adjustments built to withstand any opponent during the season. A lot of work, foresight, and detail went into putting together what could be a championship playbook. However great a playbook may be, though, it is useless without memorization and proper execution.
We entered summer league basketball with a young team. Our inexperienced guards struggled to get our offense working, especially against a high-pressure, man-to-man defense, so one day in practice I tried a new strategy. I taught my players several pressure-release, back-door plays that changed our focus and took advantage of the defense. We’d invite the pressure so we could cut and score lay-ups, but my players were skeptical.
What’s the secret of an athlete? Speed? Strength? Size? Training? Any of those will provide an edge, but none are the real secret. The most powerful secret of an athlete is actually a spiritual discipline—prayer. When was the last time we really pressed into prayer? Not the prayers that say, “God, help me with the big game today,” or, “Help me to play well.” I’m talking about intense prayer—a time of truly seeking God’s face and asking for His will.
Many athletes may want to pray but simply don’t know how. Here are eight simple tips for praying:
We live in a performance-driven, presentation-focused, and public-image world. In the sporting world, much emphasis is put on game time. “How do I look?” and “How will I perform?” are questions in the forefront of our minds. We are thinking, lights, camera, action! In athletics, this drive is magnified. We are drawn more to the presentation than we are to the preparation. The reality is that what we do in private affects what we do in public.
What does it take to be the coach of the number one football team in the nation? Most people are under the assumption that one must neglect his family and everything else that is important and spend every waking moment preparing his team for success. What does Bob Stoops, head coach of the 2000 national champion Oklahoma Sooners, do? He and his staff start their day at 8:45 a.m., usually end in time to be home for dinner, and have Wednesday night family gatherings with their wives and children. It appears that Stoops has set some priorities in his life and has a good handle on the often-difficult task of balancing family and career.
As a young athlete, I thought winning was everything. The competitive juices would always flow through me. I wanted to win every time I competed. Whether it was a big high school game against our rivals or just a pick-up basketball game against my brothers, I wanted to win. For me, there was nothing more important than a good win! One of the greatest NFL coaches of all time, Vincent Lombardi, once said, "Winning isn't everything. Wanting to win is." As an athlete, I had a lot of wanting, even though I didn't win every time.
Most of us have heard a coach tell an athlete to “take a knee.” When this happens, we can usually count on two things: all physical activities will cease and communication is about to start. Any good coach needs to spend some time giving his team a game plan, and any good team has to take a knee to receive that plan.
Jesus modeled how to properly “take a knee” while He walked the earth. He prayed daily and would often withdraw from everyone, even His disciples, to be alone with God. He understood the value of communicating with the Father. He understood that prayer was necessary to receive God’s game plan. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing and how to be at His best when the game was on the line.
As Christian competitors, we realize that God has called us to serve, but do we understand that we should be consumed to serve? Is there a consuming fire that burns in us to serve others around us who are hurting and to help those who need to experience the love of Christ through us? We serve because the ultimate purpose of serving is to glorify Christ. Rick Warren said, “We serve God by serving others. The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. In our self-serving culture with its ‘me first’ mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept.” In the athletic world, everyone struggles to some degree with the “me first” mentality.
“Too small…too short…can’t play…can’t survive…can’t make it in the NFL.” Who were the so-called experts talking about? It was Buffalo Bills quarterback, Doug Flute. He was too small in the estimation of many NFL scouts. Yet, in the Canadian Football League, Doug Flute is considered to be the best player in CFL history, winner of six Most Outstanding Player awards in eight years, quarterback of three Gray Cup champions, holder of most of the league’s passing records (41,355 career passing yards and 270 passing touchdowns).
I love coaching. I love it so much that I could spend all of my waking hours at it. This all-consuming nature of my sport means that most coaches’ spouses are basically single parents. Too many end up divorced. My wife, Kim, would probably have left me if I had been a coach before now.
Coach Peacock’s team had just won a state championship. They were celebrating in the locker room, and Coach was hugging his players right and left. As the congratulations continued, the coach noticed one player in particular sitting alone on a bench, watching him. Coach Peacock knew that the young man’s mother and father were divorced, that his dad was also an alcoholic who never attended any of his son’s games. So he walked over to the player and asked if he was okay. The young man responded, “Yes, Coach, but I was just wondering. Could I have another hug?”
When you’re in the midst of a situation that seems hopeless in sports or in life, how do you respond to your doubts and frustrations? As Christians, we all tend to think that doubt should never come to our minds. I mean, we believe that God can do anything, right?
First, let’s all step back and realize that we will constantly deal with the doubts in our human nature, but it’s how we respond to them that makes the difference. In Luke 5:8, Simon Peter responds to Jesus with a tone of frustration and doubt. Jesus had asked him to let down his fishing nets into deep water, but Peter responded by stating they’d already worked hard all night and hadn’t caught a thing.
In a Business Week poll, employees were asked “Are you one of the top 10 percent of performers in your company?” A whopping 90 percent of all employees said yes, including 97 percent of the executives! But the math does not compute. Ninety percent of us can’t be in the top 10 percent. So, what is going on?
I recently was told a story about a promising young man who left high school and sports to pursue a singing career. As I heard of his actions, I felt a questioning look cross my face. The person sharing the story said, "Well, he wants to be famous." I cringed—not because the young man didn’t have musical gifts, but because he desired more to be known than to be great.
One of my favorite Bible stories is David versus Goliath. David was smaller than the others, weaker than most his age, and by the world’s standards, not prepared to play in the “big game” against the Philistines. If we were to read the pregame report for this battle, he would not have been on the roster. David surprised everyone, though. He was empowered by his belief in a God who could overcome any obstacle or challenge . . . even a Philistine giant!
Our integrity is revealed when we’re faced with a decision to do what we know is right, even if it conflicts with what we want. We are called to act according to God’s will instead of our own.
It was a beautiful spring day in 1980 in northwestern New York State, a great day for a lacrosse game. The Watertown Cyclones, a powerhouse team, was visiting their cross-town rivals, the General Brown Lions. Though underdogs, the Lions were a gritty blue-collar team, and they had home field advantage. If all their starters played at 100 percent, they had a chance to upset the Cyclones. It was exciting!
If you have played sports at any level, you’ve probably noted that certain “levels” are established quickly on teams. We’ve all been part of teams where there were good players and not-so-good players. Inevitably, we all know what happens when these levels are realized: The good players start to interact negatively with the bad players. Some of the interactions even come in the form of picking on or even bullying. I am embarrassed to say that I know all about these situations based on firsthand experience. I wish I could say I was the target, but I am guilty of dishing out the abuse to those I thought of as less talented.
When the Cheyenne Indians were going into battle, they had a warrior who rode out in front know as the “Dog Soldier.” What set this soldier apart from the rest was that he would lead his tribe into battle and when the fighting reached its hottest, when no one knew who would win, the Dog Soldier would dismount his horse and drive his stake into the ground. He was attached to the stake by a rope. Everyone knew that the Dog Soldier could be counted on to take a stand and fight to the finish. He was a leader because he was a servant.
One of the most effective things a coach can do is pray for the players and coaches involved in their program. Typically the sports prayer is for no one to get hurt, and for everyone to do his or her best. Those are good prayers. Today’s verses also give us the confidence to move on to much deeper levels of prayer for those around us—prayers that land in the direct center of God’s will and prayers for the people around us to come into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus.
A Christ-following coach may be the only Christian with which some players and coaches have contact. As a result, a Christ-following coach may be the only person praying for the salvation of these men and women.
As athletes and coaches we are, by nature, very competitive. We strive for perfection and are driven by the desire to succeed. Applying that same attitude to our walk with Christ can be extremely frustrating. No matter how hard we try, we will daily fall short of God’s expectations.
Whenever coaches are asked, “How are you?” we often reply in terms of our team: “We struggled early, but regrouped late in the season.”
Unfortunately, it’s too easy for coaches to become consumed with the team’s performance. If this occurs, our real identity can get lost in the pressure to win. Learning to separate athletic expectations from our true identity in Christ is an ongoing and significant challenge.
The phrase “my bad” is used by many, especially among young people. The phrase is used in reference to a mistake that someone has made. In some athletic settings, the phrase is almost a guarantee when a coach asks a player about a particular situation. The problem is that the phrase is almost like a “get out of jail free card” in Monopoly. When a player uses “my bad,” there appears to be no accountability for his or her actions.
It seems the psalmist’s heart, informed by God’s truth, was the source of his wise speech and security in life. Many coaches rest their security in their players’ abilities, which serves them well until injuries occur. Other coaches find security in knowledge of their sport or the experience of their coaching staff. Others appear fully confident, but are then found to be inferior in competition. In each case, their confidence easily turns to anxiety because of the nature of their source.
Our heart can be a limitless source of peace and confidence if we maintain our relationship with Christ through careful study of the Bible. Reading the Scriptures regularly deposits the law of God in our hearts and will keep our steps from slipping.
In today’s society, students and student athletes need role models more than ever, and as Christian coaches we are called to fulfill that position. We need men and women to embrace the fact that God has placed us in such a valuable role
in a child’s life.
How can we show proper respect for our teammates, coaches, opponents, and even the officials? Why should we even care about that? Peter understood the value of showing proper honor and respect to people and he wrote about it in this Scripture. Take a moment to read it again, this time out loud.
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