When Jill Stephens filled the head coach vacancy at Florida Southern College left by AVCA Hall of Famer Lois Webb in 2001, not much changed within the program. Stephens was, after all, one of Webb's pupils, one of the greatest volleyball players in Moccasin history, and a member of the school’s athletics Hall of Fame. Now, 13 seasons later, Stephens sees a bit of herself in the young women she’s training, both in the game and in their faith through her involvement with the school’s FCA Huddle that she helped start as a student-athlete herself.
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Change Your Aim - Inside Out: Part II
If the world’s elite athletes can be pegged with one common trait, it would likely be that each of them is driven by a heightened sense of purpose. It is purpose that establishes a secure target at which they can aim and focus all of their energy: The golfer takes aim at the hole. The sprinter takes aim at the finish line. The free throw shooter takes aim at the basket. The archer takes aim at the bulls-eye. The pitcher takes aim at the strike zone. These competitors must employ a steady hand that comes from confidence in their abilities and a keen understanding of their identity. Any variation of that confidence— leading to arrogance on one extreme or insecurity on the other extreme—can quickly blur their vision and greatly hinder their aim.
Get In The Game
Hebrews 12: 1-2
2 Timothy 4: 5-8
Coach: (in the Huddle) Okay team, we're in a tight situation here. Bud, you've got #4. And Sid, you take #28. All right, let's stay in man-to-man. We've got five minutes on the clock. Play with all your might. Now let's win this one for…ME (hugs a
player). All right, boys! All right, boys!
All: Ready, break! (All players go out, except one)
Coach: I love this game!
Bud: Yeah, great game!
Coach: I know…I know. Everybody's working together. Hittin' the boards. And you! You have been tremendous. There's nobody covering #4 like you…LIKE YOU DID! What are you doing here!? #4 just scored! You're supposed to be out there!
In Joy
Set:
Athletics are full of emotion. Excitement, enthusiasm, disappointment, happiness and joy are all part of the competitive experience. Paul reminded Christians at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord, and the message is the same for us today. But we live in a difficult world with real battles. As John 10:10 tells us, “A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy.” What is the thief after? Not anything that can be seen in the physical—no, he wants to steal the joy in our hearts.
Going the Distance
You shouldn't need to consult an atlas to know that Las Vegas and Harrisonburg, Va., are pretty far apart. Not only are they separated by miles — 1,989 to be exact — but also by climate, terrain and, most notably, lifestyle.
But God's power is not restricted by earthly distances. He gives each of us the ability to touch lives no matter what our location, especially in today's connected society. In the case of James Madison University basketball player Heiden Ratner, who hails from Vegas and attends college in Harrisonburg, there is one athlete influencing lives for Christ on both sides of the country. It is a calling he received neither in Vegas nor Virginia, but in a small town in northern Georgia called Lookout Mountain.
I’m Tired, He’s Not
Set:
When David wrote this instructive psalm, he was in trouble. He was likely cowering in a hole dug deeply into a hill, hiding from enemies pursuing him. He was lonely, desperate, and in need of help. As he hid from his adversaries, he felt out of control and uncertain of the future. So David implored the Lord for guidance, acknowledging in this time of distress that his trust and confidence had to come from God.
God’s Game Plan
Set:
All coaches know that to give their athletes or their team the best chance at success or reaching their goals, three things are needed: discipline, training, and a game plan. The game plan simply means to use one’s strengths to exploit the opponent’s weakness. A good game plan is a must. Often, we fail because of the wrong game plan or simply a faulty one.
Life is a competition. We meet challenges every day that present opportunities to help us be successful. We also construct game plans for daily life. We must know our strengths and weaknesses, our opponent (Satan), listen to our coach (Jesus Christ), train hard, and have discipline to reach our goal of knowing Christ.
The Thankful Competitor
Set:
A Christian competitor is a thankful competitor. Every time you step onto the field of competition, your heart is exploding with thankfulness, because you are abundantly grateful for God’s blessings. You have a deep conviction that your gifts, talents and skills to play and to compete come from Him alone. You never take it for granted. Every stride, swing, shot, pass, goal and point is a response to God’s goodness. The way you compete is marked with, Thank you God, because you count all of God’s blessings in your life. You always show gratitude.
God’s Redemptive Plan - Daniel Study - Chapter 8
If you have not received Christ as your Savior and Lord, I ask you to please read the following pages. The most important thing you can have in life is a relationship with Jesus Christ. This can also be used as one of the lessons in your study of Daniel.
Protect this House
Set:
When the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens are getting ready to go into battle, the sound system blasts music and the giant screens exhort the team to “Protect this House.” This same scene is replayed week after week in stadiums all around the league. In the history of sports, there has never been a team that has liked losing on their home field. That is why most homecoming games are scheduled against competition that the home team should easily defeat.
God refers to our bodies as His house. Because we are believers, the Holy Spirit actually lives inside of us. And because God lives within us, He expects us to protect His house! This is a high standard, especially since we live in a culture that promotes winning above all else.
More Than Winning Powerpoint Presentation
Download the More Than Winning Powerpoint presentation using the link below.
The file requires Microsoft Powerpoint and includes the following sections:
- Our Coach
- You the Athlete
- Our Teammate
- Your Decision
- Your Position on the Team
- Your Workout
Private Preparation Precedes Public Performance
Set:
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.
Greatest Coach Ever
Set:
Tomorrow, June 26, 2010, thousands will gather at a memorial service to honor the life of legendary coach John Wooden who passed from this life to the next earlier this month. Coach Wooden lived 99 full years. He lived well, died well and understood his eternal fate. He once said, “There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior.”
Firm Foundations (Teamwork - Chapter 12)
Set:
If you hear someone extolling the virtues of teamwork, it’s usually within the context of a group of people pressing toward a common goal or successful result. That’s certainly something you would expect to hear from legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden, who led the Bruins to an unprecedented 10 NCAA men’s basketball championships between 1963 and 1975. But in an age when players and coaches are primarily judged by wins and losses or by individual performance, too often the journey from point A to point B is overlooked, even though there can be significant contentment found in the process alone.
Warning Against Idleness
Set:
Today's lesson comes from a few years ago when former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson expressed his frustration regarding the lack of effort displayed by the Lakers after Game Three of the 2004 NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons. "I am angry," Johnson said at the time. "You have to compete, and we're not competing. No one is welcoming anyone to the bench. Guys are sitting there, wandering off into the crowd, defeated. We've got to get that look off our faces and play basketball the way it's supposed to be played."
In the verse from 2 Thessalonians, Paul is warning the believers there against idleness, as many in his day were sitting around waiting for the Day of the Lord to come and were eating bread they did not earn.
Producing Winning Athletes
Set:
In my first year as a football coach, I was unsure of what to expect. But I went into the season with one goal: being satisfied not with producing a winning record, but with producing winning athletes.
Billy Graham once stated that one coach would influence more people in one year than the average person would in a lifetime. This was an idea I took to heart. At the beginning of the season, I had no idea who my players were or what their backgrounds were like, but I did know one thing: while they were on my team they were going to learn not only about football, but about life and God.
Zeller Mania
To trace Zeller Mania back to its origins, you have to start with pigs—lots of pigs. And some cows, beans and corn. You have to travel deeper into the heartland, where the skyscrapers and asphalt jungles of America fade away into swaying fields of green and golden-brown. You have to go to Springville, Iowa (pop. 1,074). That’s where Steve and Lorri, the Zeller brothers’ parents, grew up.
Eyes on the Prize
Luke Ridnour credits his father for providing the earliest lessons about teamwork. Rob Ridnour coached high school basketball (including his son's team) before taking over as the head coach of the International Basketball League's Bellingham Slam. It was the elder Ridnour who instilled in his son some of those fundamental concepts about teamwork, such as sharing the ball and looking out for one another.
Run with Freedom!
Set:
Have you ever noticed that, when racing, runners tend to wear the lightest outfit or the least amount of clothing possible? From the weight of their shoes to the amount of hair on their heads. Why is this so important to them? The answer is easy: because the less you have weighing you down, the faster you will be and the more endurance you will have.
The same principle applies to the Christian life. Several times in his letters, Paul relates our lives as Christians to running a race. When running this race as Christians, God wants us to run with perseverance because He has so much set out for us to do. But, when we allow sin to cling to us, it slows us down.
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