Character Coach / Sports Chaplain Blog

One of our colleagues with Nations of Coaches is Rob Ely at Marshall University in West Virginia (USA). He is serving several teams on that campus and he recently shared one resource he uses in preseason preparations with Marshall Softball. It is a set of questions he uses in one on one meetings with each player (about 30 minutes each) at a local Dunkin Donuts shop. Also below is another form used by our colleague, John Ryberg with Men's Basketball at the University of Alabama at Huntsville (Chargers). He also uses it in preseason to build relationships for himself, the coaching staff, and the other players. You can obviously adapt the questions to your team and sport, but the brilliance in this is that it asks questions on multiple levels and gets to the players’ hearts. It equips the character coach and the coaching staff with some great information they won’t normally uncover otherwise. I hope it is of value to you. Marshall University Softball: Pre-Season Interview 2021 Name: ...

Marla Butterworth of FCA and I recently hosted a Zoominar titled, “Take Care of Yourself.” The focus was on how sports chaplains and character coaches can take care of their own mental health while caring for others, especially when our normal ways are disrupted by lockdowns, etc. It was quite good and is now available as video on YouTube or audio only as a podcast. Links to both are just below. Our guests were:  Aaron Fuller (Chaplain with extensive research and work in resiliency/self-care) and Ross Georgiou (Global Sports Chaplaincy and Major Sports Events Chaplaincy) help us understand how to better care for ourselves while caring for others. We pray these resources are valuable to you and all you serve. YouTube recording - https://youtu.be/_UeoCv7X4PM Podcast recording - https://serviceinsport.buzzsprout.com/1844792/9362442-take-care-of-yourself-self-care-for-sports-chaplains-and-character-coaches This outline was contributed by Ross Georgiou. BEST TEAM – You, God, Othe...

You may be aware of Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success (pictured below). It is a graduated set of values Coach Wooden developed and taught across his long and storied career coaching college basketball in the USA. His remarkable success across many years wins his ideas a hearing among coaches, Christian or not. Coach Wooden was a highly committed believer as well, and we can certainly see Biblical values in the Pyramid. In past seasons I have used the Pyramid and its values as topics for discussion with players, and I am now leading a series of discussions with our college Men’s Basketball coaching staff. Below are a sampling of the questions I ask to facilitate discussion. Each session lasts about twenty minutes and is concluded by my praying with them. This is simple, easy, and effective. I hope it’s of value to you and those you serve.   To begin the series of discussions, I will acquaint everyone with Coach Wooden’s coaching record. I don’t just mention the championsh...