Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople - Part 5

 For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training

Communicate directly.

Occasionally I will invite a local pastor to address our team in a pregame chapel. I give them a time frame to fit, a general idea of theme or topic, answer their questions, and then turn them loose. That usually goes fairly well, but occasionally it does not. The errors are usually a matter of not fitting sport culture or a clumsy importation of church culture into the sport setting. Sport is a culture of direct language. Time is always at a premium. Communication is always straightforward. There is no room for dropping hints, for being subtle, or for being overly artful in one’s speech. There is no need for elaborate introductions, for jokes, or for allegory. Speak directly with coaches and competitors. Get to the point. Ask direct questions. They will not take offense or find you pushy.

I believe the Lord uses such communication, simple and direct, in a similar way to the way He uses epistles in the New Testament. Paul wrote to his disciples and churches he had founded very directly, whereas he was much gentler when face to face. Let’s prayerfully consider the power of the written word to communicate God’s heart for the people of sport, and then we can follow up those words with face to face, compassionate and caring relationship building.

One of the keys to effective communication with people of sport is clear and direct language. There is no need, nor time for frills, skillfully crafted rhetoric, or subtleties of speech. Write and speak directly to be understood, to inspire, to challenge, and to call to action. Such language fits the sporting culture and carries the message of Christ’s love and care very well.

Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople - Part 4

 For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training

Embrace their sport’s culture.

Too often, we in the Church tolerate sport culture and try to relate to elite, professional, and high-profile sportspeople while firmly entrenched in church culture. Sportspeople are not against church culture; they just don’t understand it. They have lived in and are deeply immersed in their unique sport’s culture. Too many of my sport chaplain and character coach colleagues endure the culture of sport while anxious to get to their opportunity to speak. Competitors and coaches feel the distance and are hesitant to respond to those of such an attitude.

The way to break through this issue is to heartily embrace the sport culture, warts and all, and thereby communicate unconditional acceptance to those who live therein. Beware the temptation to simply add sports clichés to your vocabulary. Poorly applied sports language raises the red flags of “phony,” “poser,” and “wannabe.” As we learn to speak their language, to fit into their schedules, and to understand their values, we are more able to serve and to speak effectively.

How comfortably do you live in the culture of your sport? Does it fit like a well-worn batting glove or more like a size eight shoe on your size twelve foot? Do you find it relaxing or stressful? Do you speak its language and enjoy its nuances of gesture and posture or do you seem like an outsider? As you serve Christ in the world of sport, do you live in its culture and work to transform it or simply import Church culture into sport?

Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople - Part 3

For the next number of weeks, I will be sharing excerpts from my new book, Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople. https://www.crosstrainingpublishing.com/shop/soul-training

Respect their time constraints.

Wendy (Goodman) Bauersachs is my friend. She is 6’-2” (1.88 meters) of beautiful young lady, daughter, sister, friend, and teammate. She is now a wife, the mother of three, teaches second grade, and coaches junior high basketball. She was also #44 for Saluki Women’s Basketball (Southern Illinois University – USA). 

A few weeks after the end of her playing career, she called me asking, “Rog, what do normal people do with all this time?” She had encountered the sense of lost identity that most sportspeople experience at the end of their sporting careers. After going to the gym for practice most every day since she was twelve-years-of-age, suddenly she had no more practice, no more games, no more team, or teammates, or coaches. She suddenly used to be a basketball player. 

Every competitor, regardless of talent, level of competition, length of professional contract, or wealth accumulated, at some point experiences the end of their career and deals with the change in lifestyle including the unexpected abundance of time on their hands. Just like Wendy. 

Being a collegiate athlete is like going to school full-time and working a full-time job, at the same time. They have practice six days a week, they often spend extra hours in voluntary work on the mental part of the game, they must study just like any student, and they want to have a social life like any other student. Add on in-season travel, injury rehabilitation, off-season workouts, and mandatory community service projects and their lives are crowded and complex. 

The lifestyle of collegiate coaches is even more consuming as they have each logged hours of watching game video, building game plans, staff meetings, position meetings, personal video review with players, and more before they ever get to practice with their players. All that is in addition to the hours of video review, travel, visits with, and evaluation of recruits for their next class of players. For the coaches and competitors in professional sport, it is much the same. They just don’t have to go to class. 

Now their lives in sport are even more consuming with countless hours of time in the office, at training, and in practice. Sadly, many of these coaches spend the night sleeping in their offices rather than going home. 

The ministry point here is to respect the value of their free time. When we do events, I limit them to one hour. If they want to hang around longer, good, but if they need to get in and out, they are free. Be sure to ask lots of questions about their schedules and design your activities for them to fit their best days and hours.