For twenty-seven years, I lived in the sport for eight months at a time. Sharon and I shared that life for nineteen of our fifty years of marriage. It was a constantly spinning carousel of coaches, players, and support staff. Each year we would build relationships, commit deeply, and serve faithfully. Each year we would lose some, graduate more, and send others on to new teams. The steady rhythm of coaches and players moving into and out of the program was both joyful and grievous. Hours were invested on practice sidelines, recruiting dinners each winter, long bus rides each fall, exciting victories, and soul crushing defeats on alternating Saturdays. We were in it with the team, all day, every day. Now, thirty-one years after beginning, I am an occasional visitor, more a memory than a real presence. I am well connected with a few coaches, but barely know a handful of players by name. The pregame meal and chapel have an air of familiarity, but I am clearly a guest. My ...
This is a blog for my colleagues who are engaged in ministry with people of sport. In particular it is for those of us who refer to our roles as "Character Coach" or “Sports Chaplain."