Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople - Part 2

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

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Sports ministry leaders are often a little puzzled as they encounter elite and professional sportspeople. They expect them to be just like other people, but their lives in sport often present obstacles to their involvement in church services and ministry events that are a great fit for the general population.

I have been serving coaches and student-athletes at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, for nearly thirty years, as well as eight years with a professional baseball club, and in that time I have learned several factors that are key to effectively engaging, serving, building relationships with, and making disciples among the coaches and players in our community. I hope these simple thoughts serve you and your ministry well.

The following is a quick overview of those factors:

• Respect their time constraints.

• Embrace their sport’s culture.

• Communicate directly.

• Demonstrate genuine interest in them.

• Invite them into your home.

• Love extravagantly.

• Serve selflessly.

In addition to the expansion of each of these factors will be illustrative narratives for each, a final section with faith development exercises that have proven effective across many decades, as well as occasional notes of emphasis for service in professional sport from a forerunner for many of us, the late Walt Enoch of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in St. Louis, Missouri.

Soul Training - 7 Keys to Coaching the Faith of Elite Sportspeople - Part 1

 After a lengthy hiatus from this post, I will begin again to write with greater regularity. Just over 2 1/2 years into my service with Nations of Coaches as Character Coach Director, I am finding a sustainable rhythm to my work. 

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

This project is directed toward the Christian faith development of elite level competitors, their coaches, sports professionals, and high-profile people of sport. It is designed to be used by those coaches and competitors themselves, or by the leaders of

sports ministries and local churches who serve them.

There are scores if not hundreds of books, discipleship guides, websites, and phone apps designed for the general public, but the people of sport we greatly respect and strongly love, are not like normal people.

Elite level sportspeople, their coaches, professional, and high-profile sportspeople are a miniscule fraction of the much larger set of millions of people who participate in sport for recreation, exercise, health benefits or social reasons. An exponentially greater number of people are those who consume sport as spectators. 

These elite sportspeople, in the USA mostly competing in collegiate sport, are fewer than four percent of those who

compete in high school sports. Professional sportspeople are an even smaller percentage of those collegiate competitors, fewer than two percent of the elite men and women of sport. Similar ratios between sports fans (greatest numbers), recreational sportspeople (fewer people), and elite sports people (very few people) are no doubt apparent in every nation of the world.

To be clear, anyone competing in college sport at any level in the USA is an elite level competitor. Anyone drawing a paycheck, of any size, for playing sport is a professional sportsperson. Anyone who coaches people at the elite or professional level is a sports professional. Any person of sport, regardless of age, who is widely recognizable beyond his family, teammates, and daily acquaintances, by a photo or one name only, is a high-profile sportsperson.

5 Mental Health Mountains

 Our friends and colleagues of Sports Chaplaincy UK (https://sportschaplaincy.org.uk/) have recently released a set of five videos addressing the 5 Mental Health Mountains many in sport face.

This is a tremendous service to the sporting community in the UK and around the world. You can access the videos at - https://sportschaplaincy.org.uk/podcast/

Please watch and share them with your friends and colleagues in sport. 

2022-2023 Herman Robinson Character Coach Award

 The 2022-2023 Herman Robinson Character Coach Award was presented by Nations of Coaches Character Coach Director, Roger Lipe, to Dr. Valerie Burrell, Character Coach for Bluefield University Men's Basketball.

This award is presented annually to one Nations of Coaches Character Coach who has demonstrated at least five years of faithful and excellent service to a college basketball program. Valerie was selected from among her over one hundred fifty colleagues across the United States.

Valerie received the award during the Bluefield College Athletics awards event, The Rammies, on campus Monday evening. Earlier in the evening Nations of Coaches hosted a team dinner for Bluefield University Basketball coaches, players, administrators, and the university president. The informal dinner was followed by inspirational and heartfelt expressions of thanks for Dr. Burrell's service.

This award was first given to (posthumously) and named after Herman Robinson in 2019 for his faithful service to the College of Charleston Men's Basketball program.

Report from the WBCA Convention

 

Report from the WBCA Convention at the

NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four in Dallas, Texas.

30 March through 2 April, 2023

The Nations of Coaches (NOC) ministry at the WBCA Convention began by setting up the NOC booth in the exhibition area. Coach Kelly Kennedy and her daughters set up the entire booth as Roger Lipe’s flight from St. Louis, MO was delayed by nine hours. He finally arrived at the convention hotel at 11:30 pm.

From 9:00 to 3:00 on Friday, Kelly and Roger were at the booth meeting with hundreds of coaches from across the nation. The coaches loved our gifts of Fox 40 whistles, pens, note pads, and whiteboard markers, each bearing the NOC logo. They were intrigued by our cards with information on the Coaches Edge, set for Saturday morning, as well as the FCA worship service and Kay Yow Breakfast set for Sunday.

We enjoyed strong partnership with our ministry teammates from Athletes in Action and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

On the edges of our formal service at the booth and in meetings, we connected with many coaches over coffee, breakfast, and dinner.

On Saturday from 10:30 to noon, Nations of Coaches hosted sixty-five coaches for the Coaches Edge. It was an enlightening discussion titled, “A Healthy Approach to the Transfer Portal and Name Image and Likeness.” Kelly gathered a panel comprised of head coaches from various levels of Women’s College Basketball – one Division I (Power 5), one Division I (low mid-major), one NAIA, and one Division II. Their insights and commentary were very valuable. In addition to their sharing, we had coaches scattered around the room with discussion questions in hand to facilitate discussion among all participants. The discussion was lively and insightful. Ninety minutes flew by, and several coaches stayed in the room for further interaction after the meeting was dismissed.

At 7:00 am Sunday, FCA hosted a worship service featuring Charlotte Smith, Head Coach at Elon College, with more than 150 people in attendance. It was followed by the Kay Yow Breakfast, both in the conference center at the Sheraton Hotel Dallas.

Coach Kirsten Moore of Westmont College in California was awarded as the Kay Yow Coach of the Year. Coach Moore was coached by Coach Kelly Kennedy as a graduate Assistant at the University of Oregon. Coach Moore said, “I’m in coaching to touch the heart more so than the ball.”

In summary of the convention, Coach Kennedy said, “It has been an incredible weekend connecting with coaches and sharing Nations of Coaches. The booth was great, but the Coaches Edge discussion about the Transfer Portal NIL was outstanding. It was a tremendous way to Equip coaches in their professional needs. The connections and awareness NOC made this weekend have been excellent. Only God can make the connections that have been and are being made.”

Ministry at Basketball Final Four Events

Please join us in prayer for this weekend's ministry at the Men's and Women's Basketball Final Four events in Houston and Dallas, respectively.

The bulk of Nations of Coaches staff will be in Houston and this graphic details the ministry events hosted by three ministries (Athletes in Action, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Nations of Coaches) working together.

While they are serving in Houston, Kelly Kennedy, her husband and children, and I will be in Dallas for the Women's Basketball Final Four. We (NOC, AIA, and FCA) will be at our booths engaging coaches all day Friday. On Saturday at 10:30 we (Nations of Coaches) will host a discussion based Coaches Edge event in the convention hotel. On Sunday morning, we'll join the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for their worship service and breakfast. In between events, there will be scores of conversations at the booth, over coffee, lunches and dinners.

Please pray that in all moments, in each event, and in every conversation, we represent both Nations of Coaches and the Lord Jesus very well. Pray that we connect well with people and further the Lord's purposes in each life. Thanks.

Prayer in the Locker Room

 Prayer in sporting contexts is widely varied, often treated superstitiously, usually dripping with churchy cliches, and is occasionally risky.

I prefer the last item in the list. I much prefer to communicate within the culture of sport, using its vernacular (not vulgar or profane), in a way that both communicates intimately with our Lord and engages the coaches and players with whom I am praying. Thus it can seem a little risky.

To be clear, I never pray that we win any particular contest, but I always pray that we compete well. I never pray that we win the championship, but I always pray that we compete like champions. I always pray about the process and never the outcome. I believe the Lord never engineers outcomes of sporting contests, but I believe He is always interested in how we behave in them.

Case in point (slightly risky). After the Saluki Men's Basketball team won its first round game in the Missouri Valley Tournament on Friday night March 3rd, I was awake early Saturday morning with thoughts about how to pray prior to the semifinal game on Saturday evening. I contemplated the idea, calculated the risks, and decided to do exactly what was on my heart. I spent the bulk of the morning and early afternoon composing a prayer (I know, very much contrary to my Southern Baptist upbringing).

In the locker room as the first semifinal was in its last five minutes, I was in the locker room with our coaches and players hearing the final items in the scouting report for our game. My moment to pray arrived, we all gathered in a circle, arms around each others' shoulders, and I launched in to this prayer.

I thanked our Lord for giving us the privilege to compete again in this game we love. I then prayed, "May we compete powerfully & be…

Precise like Foster,

Versatile like Marcus,

Explosive like Scottie,

Gutsy like Dalton,

Gritty like Clarence,

Sudden like Lance, 

Tenacious like Xavier,

Enthusiastic like JD,

Selfless like Chris,

Smooth like Juwan,

A great teammate like AJ,

Committed like JR,

May we communicate like Cade,

Having huge stones like Troy,

and be poised like Trent.

May we compete like champions, right here and right now? I pray in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen."

The players and coaches responded well, and we lost by 13. No matter how good or bad your prayer is, it never has a strong impact upon the outcome. Sorry to break it to you. My aim in that prayer was to affirm character qualities I observed in each player on the roster. My aim was to both inspire and to build relationships, vertically and horizontally. 

If you are given the privilege to pray with your team, anywhere, but especially in the rarified air of a locker room, communicate in their language, appeal to your Father for their best, and engage their hearts relationally. It's always worth the risk.

Zoominar - Name, Image, and Likeness $$$$$

We recently hosted a Zoominar for character coaches and sports chaplains focused on an issue that emerged on 1 July, 2021. The era of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) finances in collegiate sport in the USA began. What had been "under the table" inducements to star athletes to sign with a particular university, $1,000.00 handshakes, and other ways to illegally influence a competitor's choice of school, was suddenly totally legal and legitimate.

Our guests included Athletes in Action staff, Fellowship of Christian Athletes staff, Nations of Coaches staff and volunteers, as well as many others from multiple sports backgrounds. Featured were: Chauncey Franks - FCA and team chaplain for TCU Football, Tim Carter - Nations of Coaches Regional Director, and Scott Brewer - Character Coach for Baylor Men's Basketball.

Our discussion focused on three primary questions: 1. What are the most common and most powerful effects of NIL on the collegiate sports world? 2. How do you see coaches and athletic departments working to deal with it? 3. What are the ministry opportunities arising for us in light of this situation? It's a fast moving 52 minute conversation.

Here is a link to the recording, I hope it is of value to you - https://youtu.be/lQ9lfjoa88g