It is extremely important to understand why God want coaches to coach. We believe God wants coaches to
spread the fame of His greatness. This can be accomplished in two ways (taken from The Ultimate Question video):
- By displaying the character of God through our coaching
- By integrating sports and ministry
During a recent coaches training meeting, the following question was presented: “What does a coach who is NOT trying to display the character of God look like?”
Here is a list of the responses:
- Yells a lot
- Wants to win at all costs
- Plays the “best” players the most
- Ignores weaker players
- Aggressive & Intense
- Angry with players, parents, officials, opposing coaches
- Frustrated with players, parents, officials, opposing coaches
- Unaware
- Lots of discouraging comments
- Puts pressure on players to perform
- Acts like every play is the “game winning” play
Once all of these responses were listed on a whiteboard, we asked if any of the coaches in the room wanted to be like this “hall of fame” coach. Of course, no hands went up. But why? Because no one wants to be viewed as “that coach”. Few are willing to openly admit that winning is still the primary goal and continue to struggle with many of the actions mentioned above. Anger, frustration, discouragement, and yelling begin to surface when a goal is being blocked.
If you want to begin displaying the character of God while coaching, it will only happen once you accept that winning is a good desire but a bad goal because you have no control over the outcome of a game.
