02
CHAPTER

INFLUENCE OF A COACH

Jeffery Valodine, PhD

Director of Every Thought Captive*

EVERY FEBRUARY IN the United States the eyes of American football fans turn to Indianapolis, Indiana and the hundreds of college football players invited to participate in a series of physical and skill evaluations where their talent and athleticism can translate into value and subsequent placement in the upcoming draft. Welcome to the NFL Scouting Combine. These elite athletes are subjected to a series of physical and mental tests that include the 40-yard dash, 225 pound bench press repetition, the vertical and broad jumps and a series of cone drills, including position-specific drills and standardized aptitude tests. NFL executives and coaches from all 32 professional franchises scrutinize and evaluate each player and every move they make. An athlete’s performance during the Scouting Combine can affect their draft status, salary and ultimately their career as a professional athlete.

After scoring a mind-boggling 122 touchdowns in his last two years of high school football, this receiver-turned-quarterback would go on to win the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the best football player in the nation, as a college freshman. With victories over four top-ranked teams, including the number one ranked Alabama, this dynamic playmaker accounted for 5,116 yards of offense and 47 touchdowns. The entire nation celebrated the arrival of “Johnny Football.” He would forgo his college career at Texas A&M after a strong sophomore season to be selected by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2014 National Football League (NFL) Draft. Mr. Texas Football would go on to play less than 2 years in the NFL, throwing for only 1,675 yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. Cleveland released Johnny Manziel in March, 2016.

Success and failure are part of sports. Even if one never reaches the pinnacle of their sport and hoists the championship trophy overhead, all coaches and athletes cannot escape the two certainties of winning and losing. We have taken up mantras to highlight the varieties of both “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” that highlight the ups and downs, highs and lows of athletic competition.1 The world of sports has the ability to tell the background stories of our culture, as the game of baseball did in 20th century America, and as World Cup Soccer has done in Europe and South America. However, many of the most remembered events in sports history highlight its negative side. The Black Sox Scandal in 1919 in baseball, the murder of Columbian footballer Andrés Escobar in 1994, the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sports–especially in track and field and the Tour de France–all reveal the ugly side of competition. “Do whatever it takes to win,” has become modern sports mantra.2 People will take extreme measures for a win.

The Larger Scope of Sport

Athletic competition is integrated into the human psyche and into our souls. Since sport is an external event, separate from the individual athlete themself, it functions as a standard-bearer for all who participate. The nature of competition sets these standards in which we then evaluate our own progress, success or failure. Athletes are not just competing against each other in the moment, but against the benchmarks that have been established over time; they compete against history. When they take their position on the starting line and gaze left and right, they see not only their immediate competition, but also all those who have run the same race thousands of times throughout history. They not only want  to beat the runner next to them, they want to beat the 9.58 posted in Germany in 2009 as well. And everyone knows this mark. What will an athlete do for the whole world to recognize them as the fastest or strongest or most talented person on earth? Apparently, anything.3 In many cases, the list of competitors chasing immortality doubles as a PED’s “Most Wanted” poster. 

The history of mankind could be told by the stories of athletic competition. Many popular sports around the world started out as physical challenges brought on by statements like, “I bet you can’t do this,” or “my pals could beat you and your pals any day of the week.” Others have a competitive nature as an extension of real life, developing everyday tasks like chores, school or work into contests of who can do it better and faster. Since the rebirth of the ancient Greek games into the modern Olympic Games in 1896, sports and athletics have become separated, not only from the life events that gave them their start, but also, in many cases, from the everyday rhythm of social life. The modern world now has professional sports, an entity we’ve endowed with a special place in modern culture, simultaneously creating modern heroes and wealthy millionaires. However, Superman does not share his superpowers and the wealthy do not fill the offering plate at church.

Elitism in sports has created an us-versus-them dichotomy in the world of coaching, developing and nurturing elementary youth into active adulthood. This dichotomy was clearly evidenced during the reign of the USSR when the State would separate out youth with genetic or aggressive potential and raise them up as elite athletes. The modern athlete must somehow be brought into relation with the rhythm of life that not only gave them birth but that continues to give them life, not some artificial environment created out of test tubes with genetic modification nor with dehumanizing training methods and mere functionalism. An emphasis must be placed on the holistic development of the athlete, not limited to hitting occasional peak performances a few times in their lives, but in creating a system of lifelong fitness inside athletic competition that transcends sport itself. Our focus should be to create an ethos in athletic development that provides wise, healthy and active people who operate in all areas of their lives with a grounded moral compass and who place highest value on something outside the quest of winning or losing.

Those of us who are fortunate to have both our occupation and vocation centered around sports, coaching and athletic development must take time to see our profession from 30,000 feet: above the specificity of any one area of focus to a wider scope that includes the greatest potential for overall sustained success. We should focus on the tens of millions of children who almost naturally begin participating in one kind of sport or another early in life. We  should also pay attention to the hundreds   of millions of adults who remained engaged in some sort of athletic endeavor throughout their entire lifespan. We need to ask ourselves how, as coaches, we can make systemic impact in those we are working with that will result in lifelong physical, spiritual, intellectual and emotional well-being. In addition to training athletes physically, we need to ask how we can coach future coaches, pastor future pastors or instruct future intellectuals.

    • How can I model what it means to be a responsible human being?
    • How can I best represent what it means to be a faithful loving husband or wife and a caring, nurturing father or mother?
    • Do my athletes see me as someone who can speak into the complexities of their emotional ups and downs?
    • How can I come alongside the precious people I am blessed to influence in order to mold them and shape them into the very best person they can be?

These ontological questions are arguably more important to resolve in the overall development of the entire life of a person than bodily performance and skill development. However, many would argue that it’s not the responsibility of a coach to deal with anything except an athlete’s physical attributes.

What You Win Them WITH is What You Win Them TO

It is often said, “Success comes on the practice field before it shows up in the game.” This principle has its counterpart in coaching. If you want to see your athlete shine as brightly as the sun, you must be a star yourself. We see the moon not because it has illuminated itself, but because sunlight reflects off of it. Only stars shed light. However, coaches and trainers are not the source of light themselves, but we function as a prism diamonds if you will. The source or sources of light we allow into us thus illuminate the world around us. A wise man once said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of dark- ness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”4 All coaches understand the importance of a healthy diet, proper hydration, adequate sleep, dynamic warmup and the value of hard work. We want to see these things in our athletes in fact we demand them. You cannot out-exercise a bad diet. Don’t borrow time from tomorrow by staying up too late today. Hydrate or die. We know these things. There is a right way and a wrong way towards athletic progress. A good coach will insist that development be accomplished in a proper manner, on and off the field. This is to the benefit of everyone involved, not only for the athlete and coach, but also for the team, for the university, for the country for everyone. To even suggest that some sort of propriety exists in the realm of coaching seems to violate the cultural climate of the 2020s. Postmodernity, with its incredulity towards metanarratives, the death of dialectics brought on by the escalating cancel culture, and the reimagining of the historicity of the world, has exacerbated the entire scope of sports to the point where athletes are increasingly looked at as mere commodities objects that entertain us and as products with which we can make money. Rather than being viewed as role models, contributing citizens or even decent human beings. 

If you are a coach you are a person of influence. And as a person of influence, you must decide not only who you will affect, but also how you will impact them and what you emphasize (or deemphasize) in your role as coach. A person’s influence is directly tied to their character. 

I like to think of a person’s character as who they are when no one is watching them. This speaks about the inner, authentic self of a person, and not the outer, projected self.5 Character is about one’s ontological being and is not about one’s disposition. Coaching athletic character, in my opinion, has a much higher systemic value than coaching the physical attributes. Young people are counting on you to move from being convinced to being convicted. “If you are convinced character is important in sports, then start living with conviction! Make it the priority of your program and mission as a coach. Become intentional by investing your time, money and resources into making it a reality.”6 A combination of development, both of the inner person and the outer physical representation of that person, yields an athlete who will shine brightly on and off the field of competition. We refer to this as holistic coaching and this type of holistic method is what this book is about. We know of the extremes: champion athletes who live ugly, destructive lives or the nice guys who always finish last. It is our intent to teach and impress, first within you as a coach, then through you into your students, a coaching perspective that produces champions both ‘on the court’ and more importantly, ‘off the court’ and throughout their lives. However, there is a catch. It is impossible to help someone financially if you yourself are bankrupt; it is impossible to provide academic wisdom if you are ignorant; it is also impossible to coach holistically if you are unaware of the depth and breadth of the scope, and increasingly impossible to give something you don’t already have. If I was to draft a tentative plan of action for a coach that could produce highly-productive athletes that are men and women of character and integrity, the list may look like (in order of importance):

    1. Get your internal self right
    2. Get your external self right
    3. Get another person’s internal self right
    4. Get their external self right
    5. Produce

I wrestled with categorizing these steps in such a large scope and ambiguous way but this was done on purpose. This allows for rigidity in structure but allows for freedom in details. Foundational development is crucial (structural); how we function from our base of operation is specific (details). Commitment to God and His Kingdom and strength and conditioning are two excellent examples of building core structure without being outcome-based or sport-specific.

The first structural key is to build your life on a strong foundation. If you are interviewing a candidate for a head coaching position ask them to explain who they ARE rather than what they’ve DONE. As general manager or athletic director it is easy to see their win-loss record. However, it’s not easy to identify their character traits, their moral and ethical integrity, their coaching philosophy nor their philosophical worldview. How then, should the interior of a person be built? On a “liquid foundation” where the issues of right/wrong, morals/ethics and pride/power are relative and ambiguous? Or on a strong, solid foundation that meets the highest demands of both the physical and metaphysical world? It is wise to build on a solid foundation. Early in His ministry, Jesus of Nazareth went up onto a Judean hillside and taught the crowd a series of timeless truths, concluding that wise people build their lives not on the shifting sands of life but on a solid foundation, the truth of His Word.7 In a similar fashion, I submit to you that, just as Christianity forms the proper metaphysical attributes of an athlete/coach, strength and conditioning form the proper physical attributes of an athlete/coach. This combination gives us the best opportunity to not only BE a better athlete/coach, but also to create better athletes/ coaches. Christianity must be looked at as more than merely a religion or a philosophy–Christianity is the Way of Life. Strength and conditioning must be looked at as more than general health or fitness. Rather,  it must be the physical foundation on which all athletics and sports are founded. Strength and conditioning is focused on sports performance and, when combined with athletic coaching and sports-specific instruction, creates a unique way of life.

The “way of life” of a complete athlete/coach has both a solid spiritual foundation and a strong physical foundation. On top of these two pedestals we can add two more fundamental elements: proper diet and proper instruction. Perhaps you’ve heard of the statements, “You are what you eat,” or “Garbage in, garbage out.” Proper diet plays a key role in the performance of your athlete. A standardized healthy diet for athletes is nothing new, but proper nutrition is much more scientific in the modern world. Without proper diet and hydration it is impossible to reach your maximum potential in sport. When working part-time as a strength and conditioning coach in Prague, Czechia the world champion decathlete Roman Šebrle once heard me describe my favorite hot dog, to which he responded, “Jeff, I haven’t had ‘junk food’ for so long I cannot remember what a hot dog tastes like.” It takes discipline to go a long time following any type of regimen. The key word is discipline. If you want to become a better athlete you must be disciplined in the proper structures that build a strong foundation. You must have a dedicated Way in Life. This not only is important in your days as an athlete but also in your latter years as an active adult and during your time as a coach. Long ago, I discovered that my time in competitive sports had a short window, so I made the best of it. I wasn’t very big nor was I a particularly gifted athlete so I trained hard, played hard, and I enjoyed 20+ seasons competing at the collegiate level in several sports. Then one day I woke up and realized that my body wasn’t able to respond to the demands I was placing upon it. But because I learned how to compete with men much bigger than me, men with more natural skills, I became a student of the game(s). Moreover, I became known as a gym rat, patterned after the legendary Wisconsin Badger Iron Mike Webster.8 I am confident that my dedication to proper strength and conditioning kept me competitive through my playing days and has continued to serve me well as I transitioned into coaching and into other sporting avenues. But as much as physical training has paid dividends thus far, the most important, most crucial thing I did was to make my peace with God. Why do I make such a claim? Because I know myself. Now, after 30 years in examining the human condition as well as investigating the claims presented by Christian theism, I can say that what was true for me is also true for everyone, whether they know it or not.

It’s Not the Title but the Towel that is Important

We are all born into a world that is both vast and majestic, but yet small and domestic. The small and domestic nature of our world helps us remain sane when thinking about the vastness of the universe. But the grand expanse of the universe, its harshness and distant coldness, is tempered by proximity and care. These are most often experienced in a home that provides both parents and a place to dwell. If the universe is uncreated and undirected, we would expect it to be random and chaotic. However, we experience just the opposite. The world seems particularly designed for us. Evidence from science, philosophy and experience tend to parallel the historical narrative found in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. This then summarizes the idea of the physicality of the universe and the meta-physicality of humanity, consciousness and being together in one grand narrative. Both the universe and everything in it was created by God and for God, it was meant for us and we for it. Likewise, when we consider the physicality of sport and the meta-physicality of our athletes, God created everything in our discipline; coaches exist for athletes and athletes for coaches. I learned of this truth by a paradigmatic shift shortly after my conversion to Christianity. As a student-athlete I had been striving to succeed in both the classroom and in athletic competition. Thinking with merely a physical brain and lacking compassion from a merely physical heart, I developed severe anger issues, was willing to win at any cost, avoided or ignored inferior teammates and basically lived as though I was my own god. The passion and humility of Christ changed me by softening my heart. God did this in many ways. First, He was God and didn’t need my help, although I needed His. Second, He got my internal self corrected with a spiritual house-cleaning. Third, He ordered my external self, the person that engages with the world I inhabit, through His Word and through active obedience. Then fourth, He called me to do the same with the people I interact with throughout my life. My life was transformed. I stopped living for myself and started living for God and for others. I stopped striving for personal victories and started living to advance God’s Kingdom and the lives of those around me. God changed the way I thought about the world and everything within it. One of my colleagues says of himself, “God first entered my life with a brain transplant,” after he had  a similar experience to mine. If space would allow, I would offer up a six-fold plan that speaks to this transformation and development that covers (1) spiritual development, (2) intellectual development, (3) character development, (4) physical development, (5) social development and (6) practical develop- ment.9

In the spring of 2011, a group of spiritually aligned ragamuffins descended upon the Philippines to tangibly do the very things I’m suggesting. On this trip, the physical and metaphysical worlds collided in a majestic and yet humbling fashion. Men representing several American universities and a few different Christian ministries spent six weeks coaching, teaching and pastoring hundreds of Filipino professors, coaches and athletes on a program designed to build up holistic athletes and coaches for a lifetime.  This book represents that vision. I vividly remember being swept off to venue after venue for training among the national and olympic coaches and their staff. Then it was on to the University of Makati, then Benguet State University north of Baguio, then also to Tacloban at the University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College. After eight to nine hours of dynamic coaching and team building, Tim Dornemann and I would spend each evening building out the seven modules program, the dynamics  of coaching modules and preparing to engage our audiences on the necessity of having a spiritual foundation. This book represents this initial work. We received tremendous blessings throughout our many trips to Southeast Asia over the years but one event stands out among them all. After an exhausting four days of training with the Philippine Olympic teams, coaches and staff, the national director of Athletes in Action Totie Andes and I shared the truth of how God has wed the physical and spiritual worlds together and how they coalesce in Jesus, the Son of God. You could have heard a pin drop. Afterward we prayed for everyone and offered a copy of the Bible to anyone who was interested. Four large cases of the Scriptures were gone in less than a minute. At first I thought the rapid distribution of the Text might simply be because it was free. However, I doubt this was the case because of the conversations that followed. Instead of getting questions concerning lifting technique, periodization or dynamic stretching, the conversations were about the nature of God, the church and how to grow in the Christian faith. I remember retiring that evening with a deeply satisfied spirit. It has been encouraging to me to see God’s faithfulness at work over the years as I witness coaches grow in their faith and succeed with their athletes, their families and in themselves. Coach Andes always reminds his audience that we coach three things, “the Head, the Heart, and the Hands,” referring to the intellect, the being and the production of an individual. 

The most difficult thing for me about graduating from Seminary wasn’t the classes, the tens of thousands of pages I read, the papers or the exams, nor even the thesis. No, it was meeting the list of  15 graduation requirements – many of which I was unaware of. One requirement stands out among the rest. It reads something to the effect of, “The Seminary reserves the right to withhold degree or diploma, or even dismiss a student at any time during their academic journey for failures in moral or spiritual conduct, even if all other requirements of sought degree have been satisfied.” During my exit interview with university leadership I inquired as to the intent of such a seemingly harsh requirement. The answer was brilliant. In essence, they explained that the university was preparing students, not merely to have cognitive awareness of principles nor merely to provide certain skill sets to be used when they work ‘in the real world.’ No, their purpose was to graduate disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ into the worldwide mission field to advance His Kingdom, without regard to location, vocation or occupation and a student’s character and integrity could disqualify them for such a task. This principle is also true when considering coaching and athletic development. The world of sports is littered with stories of individuals who crash-and-burn after their 15 minutes of fame. Stories of million dollar basketball players caught begging for money less than ten years after they leave the court. Cyclists who have their Tour de France championships stripped away for cheating. Athletes who may seem like superstars on the field but who have successive martial failures, paternity suits, and caustic egoism.

During the graduation ceremony after Seminary, the university has a tradition that puts your hard work into perspective. First, the registrar hands you your degree. Second, your academic advisor ceremoniously hoods you. And last, the university president congratulates you, places a towel over your arm and says, “Remember, it is not the title (i.e., degree) but the towel (e.g., humble service) that matters.” Likewise, when we coach we must become a servant to those we serve.10 Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, told his team, “Men, when you get across that goal line act like you’ve been there before.” Instill deeper internal qualities into your athletes; timeless traits, tradition and pat- terns that will pay out over time. Become a master of your game, wisest among your peers and yet coach those under you with the care of a dove with her chicks. Recognize the negative habits of the proud and arrogant among you and steer them in the other direction. Do not avoid the difficult person but see them as a challenge not only to you but to themself. Set your eyes on the prize but be satisfied in a job well done. These challenges bring us back to the importance of having good eyesight. C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.”11 Lewis uses this as both metaphor, the ability to see and as agent, the reality of the thing shown. As light illuminates both sides of the universe the physical and the metaphysical so too can we see the outcome of holistic athletic coaching, training and development. Ribbons and trophies may come and go but the compliment, “well done my faithful servant,” is reserved for those who do it well and in the right way. The real legacy we leave as a coach is in the life of our athletes.

Sport is not ultimate. There isn’t an exit exam for sport at the end of life. However, Jesus does offer us a life challenge in John 15 when he calls us to, “Remain in me and I in you so you can bear fruit.” He furthers, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Love one another. Bear fruit that will last.” Coach as if life itself depends upon it.

References

    1. See Jim McKay’s introduction to ABC’s Wide World of Sports, 1961.
    2. See Henry Russell (“Red”) Sanders, “Winning isn’t everything; It’s the only thing” (1950, 1953, 1956); Vince Lombardi’s address to the Packers before training camp 1959, “Winning isn’t The will to win is the only thing” (Michener, James A – Sports in America. Fawcett Crest, 1987).
    3. See the history of the 100 meter world record progression at Wikipedia, “100 Meters.” Last modified 19 April 2021.
    4. See the New International Version Bible, 2011, Matthew 6:22-23. This wisdom comes directly after instructions against chasing after temporal things in lieu of eternal things and is preceded by the brilliant conclusion: “Do not run after these physical but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
    5. John Wooden, coach of the UCLA men’s basketball team: “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Abraham Lincoln, America’s sixteenth President: “Character is like a tree and reputation its The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.”
    6. P. Nerbun, as quoted on the website https://thriveonchallenge.com/4-ways-to-coach-character/
    7. See the New International Version Bible, 2011, Matthew 7:24-27
    8. Mike Webster was an undersized center at the University of Wisconsin who went on to become a Hall of Fame player in the NFL. At only 6-1 and 255 pounds he was able to bench press 455 for six sets of eight reps. See the article by Colin Webster at https://startingstrength.com/article/reflections_in_iron_mike_websters_training_methods
    9. See appendix A for a short diagram I use with athletes as a series of devotions entitled “Embracing the ” “Embracing the D” is © Every Thought Captive, Inc. 2005.
    10. See Philippians 2:1-11
    11. C.S. Lewis, in the essay entitled “Is Theology Poetry” found in The Weight of Glory.