BLOG FEED

One of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is that we don't have enough time. We tell ourselves we'll start lifting after vacation, update our recruiting profile after the next tournament, send those emails when life settles down, or spend more time with God once our schedule opens up. The problem is that life never really slows down. There will always be another practice, another assignment, another work shift, another family obligation, and another distraction competing for

There’s a difference between doing quality work and letting work own you, and culturally I think we’ve distorted that line. Words like “excellence, discipline, and grind” love to live in faith spaces, locker rooms, and office buildings. Somewhere along the way, the pursuit of excellence stopped being about stewardship and started becoming an acceptable demand for perfection. However, Psalm 127:2 (ESV) says, "It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the

In my earlier article, Being Set Apart, I wrote about the responsibility college athletes have to live differently—not only to pursue excellence on the court, but in character. Being Set Apart was centered on Romans 12:2, where I emphasized that disciples of Christ are called to think, live, and measure success differently than the common culture around us. That calling applies whether an athlete is on the court, in the classroom, or traveling with a team. Being set apart is

As we find ourselves just a week away from Christmas, the spirit of the holiday fills the air with joy, hope, and a sense of togetherness. For athletes, this time of year offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the journey of the past year and to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Embracing gratitude not only enhances our performance on the field but also deepens our faith and strengthens our connections with others. This Christmas, let us explore the profound impact an at

Jesus is in the business of healing people, and He has never required us to get every part of ourselves cleaned up before we come to Him. He is not standing at a distance with a checklist of character flaws, bad decisions, sinful habits, and past mistakes waiting for us to fix ourselves first. Throughout Scripture, Jesus repeatedly moves toward people carrying shame, regret, grief, rejection, sin, and pain. He sees all of it, including the parts we would rather hide, but He d

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6, ESV). Jesus says this during His conversation with Nicodemus about the necessity of being born again. He isn't describing self-improvement, a new outlook on life, or becoming a more spiritual version of ourselves. He's talking about something we can't produce through effort, education, morality, or good intentions. Spiritual rebirth is the work of God, and when the Spirit giv

We live in a culture that celebrates speed. We want faster results, faster promotions, faster growth, faster relationships, faster recovery, and faster answers, and we've gotten so accustomed to immediate access that waiting can feel like something has gone wrong. That mentality can creep into our faith just as easily as everything else, leaving us frustrated when God doesn't move according to the timeline we've created. There's nothing wrong with working hard, pursuing excel

Few games in the world of sports require as much patience and precision as golf. I personally have never been able to focus long enough without getting frustrated to play. I'm not even a fan of playing mini-golf. The meticulous attention to detail, strategic planning, and unwavering focus needed to excel in this sport parallel the challenges faced by Jesus during his three-year ministry. Just like a golfer meticulously lines up their shot, Jesus carefully laid the groundwork

When discussing discipline and consistency, the parallels between personal struggles and biblical narratives are striking. Just as I, like many of you, push myself to go to the gym every morning despite the temptation of comfort. The discipline required to maintain a routine echoes the importance of vigilance in our spiritual lives to prevent moral lapses. In the story of King David's complacency (2 Samuel 11), we see a pivotal moment when his decision to stay back from battl

There are going to be moments in athletics when the obstacle in front of you looks bigger than what you have left in you. The opponent is better than expected, the injury changes the season, the starting position disappears, the losing streak keeps growing, or months of work still haven't produced the result you thought you'd have by now. Those moments expose what we're depending on because it's easy to talk about faith when everything is going well. It's a different conversa

I think we need to be careful about treating ambition and excellence as though one is automatically sinful and the other is automatically godly. Ambition itself isn't the problem. Scripture gives us examples of people pursuing meaningful goals, working hard, leading, building, and striving toward something greater. The problem is what drives our ambition and what we're willing to sacrifice to satisfy it. There is a massive difference between wanting to become excellent at wha

There are certain things we understand more clearly because we've experienced their opposite. We appreciate discipline differently after we've seen what happens without it, perseverance means more when we've been tempted to quit, and courage becomes real when fear gives us every reason to back down. I think that's what people are often trying to describe when they use the phrase “spiritual polarity,” but we need to be careful with that terminology because spiritual polarity i

When we hear the word “vanity” today, we usually think about somebody who's obsessed with their appearance, status, attention, or how impressive they look to everybody else. That's part of why Ecclesiastes can be misunderstood because when the ESV repeatedly uses the word “vanity,” the Hebrew word behind it, hebel, literally carries the idea of vapor or breath and can communicate something fleeting, temporary, or difficult to grasp. Ecclesiastes isn't simply warning us to sto

“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:25 (ESV) Athletes aren't very good at waiting, and if we're being fair, most coaches aren't either. We want progress now, playing time now, the scholarship offer now, the starting position now, the injury healed now, and the results from all of our work yesterday. We live in a world where almost everything is available immediately, so when something we really want requires months or even years of

For the 5th year, I've been assigned mentees through the AVCA Match Point Pairing Program. The program connects experienced coaches with newer coaches to help develop skills, networking opportunities, and knowledge sharing. In today's post, I'll share the habits and character traits that the best collegiate assistant coaches often possess. These qualities not only contribute to their success but also have a positive impact on the team and its overall performance. Ten Habits t

Dear Freshman, As your coach, I want you to know that your talents and abilities are valued, but so are the qualities that make you unique. As you start your college experience, there will be challenges and pressures that can make it easy to lose sight of who you are, but I encourage you to stay true to your values and maintain your character throughout your time here. I want you to work as hard as you can athletically and academically, but remember that you are more than you

Most athletes will obsess over every rep in the weight room but grab whatever's fastest to eat between class and practice, and they'll skip rest entirely if given the choice. That's backwards, and the physiology backs that up. The body doesn't actually get stronger during a workout, it gets stronger during the recovery that follows it. That single fact should change how we think about training. If you want athletes who keep improving over a full season instead of breaking dow

What comes to mind when you think about the Fourth of July? Maybe it’s family cookouts, community celebrations, fireworks, or the American flag flying outside your home. Maybe you think about the sacrifices made throughout our nation’s history, the sound of Taps being played at Arlington National Cemetery, or standing for the National Anthem before an athletic event. For me, it’s a combination of all of those things. But as a Christian, the Fourth of July also makes me think

Ever heard the phrase, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?” Nietzsche and Kelly Clarkson were both onto something, although I’m guessing Nietzsche didn’t expect his philosophy to eventually become a pop song. In athletics, weakness isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes the areas where you struggle are exactly where the most growth needs to happen. The key is being honest enough to identify those weaknesses and disciplined enough to work on them instead of hiding them, ma

Working with college athletes means constantly balancing two things: treating them like the adults they technically are, while still recognizing they're in the middle of real, ongoing social and biological development. Young people often struggle with emotional awareness and communication, and that struggle shows up everywhere, in family relationships, academics, mental health, dating, time management, even their spirituality. A mentor's job is to give them room to actually e