I have had several conversations recently with other Christian School Athletic Directors about the drive (passion, desire, competitiveness, etc.) behind student athletes, specifically in junior high and high school. I wanted to know from these other ADs if they feel like what drives athletes today has changed from past years. Has the change in this drive and desire stemmed from the result of different approaches to coaching over the years? Has the way we parent our student athletes created a change in their drive because we no longer take commitment to a team as seriously as we used to?
It seems to me like there is a lot more apathy—or lack of commitment—when it comes to sports, and it is not solely in the behavior of student athletes, but also in coaches, managers, parents, and anyone entrenched in youth sports. It feels like the drive or the real reason we play sports is lacking. Why is that? What is the cause of this apathy? Jerry Lynch writes,
“… Jenny Levy, head coach of women’s lacrosse at the University of North Carolina, summed it up beautifully in a recent email to me: ‘We are fully involved in the soccer/lacrosse parent world with our own kids – I feel the parents are driving a train from the back. Yikes! Perspective has been lost and everything is result driven. The club sports organizations are just trying to make money – so they sell a dream to a kid and parents – be the best, get scholarships to college, and so on. The wear and tear on kids’ bodies, the lack of family time during the week and weekends, make for complete family chaos and insanity. It’s a nightmare.” (Let Them Play, page 12-13)
Have we been driving the train for our student athletes from the back of the train, like she mentions? Is that why the drive we see in student athletes seems different these days?
I recently started a book titled The Christian Athlete by Brian Smith. He was a D1 Cross Country runner and now works with FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). He has specifically written this book for student athletes, but at the end of every chapter there are two sets of questions. One set for the athletes themselves to reflect on, and a second set for the parents, coaches, athletics directors, or mentors who walk alongside these athletes. Brian writes,
“As we continue to consider how sports can drive us closer to God, we need to leave our performance-based mindset in the rearview mirror. This doesn’t mean we should not strive to be the best we can be in our sport, only that competitive excellence is not the only (or even the primary) category God is concerned with when it comes to his glory. We need to start with what God prioritizes about all else: the heart.” (The Christian Athlete, page 30)
This is a great reminder that God is always looking at our heart. He is coming back to our heart and prioritizes our heart above all else. He goes on to ask, “If God prioritizes heart posture over performance, how do you model this to your athletes? Is it possible to do both?” (The Christian Athlete, page 32).
As coaches and parents in our student athlete’s lives, we need to be driving the train WITH them and walking alongside them through their endeavors as athletes. This does not mean we are holding their hands and fighting all their battles, but it does mean that we are there to love them and support them. We are watching over them and making sure they understand what God’s glory truly is in their life and making sure we prioritize the posture of their heart above all else.
I pray that this is what both our coaches and the parents of our student athletes strive for at Front Range Christian School. And I hope that you understand that this philosophy can be applied anywhere, not just in athletics. This is my hope, not only for athletes, coaches, and parents of the athletes, but also for the people in the stands, the person who owns their business, the stay-at-home mom or dad, and for everyone. It is refreshing to think that God is looking at all of me and not just my performance.
