A Coach's Diary

“In everything you do, find something you can be thankful for.” - Joyce Meyer Does anxiety or fear of the unknown keep you from enjoying your journey? Kerri Walsh-Jennings is a 3-time Olympic gold medal beach volleyball player. She once said, “In this journey, the fear creeps in from time to time. The hint of that is there because there’s an unknown factor to everything. That’s true in everyone’s life. I don’t choose to live there; I let it spark me.” How do you manage that fear?  One of my favorite verses says, “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy; I have come that may have life, to the full, till it overflows.” The thief can be a lot of things: fear, worry, anxiety, challenges, etc., but we don’t have to let any of them steal our joy and love for who we are and what we do. Some of the best athletes talk about enjoying the journey, and a major key to that is finding ways to enjoy everyday life. Some people wait for major moments to find joy, and others let joy power everyt...

I love sports. They bring me great joy. I love playing sports, I love coaching sports, and I love watching sports. I often tell my teams that the goal is to work hard to become the best that we can be while enjoying the process. What is the point of going 30-0 if you are miserable, and going 0-30 just isn't fun. Joy is a feeling of pleasure and happiness that comes from Jesus, our faith, and the hope that something good is going to happen to us and through us. Good things and bad things happen every day. Choosing joy means that we find and celebrate the good things that happen in everyday life. One of my major goals is to find joy in everyday life and not have to wait for or rely on moments of celebration to experience joy. Sports are supposed to be fun, but there are a lot of things that steal the joy out of sports. You won't love everything about sports just like you won't love everything about life. When I played basketball in college, I was miserable at first. We ran so...

  JOY The joy of the Lord is my strength. Being a great athlete and teammate can be tough because there are so many things that can easily discourage us, but God has given us tools in and through His word to help us overcome discouragement and so that we can live with peace and joy. Our joy starts with Jesus. Even when He faced death, He possessed a deep joy beyond anything the world can offer. Just before He faced the cross, He spoke to His disciples and said, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete and overflowing." (John 15:11). The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy, but I came so that you may enjoy your life."  (John 10:10). Joy does not mean that you don't or won't have problems. We will miss more shots than we make, and that is okay. We won't naturally get along with all of our teammates, we will lose games, and we will get yelled at and corrected by our coaches. When Jesus says that He wan...

Noah Webster once defined joy as the passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good. Joy is being happy about what is going on in your life and being excited about what is about to happen. Do you bring joy to those around you?  Do you bring joy to those you coach?  Are others excited to play for you or to be around you?  Find joy for yourself first and then be a joy to others.