6 Ways for Coaches to Integrate Faith and Sports
Written by Laura Coulter | Upward Sports
Coaching youth sports is a great opportunity to make a positive impact on the next generation. Whether coaching is your occupation or you’re a volunteer, there are many ways to integrate your Christian faith into how you coach. You can spread the love of Jesus while teaching kids about sports.
Here are six of the best practices for coaches who want to follow Jesus while leading their team.
1. Act Like Jesus
Above everything else, the best way to integrate your faith into how you coach is to follow the example of Jesus. It’s profoundly simple but incredibly challenging. While WWJD bracelets have been out of style for a few decades, remembering to ask yourself “What would Jesus do?” is still an excellent practice. Get some inspiration by reading through one of the four Gospel books in the New Testament and brushing up on how Jesus treats others and encourages us to treat one another. Ask God to shape your character to be more like Jesus. At the same time, remember that, unlike Jesus, you’re not perfect. Don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake. Instead, learn from your mistakes and take time to think about how you want to act or react in certain situations.
2. Do Your Best
Keep in mind Colossians 3:23: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” When you coach, put your best foot forward. Commit to being the best coach you can be. You are serving your athletes and their families, and by doing so, you are also serving God. To the best of your ability, be prepared, organized, communicative, and adaptable. Parents will appreciate it, and kids will have a great experience because they have a great coach.
3. Pray for Your Team
As you get to know the athletes on your team, you’ll learn about who they are and what’s going on in their lives. Pay attention and show that you care. Pray for your players on a regular basis. You might ask players how you can pray for them as you lead prayer at games or practices.
4. Win and Lose with Grace
As the coach, how you respond to victory and defeat sets the tone for your whole team. Teach good sportsmanship, humility, and positivity by not acting like an arrogant winner or a sore loser. This will help reinforce the biblical idea that there are more important things in life than winning. You can show that you value people and doing what is right more than you value winning a game.
5. Practice What You Preach
Your players are looking to you as a role model. If you claim to be someone who follows Jesus, they’ll be watching you to see what someone who follows Jesus acts like. Don’t say one thing and do another. Don’t scream at a ref after telling your players not to scream at each other. Don’t teach your players about good sportsmanship and then act like a sore loser when something doesn’t go your way.
6. Share Your Faith
In some leagues, you might have devotions or another opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with your team directly. If you do, this is certainly an area where you should endeavor to do your best. Be prepared. Share what the material means to you. But if you don’t have this opportunity, you can still communicate who you are and the importance of your faith as you talk to players and parents throughout the season. Be open about why it’s important to you to coach the way you do. Build relationships with the parents and have real conversations with them. When appropriate, you might invite families on your team to go to church with you. There are many ways to share your faith when you are being open and intentional with people.
Upward Sports can help you improve as a coach and grow in your faith as you coach in an Upward Sports league. You will get resources and support around you to change the lives of families in your community and share the love of Jesus.
If you want to learn more, find a league at https://play.upward.org/ and get in touch.
If you’re a church leader interested in starting a sports ministry at your church, visit: https://www.upward.org/church-leaders/
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