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Hockey Chat: A battle for the puck is what the game is all about. What teamwork is about is getting in there and helping your teammate win the puck. There is that thankful feeling when the play moves on because of the support that your buddy gave in a time of need.
Hockey Chat: Chasing the puck is easy to do but a bad play to make. Imagine if you had all 5 skaters on your team chasing after the puck and nobody keeping to their positions. It would be a big mess. We all want to grab the puck and make the play, but we need to remain controlled and play our position to make the winning play for the team.
All athletes have experienced it. The day after a hard work out, we roll out of bed barely able to move. Aching pains shoot like firecrackers through our bodies, making us feel 100 years old. The fact is, during those hours spent in the gym, running, or at practice, we were literally pulling our muscles apart. The resistance of weights and movement caused the muscles to tear and the soreness felt is the body struggling to rebuild those fibers, stronger than before. Isn’t it crazy the pain we endure for a desired physical result—that six pack of abs and a set of pythons to make the Rock jealous? But what are we willing to suffer to be conditioned spiritually?
Athletes hate slumps. They’ll try anything to get out of those times when they can’t hit the baseball or make a foul shot or catch a pass. Some players will change bats or shoes or their routine. They will do whatever it takes to get out of the slump. As Christians, a spiritual slump can make us feel like we’ve been forsaken by the Lord. Like athletes in a slump, we can struggle with doubts, fears, and frustrations. We can even feel like we’re losing the battle.
As student-athletes we are pressed from all sides; to be a better at our sport, to get better grades, to get the best paying job after graduation, and even to look a certain way in order to be attractive to this world. We challenge ourselves physically, academically, and socially, but how often do we challenge ourselves spiritually? How often do we step out of our comfort zone to please God and not men? In the moment it seems as if playing time, grades, and our social life means everything. But the short-term happiness that comes from our worldly accomplishments is fleeting and of no comparison with the everlasting joy we will receive when we please our Father in heaven.
Over the past fourteen years, I have been a defensive coach in our high school football program. Specifically, I coach linebackers. In order to play linebacker successfully at our level, a player must make a total commitment to the expectations placed upon him. It requires an unwavering self-discipline.
I read a newspaper article last year about a professional baseball player who couldn’t seem to make the necessary adjustments needed in his approach to hitting. The player contended that his hitting was fine, but many of his current and former coaches disagreed. They pointed to the fact that his batting average had continued to decline and that he was striking out at an alarming rate.
In one game, the player might have 3 hits, but in the next 4 games he wouldn’t get a hit, striking out 9 times. It’s not that the player didn’t have good coaching—one of his previous coaches was a former batting champion. The problem was that he wasn’t doing what the coaches were asking. James 1:22-24 says:
Dave Barnes is a coach at a large public school in Spokane, Washington. He is a legendary, state-honored coach, having led his teams to city championships in each of the last twenty years. However, what is more impressive than all his titles is the fact that he is a father to so many of his students and athletes. When Dave was two years old his father abandoned the family, remarried, and moved to another state. When his mother remarried three years later, this new dad became a true father to him. Sadly, when Dave was ten years old, his stepfather was struck by lightening and killed. His mother married a third time a few years later, but this new stepfather was an alcoholic. Dave never really had a dad who lasted.
I once was leaving my office late after a challenging day. Just as I was locking the door, a student whom I barely knew asked if he could speak with me for a few minutes. My initial thought was to ask him to come back tomorrow. I’d already worked later than usual and I was tired, but I noticed something in his eyes, so I unlocked my door and invited him in.
God doesn’t always work the way we think He should. Sometimes the things that we think are tragedies turn out to be blessings. In the Bible, Joseph serves as the perfect example of tragedy-turned-blessing. When Joseph received a dream foreshadowing his role to reign over his brothers, his brothers grew angry and sold him into slavery. When Joseph was later falsely accused of a crime and thrown into prison, it seemed that his dream would never come true.
Hockey Chat: There are some great stories of come behind games. Times when teams were down and out but worked their way back to score goals and win. Sometimes its after they come out of the locker room and just play like a new team. Sometimes it’s putting aside the fact that you just lost 3 straight games in a best of seven series. In the final playoff series of the 1942 NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs did just that and went on to beat the Detroit Redwings the next 4 games and hoist the Cup.
As athletes, we train to become faster and stronger. We try to bring as much power to our sport as we can. We may engage in a weight-training program. We may go out and run. We may attend a sports camp. But even more important than our physical training is our spiritual training.
Consider a plain, ordinary lightbulb. How much power does it put out? On its own, it puts out absolutely none. It has to be hooked to a power source in order to produce light.
This reminds me of the apostle Peter, a very interesting person. He was a common man (a fisherman by trade) but also a powerful man. And we certainly have to agree that Peter was dedicated to his calling.
Michael has the potential to be a good player, but he gets so frustrated with his game. He doesn’t understand why his coach always wants him to change his shot and other parts of his game. Finally, he had a talk with his coach. Suddenly things became clear to him, and his improvement took off. His coach simply told Michael what he needed to do in order to get better and how those changes would help him in years to come.
Recently I sat in on a home school history session with my wife and three kids. The subject was Europe's transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance period of history, and focused on the huge impact that Gutenberg's movable type printing press had on civilization. For those who are not aware of the history, Johannes Gutenberg created the first movable type printing press in 1456. Prior to that, all books were painstakingly written by hand - one by one - including Bibles.
Matthew’s Gospel contains a sermon Jesus gave—a talk we refer to as His Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon Jesus taught about humility, love, the law of God, prayer, and how to live the Christian life. There were two aspects to this sermon that made it truly revolutionary. The first is that this sermon was preached by God incarnate, the God-man Jesus Christ. He was the living Word, preaching and teaching with authority.
When we avail ourselves to God, He manifests more of His character in us, making the extraordinary become the ordinary, as in the story of Daniel. Success often follows obedience and trust in God. As a result of Daniel’s obedience, he prospered in his position and caused the hearts of the people to be turned toward God.
Available hands reflect an available heart. When we are prepared to let God use us, He is prepared to do remarkable things through us. God’s presence and help is available to us every moment and everywhere. He is always with us, listens to us, and pursues us with His love.
Who are you? Don’t pull out your ID; that’s just a name. Don’t tell me you’re a coach; that’s your occupation. Don’t tell me you’re an American; that’s your nationality. As coaches, realizing our identity is one of the hardest things to do because a lot of our self-esteem is based on what we do for a living, what our win-loss record is, or how long we have been coaching or playing our sport.
Historically, many last names came into being based on a person’s occupation, like Black or Smith for a blacksmith. Other names were based on whose son you were, like Johnson or Thomson. Based on how others view you, do you think they would give you a name based on what you do for a living, or based on the fact that God is your Father?
Hockey Chat: You may not remember Ned Harkness when you think of hockey’s greatest, but he truly was. His name is not inscribed on the Stanley Cup but it is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He didn’t run up the scoreboard with goals but filled the hearts and minds of the players with knowledge and passion.
As an English teacher, I instruct my students to look for symbols in literature. As a basketball coach, I often use symbols from literature to teach my players, such as in Genesis 3:11 where God asks Adam and Eve if they have eaten the forbidden fruit. Instead of telling the truth and asking for forgiveness, Adam blamed both God and Eve. When God asked Eve the same question, she blamed the snake. Since then, mankind has been pointing fingers and playing the blame game.
In a pro basketball game in South Africa, I drove the baseline and dunked on the guy guarding me. I then stole the inbounds pass and dunked it again. After that, I received a pass from a teammate who stole the ball on the next ossession and yet dunked again. I had three dunks in a span of about 60 seconds. However, in that same game I also was dunked on and fouled the guy on the play. As it was my fifth and disqualifying foul, I went to the bench to watch my team lose the game.
One of my favorite baseball movies is A League of Their Own starring Tom Hanks. In one famous scene Hank’s character tells one of his female baseball players to stop crying. The reason behind his command is that in baseball there is no crying. There may be a few emotional Cubs fans who disagree! Handling emotions can be quite difficult for coaches. We want our team to be on edge and ready for a big game, but when athletes or coaches cry or display personal weakness, they are often looked down upon. Does this mean that in sports and in other areas of life it is acceptable to exhibit only tough-guy emotions? No, because Jesus was not afraid to express emotion.
Hockey Chat: Yup, that new guy on your team just blew the play. And guess what, you probably will be in the wrong place at the wrong time and make the wrong move too. Don’t criticize your teammates for the same things that you do…. making mistakes. Just watch an NHL game and you could play arm chair coach all night. It’s easy to say in hind sight what they should’ve done but much harder to actually be there doing it.
Hockey Chat: Goal judges were first used around 1877 in Montreal and stood right behind the goal (a brutal job for someone with no pads). Years later, they sat in elevated cages behind the glass and when they would see the puck cross the line, they’d turn on the bright red goal light to signal to everyone that a goal has been scored. The red light is a hockey icon now being a symbol of scoring a goal.
Throughout my years of training as a wheelchair athlete, I have found that memorizing and reciting Bible verses helps me in many ways. It helps me to stay focused, to get to sleep and to stay calm in anxious moments.
Prior to a race, I often recite a verse in my mind to calm my heart. I know that God is going with me as I race and that He will give me what I need on that particular day.
One of my strengths as a wheelchair racer is my endurance, but I’m usually slow off the start. I will never forget the time when one of my coaches shouted at me after a race about my slow start. “What were you thinking? Where was your mind, anyway?” she asked.
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