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Hockey Chat: When you’re on defense, one of the worst things you can do is let your opponent stand in front of your net waiting to tip the puck, get a rebound, or just screen your goal tender. Detroit scored buckets of goals against Colorado in 2007 doing just that and swept them right out of the playoffs. You cannot let that guy stake his position there. It takes work to get him away but if you let him stick around, he’s bound to cause trouble.
There is a great Peanuts comic strip that shows Lucy about to catch a fly ball. At the last minute, she loses sight of the ball and misses it. Lucy turns to Charlie Brown and says that she is sorry, but the “past” got in her eyes.
It is easy to let past mistakes get in the way of a good performance. We remember what we have done wrong at the worst time in our lives and end up making the same mistakes again. Then we begin the cycle of rehearsing that mishap over and over in our mind.
As a Christian, instead of letting the past get in your eyes, turn your eyes to the present and to the possibility of doing things the right way. Remember, you are a new creation in Christ and you don’t have to keep making the same mistakes.
Hockey Chat: Have you ever tried to skate with your hockey pants around your ankles. It doesn’t work. It’s happened before to Marc Savard when during a game in Calgary when his belt broke. When your belt fails, the essential protection in your hockey pants doesn’t do much good slipping down your legs will you’re trying to skate. Little strap of fabric has a very important purpose.
The first race I ever ran was a marathon, an incredible experience my body will never forget. I learned there are four key aspects to a race, and they all relate to our spiritual life.
We race against competition. There were thousands of runners I wanted to beat and who wanted to beat me. When we run the race for Christ, we compete against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. We race against the clock. Every mile a clock declared I was nearing the end. People say since we only go around once, live it up. Christ says since we only go around once, make it count.
We race for a prize. I received a medal for completing the marathon. As Christians, our prize is heaven and eternity with God!
Many athletes get distracted easily. The crowd, the faces and the noise all are factors that distract the athlete today. Even small gyms with just a few people in the stands can produce a loud noise. This can present a problem for a team, especially the coach. The coach needs the attention of his team at all times to work the game plan. One mark of a great player is his or her ability to hear the voice of the coach. Staying tuned in to the bench during a contest is essential for success. Players who have the ability to eliminate distractions and hear their coaches' voice will more than likely come out on top in the end.
When I exercise or warm up for a sports game, I love to blast contemporary Christian music through my headphones locked in my iPod. The music works as an energizer and motivates me to keep practicing. It makes me want to dance and sing. The great thing about music is that there are so many different styles of songs that there is something for everyone. For me, listening always lifts my heart and leaves me with a smile and a desire to get out there.
Hockey Chat: Brain Buckets. The 79-80 season was when the NHL made new comers wear the head gear. Prior to that it wasn’t thought of to be a need. But ask anyone whose taken a wack without it how much it is needed. It’s one of those things that we don’t really use in the game (head-butting a puck into the goal is not very effective). But when a stick comes up to high, or our skate slips out from under us, those hockey helmets are what saves us from a potentially deadly injury.
It happens all the time: As an athlete or coach, you are confronted with a situation in which your attitude will dictate your altitude. Someone does you wrong; a promise is broken; a ref makes a horrible call in a game; you are treated poorly. Whatever the circumstances, does your attitude show that God is in your life?
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul urged the believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ. Paul wanted everyone to stay focused on Christ and the glory of the cross, no matter what happened. In every situation we are under the authority of God, and we should act and react accordingly. Though we may be wronged, mistreated or severely tortured, we must stand firm, knowing that God will provide the victory.
Are you honest about your finances? Jesus spoke more about material things and how we handle them than anything else. Why? Because how we handle material things is an indicator of how much we really trust God. We all need material things to survive—money, food, water, and clothing—all of which God promises to provide for those who seek Him. People everywhere believe the more of these things they have, the happier they will be. That is just not true. In America, we have more things than any nation in history, but we are not a happy nation.
To humble ourselves under God means to be subject to Him. Because we can’t see Him, we forget He is watching. Sometimes we can’t hear Him, so we forget He is speaking. We can’t always feel Him, so we forget He never leaves or forsakes us. Just because we can’t always see, hear, or touch God doesn’t mean He isn’t mighty. He is able to destroy entire nations if He desires, as is often illustrated in the Old Testament. God is all-powerful. When we live in accordance to His will, we will experience His abundant blessings. As 1 Peter 5:6 states, He will exalt us in due time if we remain humble to Him.
How can we humble ourselves under God? We can start by listening to His advice, searching His Word, and spending time with Him.
There is nothing that compares to the feeling of walking on to the field or court with the stands full of people cheering for one’s team. There is energy in the air and a sense of adrenaline pumping through everyone’s veins. The atmosphere is full of excitement and enthusiasm. As coaches, we rarey think about the people who are watching us from the sidelines. Our attention is focused on the players. We want them to be ready, prepared, and in place.
If you love God, you’ll obey Him. So your act of worship is service. If you’re truly worshiping and loving and admiring who God is and what He’s done in your life, it’s going to be a natural process to serve. If you think of worship as a whole, you worship God with the talents that He’s given you. For me, basketball is a way that I can worship Him and give back what He’s given to me. If you think of it with respect to service and the time and the resources that He’s given you, your act of worship is utilizing those things to help others. So when it comes to true worship, my prayer is, “Change my heart.” I feel like your heart should be a true reflection of God and what He would want you to be doing.
"Out for the season." It was the tough phrase of the week used by most sports broadcasters and repeatedly scrolled across ESPN's Bottom Line. It also was an unexpected and harsh reality for NFL stars Tom Brady, Shawne Merriman and Nate Burleson.
Some of the League's best, done in a moment. You've probably heard the frustrations of the Fantasy Footballers (I think that's actually a real title) in your office or school, just like I have in mine. "With Brady out, my team's done!"
Wicked people live life with their heads on a swivel—looking for anybody or anything that might be after them. They might even sleep with one eye open! They live restlessly and peace is a foreign object. On the outside, these people may look like they have it all together, but inside their lives are complete messes. They only know wickedness, so they suspect everybody is just like them. Hence, they run even when no one is pursuing them.
Hockey Chat: When a player gets double teamed up against the boards they know their in trouble. As they battle for the puck, they’ll often hear a familiar voice of someone on their team calling out instructions on a safe place to pass it. They would stay in trouble and lose the puck if someone didn’t call out to them.
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.
"Nobody's perfect." A phrase we hear all of the time.
Everyone knows that no one can be completely perfect, so we use it as an excuse when we mess up. We often settle for less than what we are capable of because we think it is impossible to be perfect. But in Matthew 5 Jesus commands us to be perfect, just as God is perfect. "How can that be?" we ask. "How are we supposed to be perfect?"
We know all to well Romans 3:23, that all have sinned and fallen short, and we focus on the fact that humans are sinners. But did Paul not say that God would not tempt us past what we could handle? And did he not say that I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength?
Often times, a victory might be determined by the game within the game. Can our left tackle keep their defensive end off of our quarterback? Can our closer strike out their best hitter? Can our off-guard shut down their "go-to" guy?
We spend a lot of time in practice doing individual drills and one-on-one drills. In our one-on-ones we want to go "best-versus-best"; we don't want one of our starters going against a second-string player because he is not challenged as much. He does not improve from the situation.
When we go best-versus-best, we quickly find a player’s weaknesses--the flaws in his technique--so that we can correct them. We also see who is going to rise to the top, whom we can depend upon when the game is on the line.
In the height of his playing days, Charles Barkley claimed that he was not a role model. The University of Colorado claimed that the troubles with its football program were not as bad as they seemed. Coach Nueheisel claimed that his gambling was no big deal. The people involved in these situations did not want to be held to a higher standard. Why? Because they felt that athletics and off-the-field issues should be kept separate.
Sometimes athletes believe that rules are a part of the game in order to make sure that nobody cheats. Other times athletes think rules are against them, preventing them from doing what is seemingly necessary. They see officials as being out to get them. Neither of these is true.
What would sports be like if there were no rules? What would a basketball game be like if we didn’t have to dribble? What if there were no fouls? What would football look like if there were no out-of-bounds lines? What if runners did not have to stay in their lanes? It would be utter chaos.
Hockey Chat: A regulation size hockey goal opening is 24 square feet. A fully armored goalie covers approximately 18 square feet of that space leaving only 6 square feet of open net and that’s with the goalie standing still. It takes practice and determination to get the puck into the mere 25% of the goal that is uncovered while that padded guy it hopping around in front to stop it.
The 2005 St. Louis Cardinals were masters of the squeeze play, often winning games in their last at-bat with their precise and timely execution of baseball’s most fundamental plays. Each time, a batter gave up his opportunity to reach base to make sure his teammate on third crossed home plate. The batter sacrificed his own at-bat to benefit one teammate, which in turn benefited the team as a whole.
The question for any athlete to consider is, “What does God think about my sex life?” After all, it is to the heavenly Umpire that we must one day give an account!
God is not a Cosmic Killjoy. He wants us to enjoy life. He wants us to have a great sex life! But the Creator knows and has told us the time and place for everything. Sexual relations with a permanent spouse is God’s plan. He tells us, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified [set apart to Him]; that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, NIV).
NASCAR racing isn’t necessarily thought of as a team sport by most people. But ask any driver and he will tell you that without a good pit crew, his chances of winning are slim.
Jeff Gordon credited his team for putting him in a position to win the 2005 Daytona 500, which he did by holding off Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. over the last two laps. “I knew over 500 miles, with that pit crew, that team, that hopefully some patience would pay off there at the end.”
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