“A coach will impact more people in one year than the average person will in a lifetime.” – Dr. Billy Graham
This week I have the privilege of being the keynote speaker for Metrolina Christian Academy as they kick-off their athletics program for the 2023-2024 school year. Prior to a large group setting consisting of parents, students, and educators, I will spend 10-15 encouraging the coaches and their spouses.
The main message to this wonderful group is simply to say “Thank You!” The following are the things I will thank this specific group in particular and all coaches in general for:
Spouse
- Thank you for sharing your spouse with so many people.
- Thank you for being patient for all their late nights and early mornings.
- Thank you for sitting quietly in the stands while “fans” complain about their skill, talent, abilities, decision-making and thinking skills.
Coaches
- Thank you for your love of Jesus and His Word.
- Thank you for using athletics to help instill a Biblical worldview in the lives of the next generation.
- Thank you for taking a job with income far below the level of your education simply because you are called to coaching and serving the next generation.
- Thank you for modeling Christ to the student-athletes of Metrolina Christian Academy.
- Thank you for bringing out the best in our sons and daughters.
- Thank you for pushing them out of their comfort zone.
- Thank you for asking for more.
- Thank you for teaching student-athletes how to win.
- Thank you for modeling how to handle both winning and losing in a way that reflects Christ.
- Thank you for teaching us the value and joy of being part of a team.
- Thank you for teaching young people competitive stamina and how to overcome obstacles.
- Thank you for your creativity in not only game planning, but also diversifying your communication style to reach widely-different student athletes.
- Thank you for your courage. Your team draws their courage from you.
- Thank you for being a tour guide for life and athletics, and not a travel agent.
- Thank you for motivating and inspiring young people to become all God has created them to be.
- Thank you for seeing young people for what they could be, and not just what they currently are.
- Thank you for sometimes being a defacto parent.
- Thank you for your passion for students and the program as a whole.
- Thank you for continually improving as a coach and educator.
- Thank you for your preparation during the off-season.
- Thank you for being a great teacher in the classroom as well as on the court or field.
- Thank you for your personal growth in both areas of leadership development and leader development.
- Thank you for your patience as young people develop mentally, socially, and athletically.
- Thank you for providing clarity and direction for young people during their years of puberty.
- Thank you for staying committed, focused on, and a picture of Metrolina Christian Academy’s core values, mission, and vision.
- Thank you for your availability. God-honoring coaches are hard to find.
- Thank you for helping young people fall in love with sports and Jesus.
- Thank you for sharing the Gospel with your players.
- Thank you for not quitting. The lives of countless people are better because you show up every day.
- Thank you for the investment you are going to make into these student-athletes’ lives for years to come.
A leader who embodies these characteristics is Coach Rusty Stroupe.
Coach Rusty Stroupe has been the head baseball coach at North Greeneville College, Brevard College, Lander University, and Gardner-Webb. Coach Stroupe retired in 2019 as Gardner-Webb’s all-time winningest coach. He was also named 2019’s Big South Conference Coach of the Year. Not a bad way to end your career as a coach. In 2012, Coach Stroupe had the honor of receiving the FCA Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award.
In a recent Bible study we are a part of, this incredible man said the following when a fellow coach was wondering if he was actually making a difference in the life of his players:
“We may be planting seeds that produce shade trees we may never rest under. We may see it 15, 20 years down the road. We may never see it. We’re results-oriented as coaches but our greatest blessings we might never know until we get to Heaven.
The wins and losses that involve sports on scoreboards have kind of all meshed together for me as I finished up coaching. The bad memories and the good memories are all, yeah there’s games I wish could have back and would have won and the wins were great, but it kind of all runs together. Emotions are the same now because, I remember losing a tournament championship game in 15 innings. We have a two-run lead in the 9th. We gave up three in the bottom of the 15th, lose a chance to go to the regional.
And as we were on the bus, it was a 10-hour ride back from Florida, me and my assistant coaches were talking and we got down the road a little bit and we looked at each other like, ‘It kind of feels like we won.’ It’s really weird because each of the three had something of such greatest importance in life (more important) than the score of that baseball game. It’s was those relationships, those kids.
The greatest privilege to me and the greatest memories I had were not of the wins, the tough losses and the great wins. Those were good but it’s that 20 years later, which was this past summer, I had a player who I coached twenty-something years ago and his wife sit down in my living room and pour out their hearts about their marriage struggles. We were able to counsel through that together.
That’s more important than any win or loss that ever happened on the field or that kid or anything. Your greatest victories will never take place on a ball field. If you have your priorities right, the Lord will use every win, loss, every relationship for His glory.”
Take a moment today and call, write, or text the coaches who made a difference in your life and thank them.
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