Today I want to preach to you a sermon I have been working on for 13 years. As many of you know, I love the game of basketball. I started playing when I was nine but never was able to play on a school team until I was 22. I have coached 53 basketball teams at the Junior Pro, Middle School, and High School levels. In 12 years of coaching I learned many lessons that have helped me as a coach and more importantly as a Christian. I thought these lessons might be helpful to you so I decided to share some of them. I plan to present my thoughts in two parts with part 1 this morning.

1. Keep your cool (James 1:19-20). I found through trial and error & trial and success, that no matter what the situation is in practice or a game, it is always a benefit to stay calm and not get aggravated. Coaches are tested by their players, by parents, by other coaches, and by referees. I learned that no matter what, getting really upset never helped anyone, especially my players. Once they see you lose your cool it is like a wild fire and shortly they lose their cool. James points out that the same is true every day in our lives as Christians.

2. Be consistent (2 Timothy 4:2). Consistency in practice, in training, in drill routines, and in games is very important if a coach is going to be successful. Players need repetition to be able to develop good habitats and to remember how they are to complete their tasks (2 Peter 1:12-15). Coach John Wooden of UCLA would spend time the very first practice every year the same way. All of his former players say in that first practice they learned how to put their socks on properly so as to avoid blisters. Consistently he taught them something useful and while showing them the importance of paying attention to the very basic details. The same is true in life. If we consistently pay attention to the basic things like loving our neighbor, good things result.

3. Set the proper example (1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Peter 5:2-3). I have always thought a good example is absolutely critical for a coach. Our demeanor, our language, our morals, and our work ethic should be a good example. Something I did for many years, including the last teams I coached, was to run the drills that I asked the team to run. Whether it was in the gym, outside, at the house, or where ever the practice was, I would run the drills with them. The idea I had was if they saw that I, being an old man, was willing to run, they would see the benefit of running themselves and not complain that I did not understand what I was putting them through. One time on a high school team I told the team that for every selfish play they made in the next game, they would run suicides (the length of the court and back as fast as they could) the following practice. In the next practice after the game I had 11 players and I told them that I wanted them to run their suicides in pairs. It ended up that my biggest and laziest player did not have a partner so I partnered with him. We ran our suicides and I beat him in every one and he said boy I was fast. I told him it was not that I was fast, but rather that he was not putting out the effort he needed to in order to become a better ball player. We Christians must set a proper example if we are going to convert our friends to Jesus Christ and show them a better way of life!

4. Learn from and listen to your players (Matthew 8:5-10, 15:21-28). Even Jesus learned from listening to others. Movie Hoosiers; in the championship game the coach tells his team he wants a certain player to take the last shot and to use their best player as a decoy. When the coach sees that his players are very quiet and sullen he asks them what is wrong. Their best player says he can make the last shot. The coach changes his mind and does what his players want. They want their star teammate and leader to take the last shot. He ends up making the shot and they win the game and Indiana state championship. My little Jessie taught me more about being a good coach than any other player, especially when it came to coaching girls!

5. Do not show favorites (Genesis 37:4-5, Matthew 20:24). When players sense they are not being treated fairly or that other players are being shown favoritism, problems arise. When favoritism or as the Bible calls it, partiality enters in, bad things result. We need to treat others as we would want to be treated, without partiality and without hypocrisy (Matthew 7:12, James 3:17).

6. You can’t please everyone (John 6:66). Jesus did not please everyone and He tells us not to expect to please everyone when we do His will (2 Timothy 3:12). No matter how hard I would try to please all the players, parents, and grandparents of players, there was always someone who was disappointed or upset with me. It is the same for us Christians. As hard as we try we will offend someone. Not because we want to offend them but rather simply because we are following Jesus and some will resist that and make us suffer for it.

Once we had a junior pro team that won the state championship and then we were qualified for the national championship. I was one of the coaches and Jessie was one of the players. We had 12 girls on the team, and 10 were required to present for each game or the team would have to forfeit. Well one of our girls got hurt and then one decided to go on vacation in NC without telling the coaches. The problem was the next game was on Sunday morning. Jessie and I were not going to miss worshipping God on Sunday for this basketball game. I even offered to go that Saturday to NC to pick up the girl and bring her back so the team would not have to forfeit the game. Well what happened was the team had to forfeit the game. To this day, the other coaches, most of the parents, and most of the players from that team will not even speak to me. I did receive one positive phone call from one parent who said that she appreciated our example (Luke 6:22-23, Acts 5:29).

I remember that Sunday as a wonderful Sunday. I was teaching Hannah and Jessie in the last class of the quarter and their assignment was to test me on my knowledge of the book. They were very excited and they gave me a very hard test that I barely passed. That afternoon Jessie, Samantha, and I also had a wonderful time riding bikes together! The lesson here is, we should not be surprised when even though we have tried as hard as we can, some will be disappointed in us.

7. Learn from other coaches (1 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Timothy 2:2). I learned from many coaches. Kathy taught me how to get the very little kids excited, focused, and to have fun. Daniel taught me things when he coached teams with me and when I coached his high school teams. He saw many things that I would have overlooked without him. And then there was Beth. They say one of the hardest jobs in the world is to be the wife of a coach. As a result of helping me and watching so many games, Beth knows more about basketball than most coaches do and I learned a lot from her.

John Wooden of UCLA has always been the ultimate basketball coach to me. A noted coach, teacher, and influencer of young men. This is a picture of the cover of a book that I have that I think is the best book about basketball there is.

More importantly Jesus is a noted coach, teacher, and influencer! We all need to learn from the greatest coach and teacher of all, Jesus Christ (Matthew 23:8-10, 26:18, John 6:67-69)!

Jesus indeed teaches us many things. He teaches us that sin can keep us from Heaven. He teaches that the only hope we have of pleasing the Father is by obeying Him (John 14:6). He shows us that only by submitting to Him can we be forgiven of our sins. Why not become a follower of the greatest teacher of all time? If you are not a Christian this morning, believe in Him, confess that He is the Son of God, repent of your sins, and be baptized so your sins can be washed away. Then you will be on the Lord’s team with blessings now and forever! Please let us know if we can help you as we stand and sing!