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This is a space for coaches, trainers, and leaders who love the game — but don’t want the game to cost them their family, their integrity, or their soul.
Here, we talk about leadership, pressure, culture, identity, and the quiet tensions no one prepares you for when you step into coaching.
This isn’t about chasing wins at all costs.
It’s about restoring what the game was meant to form in us — and in the players we lead.
This podcast is presented by the Beloved Coaches Collective, a community committed to coaching from identity, not insecurity.
I’m Coach Sanders.
Let’s redeem the game — one coach at a time.
Welcome back to the Redeeming
the Game podcast, everybody.
Coach Matt Sanders here.
Today, we have finally found our way
back to the podcast episode where
we are picking up in our discussion
about what it means to redeem the
game and moving forward as that coach.
And, uh, I wanna say to you today how
important it is for me, uh, as I go down
this road, to bring people on from time
to time, uh, that speak the language,
that are, uh, influencers in the game
Um, the way that we're doing it as
basketball missionaries, shout out Coach
Phil, Coach C, uh, Coach, uh, Joseph,
uh, Coach Austin, and Coach Jonathan.
J- shout out to those guys because
we are all redeeming this game
for the way it was designed by Dr.
Naismith through the power of God and
the cosmos to the origins of the game.
And this episode today is the third
part in the series, um, where we
are taking a deep dive into how
we as coaches, beloved, righteous,
and redeemed, are going to do that.
And the title of today's episode
is Coaching as Discipleship.
And, uh, if w- if you, if you take
a dive at all and you study the word
discipleship, you find out that what
it really means is to speak truth.
Uh, someone who has had the truth
spoken into them, it- it's a, it's
a little bit of a game changer.
So let me say something that might
shift how you see your role as a, uh,
a truth teller, a discipleship maker.
See, you're not just coaching
basketball, you're shaping people.
And I, I think I've said this many times
on the podcast, and that is that we as
transformational spe- specialist coaches,
we are the transformers of people's lives.
Uh, you know, just like the
movie, you know, the, the truck
goes from a, um, the carâ¦
The truck goes from, uh,
something you drive into a, uh,
it transforms into a Autobot.
Um, and so, uh, what we're doing is we are
a part of the origin story of this game.
That's what we as coaches are, um, we are
given the calling and the gifting to do.
So we are in our role.
Uh, it, it's, it's really easy to reduce
players to performers and to performance.
And I wanna say this, uh, really from
the jump here, that this has been a
very, uh, tension-filled point for me.
Because when I became aware of my beloved
righteousness, my beloved identity
as a coach, but most importantly, the
identity of the origin story of the game
Performance left my conversations about
how my teams played and my players played.
If you hear what I just said, I
didn't say how they performed.
I said how they played.
And it's super easy to turn it into that.
If you, if you just look up the word
performer or performance, it all lends
itself, the definitions lend itself
to someone who is on stage pretending
to be something they're not, right?
Like, uh, Tom Cruise comes to mind
when you think about Top Gun and
you think about Mission Impossible.
That's not who he is.
He's, he's not, he is not, uh, Ethan
Hunt, and he is not, uh, Maverick.
He's not those two people.
He's pretending to be them.
That's performing.
So I want you to think about
what we've done, and this isâ¦
This has permeated our culture in almost
every facet, where we perform to gain
other people's approval, whether it
be a coach, it be a, uh, it be a, an
administrator, uh, as if you're the coach,
uh, whether it be at your workplace,
you're performing for your boss.
What if, what if you're, what if
you're just actually aware of this is
who I am in Christ, and my gifting is
to do this role, and that role is to
coach, that role is to be a leader,
whatever that is in, in where you are.
I think that's really important.
So what do we, what have we done when
we use this performance to players?
We reduce that perf- we reduce
their performance to minutes.
We reduce that, their
performance to stats.
Reduce their, their
performance to execution.
What if we didn't do that?
What if we didn't label it as that?
What if it was more about execution?
Uh, and how you played.
See, we evaluate really quickly.
We, we correct in a constant manner.
That was me, because I also,
as the coach, was performing.
I'm performing for the, the approval
of, uh, all the people I'm trying
to prove wrong, my boss, my family.
Therefore, I inflict that on my players.
I inject that in, and then I'm
constantly, uh, evaluating them.
I'm constantly correcting them
because I am always constantly
being evaluated in my own mind.
And I wanna, I wanna be clear, this is
not how the God of the universe operates.
Even in your own life, if you
are constantly in a place of
performance, you will always think
He's unhappy with you, and that is
the furthest thing from the truth.
Romans 8:15 is super clear about that.
He did not lead us back to religious
duty, where we don't feel like
we're going to be good enough.
He leads us into a place where we have
been enfolded into the family of God.
He did that by his sacrifice.
So I want you to take that
framework in your mind and, and
put it into what you do as a coach.
Remove the performance-based expectation
off of what you do as a coach and
for your players, and put it into,
it is already finished in the, uh,
person and work of Jesus in my life.
And the origin story of basketball
means that inside those four lines
on the court, it's our sanctuary,
and I'm not expecting you to perform.
I'm expecting you to give your
very best for the team, the
coach, and for our, our creator.
So, without realizing it, we, we start
treating our players like projects.
Like, I have said that, y'all.
I'm sure you coaches have said that.
"Well, this young lady or
this young man, yeah, they're
gonna be more like a project."
Think about what you just said.
You reduced them to, from
being people to projects.
I did that, and, and, and I
want you to think about the
origin story of basketball.
If it was created to bring out
the best in players, it was,
it was created to be enjoyed.
It was created to, um, uh, promote great
character and godly character, and to
win men for the master through the gym.
We're in theâ¦
We, man, we lost that.
Because when you reduce them to a project,
they're really not people anymore.
They're not God's creation.
So Jesus gives a great command here,
and I wanna, I wanna read this to you.
Matthew 28:19 says, "Go make disciples."
He doesn't say, "Go make,
uh, people who, uh, look like
projects into something else."
He goes, "M- Go make disciples.
Make them truth tellers.
Speak the truth over them."
Teach them how to live.
Teach them how to play.
And then Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 2:8
says, "We cared for you, not only sharing
the gospel, but our lives as well."
See, when you are a discipleship-centered
coach, when you bring the Kingdom
of Heaven on the court with
you, what you don't do is you
don't treat them like projects.
You are truth telling them.
You're discipling them into
who they are going to be.
And I've said this before,
and I'm gonna say it again.
This is the place where I was
awakened the most five years ago.
And my role as, as a
basketball coach is two things.
My calling is to coach, and my
purpose is to burn for Jesus.
And inside that purpose for burning
for Jesus is to call out their
purpose, to call out their calling
To call out the players' calling and
their purpose in their lives, and
call out the best in them as players.
That is myâ¦
I'm supposed to pull that out
of them, and how do I do that?
I celebrate all the things that
they're good at, and the things
that they struggle with, I don't
constantly evaluate and criticize.
I constantly put a, shine a
light on it and show them a
better way to get better, right?
That, that's super important.
So that, that, that, uh, pathway
to do that is relational, right?
That's one-on-one
conversations with the players.
That's one-on-one conversations
with the team, right?
It, it's not just instruction.
I want you to think about this.
It's a transformational investment
you're making in their lives.
It's not transactional.
And we do that so much
in the, in the game now.
It is purely transactional.
In the NBA, in the, in the
overseas contracts, it is contract.
It is transactional.
And yet somehow we've interwoven the
story of basketball in there to think
that you can be a part of something
that's a transaction, when it's
actually supposed to be transformation.
And those two things can't co- coexist at
the same time, just like light and dark
can't coexist in the same area at the same
time, 'cause darkness has no ontology.
So the point is, what I'm getting at is,
we have to, as coaches, see ourselves as
righteous and redeemed, and discipleship
makers, truth tellers, calling out the
best in these players so that they can
feel like we are investing in them.
And, and I, I wanna be, I wanna
be clear with you, and I have
said this over and over and over.
One of the things that has been
life-giving, life-changing for me is my
inner circle of three, maybe even six
and 12 men in my life that I constantly
am talking to, I'm being uplifted
by, I'm being pruned by, I'm being
sandpapered, as my mom said last week.
Shout out Pam and Perry for the, the, uh,
conversation last week on the podcast.
Iâ¦
All of those, all of those people
They call out the things in me.
You, youâ¦
Listen, coach, you, li-
listen, leader, you need that.
You need somebody in your life or
somebodies, I- I'm gonna say three,
if not three, then maybe two or one.
You need that s- that tight-knit circle.
You need six or, or 12 of, of some
group of people that you run with,
that you als- you all have the same
value set, you all have the same goals.
They may not do the same thing as
you, but people that you can lean on
and that people will pour into you.
Because as a coach, you know, when I
crashed and burned in 2009 and had, uh,
I think I shared this with you, where
I had the, um, the, the full-blown,
uh, nervous breakdown because I, I had
lost my job and I lost all kinds of
other things, I realized, again, shout
out my dad who said, "You are empty."
And that you guys know as coaches,
you, you live in a constant state, if
you're investing, you're always pouring.
If someone's not pouring into you, you
guys know this, two pitchers, one's
pouring out, if there's not another
one filling it back up afterwards, then
you're gonna be empty, and I was empty.
And empty will lead you into
a place of, um, shame, and
guilt, and, and a dark place.
So I, I'm saying you
really need those people.
So some of the biggest moments in my
coaching, coaching career, the largest
ones actually I would say, weren't
wins, uh, they were conversations.
I, I, I can, I can remember one right
now that happened two years ago with
a young man that was really struggling
with his identity, and we had a, "I'm
gonna tell you the truth about who you
think you are, but who God thinks you
are," I mean, "who God says you are."
And it wa- I mean, he was blown away as
God was, uh, being, being, uh, portrayed
in this conversation as somebody who loved
him, and the Holy Spirit walks in the
room and ministers to this kid's heart.
He was completely changed.
I got, I got feedback from the players,
like, "What did you say to him?"
And I said, "I just told him the truth."
The, the, the, the, the, the
conversations, uh, the locker room
moments, the, the bus rides, um,
the practices where something deeper
clicked for everybody, th- those
moments where players individually
and corporately felt seen, that's
when the transformation took place.
Come on, that is so powerful.
I, I, I've shared this story
with you before, and I'll, I'll
share it with you again because
I think it's really important.
Um, I use this a lot when I
talk to groups of coaches.
You want to bring your faith on the court.
Uh, you want to, to pull down the Kingdom
of Heaven into your practice, right?
Jesus said, "Pray like this, that, that
you're, the, that the kingdom would
come on Earth as it is in Heaven."
We, we want the Kingdom of God,
righteousness, peace and joy, and
everybody wants peace and joy in their,
the practice, and the righteousness
part of you is, is the, the state
of, of w- who you are and how's
God has designed you to be in that
right relationship with God, okay?
So I'm saying that when you pull
that down, this is what happens.
So I walk into practice not long
after really everything had changed
for me about, I'd say about four
years ago, three years ago now.
And, um, I walk into practice, and as I
walk in, uh, w- my point guard, m- one,
one of my best players, the tough- one
of the toughest dude I've ever known
in my life, is sitting on the bench
with his head in his hands, right?
Y'all, y'all been there, right?
So I sit down, I walk over,
sit down, I was like, "Hey,
bro, are you, are you okay?"
And he's like, "No."
And I was like, "So, you know,
you wanna chat about it?"
And he goes, "Well, not really."
And I was like, "Hey, um, I, how,
how can I help you in this moment?"
And he goesâ¦
And he unloads this story of, um, the,
the darkest thing you can imagine for
a player that involved a mom and a dad.
Uh, it involved death, it involved, um,
uh, family members, it involved jail time.
It, I, I can't even imagine
what that felt like for him.
And in that moment, that day, my
practices were changed forever.
So here's what I did.
I was like, "Are you
okay if we pray for you?
It, corporately as a team."
He's like, "Yes, that would be great."
So we come to the center circle,
and this is what I mean by the,
the transformational moment.
This was transformative in my practices.
We walk in the center circle.
I tell everybody the story without
giving them the details, and I was
like, "Hey, we're gonna pray over this
young man," and I'll leave his name out.
And we, we, we prayed over him, and I
just want you guys to know that two hours
later, we didn't pick up a basketball.
We didn't, uh, we didn't do a drill.
We didn't play a game.
We turned on worship music in the gym, and
we spent two hours praying for each other.
That is tran- uh, that is transform-
transformational leadership.
That is trusting God, part of
the Kingdom of God, with the Holy
Spirit to be transformational.
And here's the kicker, here's
the point, and I'll land the
plane on that one with this.
After that, weekly I would have
one of my leaders, "Hey, Coach,
can we have some prayer time today
before practice or after practice?"
And again, it would just turn
into these prayer sessions.
And as the scripture says,
prayer changes things.
So I want to say to you that that is
where the transformation took place for
me, and I'm just giving you an example
Hey, friends, before we continue,
I wanna take a break and
share something from my heart.
I'm not making any money off the podcast.
In fact, Redeeming the Game is a part
of my basketball missionary life.
My passion, as you know if you've been
following, is to help coaches and players
discover that their identity is Christ.
It's not in wins or losses
or how they perform.
This ministry is supported entirely
by people who believe in that
mission, who've come alongside me
and choose to partner financially.
So if you would like to continue to help
me create this content, mentor coaches,
and share the gospel of Jesus strife
through the g- Jesus Christ through the
game, you'll find a giving lim- link in
the description and in the show notes.
Thank you for your support
and your encouragement.
Hope this blesses you
So what if your greatest impact
this season isn't the, what you
expect from them on the court?
What if it is something
that is incredibly deeper?
See, between the four lines, and I'm
gonna talk about this next week, between
those four lines should feel like a
sanctuary for, for coaches and players.
It should feel almost
like a church setting.
See, if basketball is ministry, and Dr.
Naismith created to, the game to win
men for the Master through the gym,
then the gym should feel a, like a place
for the players to, to feel seen, to
feel heard, to feel at peace and safe.
So what if that becomes something more?
Patience becomes more than pressure.
Connection becomes more than correction.
What if the presence of God through
the Kingdom of God coming into your
gym because you know who you are,
and you're teaching these kids about
who they are, that that presence
matters more than performance?
We've talked about it today.
See, you're not just building a team.
You ⦠Well, I just love this.
I'm so thankful for God for this.
That you're, you're, you're not
just building a team, and you're
not just building a culture.
You are forming lives.
You are a transformational specialist.
We all are as coaches So
where does this come from?
Where, whereâ¦
How does this, how does this land?
I want you to remember, and I wanna
say this again, shout out Coach Philip
Morrison, Coach C, Coach, uh, Jonathan,
uh, in Austin from Origins Basketball,
Coach, um, Joseph Lewis III, Just Joseph.
Uh, shout out to all of these basketball
missionaries who are legitimately
out here redeeming the game through
the origins story of basketball.
And, and what is that?
To win men for the Master
Jesus through the gym.
See, we're all basketball missionaries.
Coaching is more than
just ga- wins and losses.
It, itâ¦
Every practice becomes an
opportunity, as I shared with you.
Every interaction becomes more intentional
because you're, you're, you're investing.
You're not just developing players.
You are b- you are telling them
the truth about Jesus, which
makes you a disciple maker.
You are doing what Matthew 28
says, "Go and make disciples.
Go into all the world and make disciples."
Well, the basketball world is on
the court between those four lines.
So I just wanna say that to you.
I, I, I think that is
incredibly important.
And so if, if, if this, if this is,
uh, resonating with you and you wanna
build that kind of framework around
what you're doing as a coach, I say
this every week, I need you to go in the
show notes and download the 10 Things
I Wish I Knew as a Young Head Coach.
It will be transformational.
And then lastly, I keep saying this.
After you like and you subscribe and you
share, which I'm so grateful that you've
been doing, that I, I want, I want you
to hear that matt@redeemingthegame.com
is not just an email address.
It is a pathway for you and I to connect.
I want to talk to you.
I wanna be able to continue to help
get this conversation going to where
we can transform coaches and players.
That's the whole goal.
See, coaching isn't just about the
game, it's about players b- and theirâ¦
and, and the personhood of who
they are, and the people that
you are forming because you're
a transformational specialist.
It's powerful.
So grateful for, for Go- for God
and by the Holy Spirit for that
word, transformational specialist.
So as we say as we land this plane this
week, as we say every single week, we
are redeeming this game one player,
one family, and one coach at a time.
I sure hope this blessed you.
Speaker 8: Redeem
in the.