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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.
Redeeming the game.
We did it all.
Hey, hey, hey.
Redeeming the game.
We in the game
Audio Only - All Participants: everybody
to the Redeeming the Game podcast.
I'm your host, Coach Matt Sanders,
and today, we are starting an
entirely new, segment, and this
one's gonna last a little bit.
and just to kinda tee it up a little
bit, I felt for a while that, I
run with three other basketball
missionaries, the guy on the screen,
Chris Morales, Joseph Lewis, and, Mr.
Philip Morrison.
And y- if you've been listening
or watching, you already know
that Phil and I have, jumped on
the podcast a couple of times.
what we are going to do going forward
is, I just felt like that Redeeming
the Game needed to, for lack of
a better phrase, kinda beef up,
the storyline of what we're doing.
And so you as listeners, you as people
who watch it, you can now kinda see
and hear what we're doing, and feel,
what I say when I talk about that
basketball is, is ministry, and that
we're sharing it with the masses.
And, these three guys do it
very differently in different
parts of the country.
And, so, today I'm joined by Mr.
Chris Morales from, from New Jersey.
Chris, I love you, I
appreciate you this morning.
Yes, sir.
I'm glad to jump on.
Glad to be on there, redeeming the game.
I feel like a superstar, man.
the interesting thing apar- about
that, I, again, I've said this 100
times, I didn't wanna do this, and
shout out Phillip, Coach Phillip
Morrison, for the, the hand in the back
to push up, push me into this, and,
it has, it, I have, I've gotten
some incredible feedback on how
it's blessing people's lives.
And, it blesses me every time.
And so, I say that to say this is episode
number 33, which is kind of- A baldhead
⦠kind of crazy that it's 33 episodes.
just, pushed my wife and my son out
the door to the first day of school.
so here, here's the,
here's, a title for today.
the, the title of the overall series
with myself and Chris and Phil and
Joseph is When the Game Isn't Enough.
That's the title of this series.
It's coming.
We're gonna have three or four weeks
of this, and then we're all four gonna
get on a Zoom podcast here, and we're
gonna just, we're just gonna go nuts.
And, I, I, that one I'm kind of, like,
high level anticipating, and yet somehow
the calendar's gotta work, 'cause we are
all, all of us are all over the place.
So, the next few weeks,
this is what I'm doing.
I'm gonna sit down with Joe, and, Phil and
C, and we're gonna talk about successes.
We're gonna talk about our identity.
We're gonna talk about beloved identity.
We're gonna talk about all that.
So, truth be told, one of the stories for
all of us is, and kind of the thumbnail
for this is what happens when basketball
isn't enough to tell you who you are, and
that's kind of where we're gonna go today.
And so, today's guest is a
prolific basketball trainer.
I would consider him one of the
best basketball trainers, one-on-one
or group settings, in the United
States, maybe even the world, and
he spent a ton of years doing that.
you guys kind of, if you watch him
on socials, you see the person, and
you hear the, the basketball lingo.
he gets the chance to really share
his heart on who he really is with the
game of basketball, not basketball,
telling him about who he is.
So, before we take off here,
I just wanna say thank you.
I love you.
I appreciate you this morning.
Amen.
I'm so happy to be on, man, and I'm
just so happy to be able to share,
like, what basketball really means
to me and- how God allows me to use
it as a tool to be able to minister,
man, which is, he allowed me to marry
business and ministry together, man.
So it's been a blessing,
especially these last couple years.
You know, as one Philip Morrison
says, we, you just out here, when you
talking about business and ministry,
you just out here casting nets, right?
Just- That's right.
just slinging nets.
That's right.
You know, that's all we're doing.
So, all right, so the title for
today's podcast is, Are We Simply
Building Better Basketball Players or
Are We Helping Develop Better People?
So, Mr.
Chris Morales, Coach C as we call you,
what made you fall in love with training
and developing basketball players?
Oh, man.
I remember- about 15 years ago, I got
into, skill development, through ministry.
when I started it as a ministry,
I remember running just open gyms
for adults, and then, God put it
on my heart to be able to, start
training kid, train, training kids.
And I remember I had absolutely
no idea what I was doing.
But, I was just coming up with drills
and, you know, stuff that I worked
on when I was in high school and
college and- Yeah ⦠but, I think
I fell in love with, I fell in love
with the, with the art of it, right?
Yeah.
Like the, the, the artâ¦
I felt like, like basketball
to me is an art, right?
Like the ball handling,
the footwork, theâ¦
I remember when I got my very
first internship and I walked
in, shout out to DJ Segman.
he brought me in as an intern, and I
remember just watching him teach and
going through the skill aspect of it,
like from like a one-on-one to a group
setting, and teaching the footwork,
teaching the ball handling- Wow
teaching reads, right?
Whether it be even to, you know, to pick
and roll reads and to all of that stuff
when it comes to the game, I literally,
It unlocked, like- I remember learning,
I remember learning that stuff from DJ,
and then I remember, me running to the
gym and just so that I could work on it.
Right?
Yeah.
And I would work on it, and I would
be in the gym and working on the
drills and working on a ton of stuff
and then, and then so that I could,
would be able to teach it, you know?
Yeah.
and it just, I fell in love with it.
So like the art, the creativity of
it, like- when you watch basketball,
it's such a, it's such a, a, a
beautiful sport that God had made.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
Yeah.
For sure.
So, that's why- I, I fell in love with the
skill aspect of it, the skill development.
And then I think, and the teaching
aspect of it, I think, being able
to, Like get better Mm-hmm Like that,
that just in itself right there, itâ¦
Being able to see certain kids like
that I had, in my brain get to, you
know, reach their goals, whether it
be, you know, making their high school
team or, you know, going to college.
All right.
When did you, when did you realize
it was something more, It wa- Let
me, let me see how I say this.
ma- when did you realize it was something
more than you, than you were just good at?
When did I realize it?
Yeah, when did you realize it was
just some- you were like, it, it,
the, you know, the light bulb goes
off and you're like, "Man, this isâ¦
I, I'm, I'm the, I'm not just good
at this, it's way more than that."
Oh, I, I think for me it was like,
'cause it, because God allowed me to
start it as a ministry, I always felt
like it was always something bigger.
but I think, I think it hit me, few
years ago when I got into, I got into
this athletics and outreach ministry.
I remember being able to
get my first gym, right?
and when I stepped in, They had
asked me, "Hey, listen, we have
an athletics and outreach program.
can we bring you in and you
do the skill aspect of stuff?"
Yeah.
"And then we have somebody just
to minister," and stuff like that.
And I remember being in the gym,
and I hadn't been a part of the
ministry outside of the ministry
I used to run at my old church.
There was, like, a huge
gap between the two.
I remember leaving the church long
time ago, you know, having to leave
the ministry, the, the, the ministry
that God allowed me to build.
Yeah.
And then I got into business, and then
when I came back to it, I was like,
man, like, remember coming back in
and just having that feeling of like,
oh my gosh, like, this is definitely
more than basketball, you know?
'Cause, like, I'm there teaching- Mm-hmm
⦠and, you know, being able to hear the
devotion and certain kids, like, share.
Mm.
And then them coming up to me
and asking me, like, "Hey, howâ¦
You know, I didn't know
you was a Christian.
I didn't know that youâ¦"
You know what I'm saying?
Like, you were- Yeah.
Yeah.
For sure ⦠and being able to,
being able to share with them.
I remember being put on the spot, man.
I remember, pastor was like, "Hey,
listen, I w- can you do me a favor?
Our speaker, our speaker didn't show up."
And then it was like, "Can you
share, can you share your testimony?"
And I'm like, "No."
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
You know, 'cause like- No ⦠you know,
you fighting and I'm like, "No," but- Yeah
⦠I'm like, "All right, I'll do it."
And because I just felt,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, I felt, at the time I felt like a
little, like a bit disconnected, right?
But God was like, "It doesn't matter."
Yeah ⦠th- this is where you're
supposed to be, and being able- Yeah
to share my testimony.
And then from then on, I'm like,
man, I really need to start
sharing my faith a lot more.
Like, through the game.
it's not just basketball content.
It's, like, who God really made me to be
with- to use that for ⦠I get that, and
I want to, so I wanna transition, Okay.
I wanna transition,
because this is important.
I think for people to know you who
listen to the podcast need to know you,
you got your start and you trained some
big time NBA guys, you trained some
big time college guys, and you trained
some, let's call it middle school kids.
And so, what did you believe your
purpose was when you first started?
my purpose, in the beginning,
was, like, man, I wanna be the
best skills trainer out there.
It was just business for me, you know?
I, I'm like, man, I need to getâ¦
And it's not that God didn't allow me.
God put me in a lot of rooms that
I never thought that I would be in.
He put me on a lot of- Tell us
some about a couple of those rooms
that he put you in that, that you
weren't- he kinda shocked you.
I think the, the very first one
was, I got a phone call from DJ.
DJ called me and was like, "Listen, I am,
I'm headed out of the country for a camp."
and he was like, "I need, do you
wanna do your first pro workout?"
And I was like, Yeah.
"Absolutely."
And he goes, well, I was
like, "If you don't mind me
asking," I'm like, "Who is it?"
And he was like, "Melo."
And I was like, "Hold up, like, LaMelo?
LaMelo Ball?"
He was like, "No, no, no, Carmelo.
Like, Carmelo Anthony."
And I was like, "Absolutely."
I remember coming into that workout,
the lead trainer was Alex Bazell.
shout out to Alex, man.
Very, very good trainer.
and we were at the MBPA.
I remember walking in at, at first and
being like, "This is, like, surreal."
Like, I can'tâ¦
Like, I can't believe that I'm here.
Wow.
You know?
I, I walked into the gym, and he
was in the middle of, like, he
was shooting around a little bit.
He was shooting his free throws, and I
remember coming in, putting my sneakers
on, and just, like, I didn't, I, I
didn't even make eye contact with him.
I just walked onto the court.
I walked onto the court, and I was
like, I just looked at the rim.
I was looking at the ball go
into the rim, and I was likeâ¦
I was so nervous.
So I was grabbing the rebounds and
giving them, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh."
And I remember he hit his last free throw,
and we were about to get into the workout.
And Melo walks up to me and
he's like, "What's up, man?"
And I was likeâ¦
I'm like, "How are you?"
Like, and he's like, "What's your name?"
And I'm like, "My name's Chris."
And he just, you know, he gave me five,
and I was like, I'm like, "Wow," you know?
And then that workout was
crazy because this is when
Melo just signed with Portland.
Oh, okay.
it was that year of like, that they
call it like the Hoodie Melo, that
whole season with that whole- Yeah
he didn't get signed, and then by the
trade deadline they ended up signing him.
I remember they took a little bit
of time off, and before he signed,
he needed about like a week or so
to get back into the flow of things.
and when he got into that gym, we
actually did a double session with him.
Oh, okay.
So we did a double session.
crazy story, I got to play two on two.
I got to play against him.
Oh, what a dream.
So, I- Okay.
All right, so that's, that is a-
Yeah ⦠what a perfect segue into the
next segment, because I think that when
people hear that, like it's super easy
to, you know, hear the glitz, the glamour,
the pop, the excitement over, I mean,
this, one of the greatest, New York
Knickerbockers to ever play the game.
he is the greatest Olympian
to ever play basketball.
Yeah, for real.
you know, Carmelo Anthony is, isâ¦
I mean, his name's gonna be
in the Hall of Fame, right?
Yeah.
And you train him.
All right, so here, here's the, here's the
next, and this is the powerful question.
What do you think, what do you
know, what do you see underneath the
surface that most people miss when
you've trained all these people?
Ah.
Repeat that question again.
I need to- what do you see underneath all
the things that you've done with these
coaches that's underneath the surface
that most people would miss if they just
walked in the gym and watched you train?
What do most people miss?
I mean, everybody gets likeâ¦
First of all, everybody gets
caught up by the light, you
know, like by the person, right?
By who we train.
But like I remember coming in and, and
Melo, it was a side conversation with
him, just being able to sit down with
him at, like in between, and us having
a conversation and just talking about
family, talking about a lot of stuff with
him, and it was pretty cool, you know?
But I think a lot of these trainers miss,
what goes into the workouts, I believe.
Okay.
You know, everybody wants to be on the
court with the best of them, right?
Yeah.
But it's something that when you
come in, it's a lot of work and
it's a lot of listening, right?
Because it's not just what you want them
to do, it's also what they feel like.
Yeah.
Just sitting down, having a
conversation with him, like he's
one of the best in the league.
Yeah.
Right?
He's top- Yeah ⦠like, like he's
a bonafide Hall of Famer, bro.
So.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, sometimes, A, listen, himâ¦
I remember, Alex, Alex is such a fantastic
trainer because I remember him, like,
asking Melo, "Hey, listen," going through
the offense, the Portland offense.
He's like, "What do you see?
Like, what do you, what do you
feel like we should work on?
What do you wanna touch on?
Yeah, yeah.
so butâ¦
And then, and just listening to
him, listening to what he wants
to do, how he wanted to do it, and
then just following not just, the
structure that, that Alex put down
or the workout that Alex put down.
Okay, so now, now let- let's, let's
move away from the big names, and
let's, let's couple, let's, let's
marry, a few questions here into one.
let's talk about, young players-
Mm ⦠their parents, and pressure.
So what do most players struggle
with the most that comes with
pressure and their families- Oh
that you've seen, that maybe is underneath
what, what most people don't get to
see, you know, when the kid goes and
plays on Friday night or in college?
You know what I mean?
Man, bro, they, they just lack,
they lack a lot of confidence.
Iâ¦
Man, listen, man, I, I, I've been in
this game for a while, and I've seen,
especially with parents and kids.
I've seen a parent and a kid
relationship just destroyed
because of the game of basketball.
Like, destroyed Because of how maybe
the father would maybe trying to be
living through their son, because
things- didn't work out for them
when they were younger, you know?
And now it's likeâ¦
But, like, sometimes I had to
be in workouts, man, and tell
certain parents to leave the gym.
Because, one, it's a kid looking for
validation from his father, and- so the
amount of pressure that, forget that
they get from the team or their coaches.
I've seen a lot of parents put
a ton of pressure on their kids.
especially like, after games, instead
of letting the child, decompress
and, just let them sit and relax
regardless if he had a good
game or bad game, right?
Like, if he had a bad game, just let
him decompress And it's constantly
telling him, like, "Yo, you did this.
Yo, you did that.
Man, you did this," you know?
And I, I've seen a lot of parents
just, like, really, really pa-
that parent-uh, child relationship
really be destroyed, man.
And that, that, it, it,
it's, that bothers me a lot.
It b- Okay, so, so, because you and I
have had this offline, and for all those
who are, who are listening, the, the
Unholy Trinity, and, and it leadsâ¦
There's this, this trinity of the,
you know, guilt, shame, and fear.
How much of what did you j- what
you just said about that kid, and
even the parent, is built around
the fear of not being good enough?
Oh my God, yeah.
I mean, it's b- it's, it's constant.
Like, I have one, I have somebody,
I'm not gonna obviously mention
names, but I have, I have a few
kids, matter of fact, not just one.
I have a few kids that it's like they
come to workouts, but our workouts
are, are based around, like, me
trying to just speak life into them.
Yeah.
I'm not even lying to you.
Yeah, come on.
They're just like- Yeah ⦠they're,
they're on the court, like,
during a workout, and I'd be
like, "Man, that, hey, that was a
solid read," or, "That was aâ¦"
And they was like, they would walk up
to me and be like, "No, it was trash.
I gotta do better."
Like, "My, my handle is slow.
Myâ¦"
And I'm like, "Do you, like, do you
think anything that you do is good?"
And they're like, "No, like I
just need to, I need to do better.
Like I need- it's not enough.
It's not enough."
And then, you know, I have some that
have coaches that are a bit, a bit hard.
Not like, not hard.
Listen, e- I'm not, I'm not all, like
I've had hard coaches in my life.
But just by the way that they speak into
these kids and what they say, right?
you know- Mm-hmm
Man, these kids walk around
and they're, they, they just
feel like they're not enough.
That they're, they feel like they're
not enough on this basketball court,
and I gotta sit down and literally
have conversations with them, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like- Yeah, for sure ⦠I, I
always say this, man, as a coach.
As a coach, you're, you're
more than a coach, right?
Absolutely, yeah.
You're more- Yeah.
You're, you're, you're
really everything, right?
You're the bus driver.
Yeah.
You're the, you're the ride home.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're the dad.
You're the Uber.
You're the, you're the dad.
So you're, you're having those
conversations with them, and I've had
a ton of conversations, you know, with
a lot of kids, especially the kids
that I'm really, really close to them
and their parents, where they feel-
comfortable enough to be able to
shoot me a text message or call me,
like, "Coach," like, "I'm struggling."
Like- Yeah ⦠you know, "What
do I do in this situation?"
You know?
And I think, and I think that that is,
that is the quintessential reason that
this podcast exists, on a, on a grand
level, when it comes to people hearing the
story that, that we're about to unfold.
That's the most important part of
this podcast today, and that is
that your role is so much greater.
This is that part of that question
of what's underneath, right?
what people don't see
that you minister to.
So in Luke 3:22, where Jesus hears
that "You're, you are my beloved
Son, and with you I am well pleased."
Mm-hmm.
What has happened in your life, as I'm
building this up to where you can jump
off and just tell us everything that there
is about what ministry has done for you.
Jesus, before the miracles, before
the crowds, before all the things,
a lot like you, before all of
that, before what everybody sees,
this is what he hears, you know?
Yeah.
And the message is that you're teaching
these kids is before you did all
that, this is how God feels about you.
Yeah.
that happens is something happened to you.
And so, you know, you built an
enormous amount of relationships
over the time, right?
You've built, lasting relationships with
kids and parents and players, right?
how do you, how do you, tell the
coaches who are watching and listening-
Your story in a nutshell and, and
how that plays into you pushing
these kids into their identity.
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
Audio Only - All Participants:
Like, one, I, I didn't have
great coaches growing up at all.
I, man, I played football,
right, when I was a kid.
From my coaches in football to my coaches
in basketball, I was always told that,
I've always told that, like, man, like,
you know, "Oh, what's your dream?"
"Well, I wanna go to college and play."
"Man, you're not, you're
not good enough to do that.
You're not, you know, you're not,
you know, you're not builtâ¦
You're, you're too small.
You know, you're, you're,
you're, you're too skinny.
You're notâ¦"
You know, that's been-
my whole, my whole life.
All right, my whole life has been-
having to walk into a gym and earn
a spot or, bust my butt just so
the coach would be like, "Hey, man.
Good job."
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying, right?
Yeah, yeah.
but I never had really anybody as
a coach, on the basketball court,
really speak into my life like
that and tell me, like, "Hey, man.
You're good.
You're all right."
Like, "Hey, you're really good at it."
Like, point out the stuff
that I was re- Come on.
'Cause I just felt like, man, I'm notâ¦
I'm, I gotta getâ¦
Like, kinda felt like one of my players.
Like, I was in that same boat of
like, man, I'm not good enough.
You know?
I gotta be better.
I wanna be the opposite of that.
I wanna be able to speak
life into these kids.
Be able to impact these kids, and let
them know like, you are good enough."
to be able to, to be that impact to
them because I just didn't have that.
I didn't have that growing up.
I didn't have anybody like that on
the, on the sports end to really be
speaking into me like that, you know?
So, so because we talk about a lot,
we talked about this a lot on the
Redeeming the Game podcast, but
beloved, righteous, and redeemed.
So how did beloved identity shift
your, your whole, life as a trainer
into this place where, whereâ¦
I mean, 'cause what you just said
is, is literally you're, you're
speaking life over those kids,
teaching them how beloved they are
with what they do and how they do it.
So, like, give me, give me a three-minute
version of, of what happened.
and now, let's couple it together.
What happened to you, and then what
does that look like as a trainer?
And in a workout.
Wow.
Okay.
For me, beloved identity, man, Really
allowed me to understand my worth
and how, you know, one of how worthy
I am because of what, not because I
earned anything, but it's just because
of, you know, what Jesus did, right?
What he did- Yeah ⦠on
the cross for us, right?
But not just what he did on the cross,
'cause it just doesn't stop there, right?
He- Come on ⦠continues to, to
love me day in and day out, and
remind me of how much he loves
me day in and day out, right?
Even when I, sometimes when I don't feel
it, but he just figures out some way or
somehow to show me how much I'm loved.
Yeah ⦠you know, just to share a little
bit of what happened to me last year, out
in Canada, being able to be, you know,
in the room with you and Phil, having a
conversation, you know, midweek, right
after, like, an eight-hour day at camp.
Yeah.
Right?
and you just telling me, that
I was worthy, and I was like,
"Well, I, I know that I'm worthy."
And you're just like, "No, man.
You, you, y- you have to understand
how much you're loved and how much,
how, how worthy you are of that love."
I think I, for me, I carry that a lot
because of constantly having to earn,
spots on the court or earn somebody's
attention or earn somebody, you know?
Yeah.
and, and then you bring that into, you
know, subconsciously kind of bring that
into your relationship with God where it's
just like, "God, look at me, look at me.
Like, look what I'm doing."
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
Where God was like, "Man, I still love you
even if you check the list off or not."
You know?
Come on.
Oh ⦠hit me in my heart.
Once I started to understand and hear,
you know, Yeah ⦠I was like, all right.
So taking that- So what- Yeah.
so what was the other one was as
a- So take, how, how does that
play into to training and- Yeah.
So for me, as a trainer, being with
the kids is, letting them know, one,
how loved they are by God, right?
That's, you know, I always
wanna show that love.
But- Come on ⦠just showing
them just love in general, right?
Yeah.
and speaking life into them where not
a lot of people, especially on, you
know, 'cause, you know, you get a lot
of kids that jump around from team
to team and they're, and not, they
don't hear enough of that they're,
amen, that you're good enough.
my conversations with these kids or
the things that we talk about is, is
everything for them is basketball.
Like, you gotta- Yeah ⦠live in the gym.
You gotta, you know, you
know, ball is life, right?
We talk about that all the time.
Ball is life, right?
Like, Mamba mentality, but- The
one thing I ask about the kids is
like, I ask the kids all the time
is like, "How do you disconnect?
How do you, how do you takeâ¦
Do you ever take some time
off away from basketball?"
yeah.
Right?
For sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
You know, how do you disconnect from that?
So- Yeah ⦠and, and a lot of them, I'm
gonna be honest with you, man, not a lot
of them know how to answer that question.
Like, "What do you mean disconnect?"
Like, what do you mean?
Like, I gotta- Like, what
do you mean take a day off?
Like, y- yeah.
Like, yeah, like take a day.
Yeah.
And, and, and don't
even think about whoâ¦
Go do something thatâ¦
Go, go do something that doesn't
ha- have to do with basketball,
that, that makes you, that makes
you happy, that makes youâ¦
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Come on ⦠so, but and then for, like
in the training session, I am, I am
constantly, whether I gotta, I speak
a lot of life into kids- Yeah ⦠or I
try to speak a lot of life into kids,
and even if I gotta critique, right?
Or- Yeah ⦠I gotta, you know,
give some, some type of criticism
or a change, that is in love, too.
Come on.
Right?
It's, it's in a sense of like, yo
man, though, and especially those that
are, espe- the ones that are close to
me, I could be, I could be a little
hard, but I'm always following it up.
Like, man, you know I love you, right?
Like, I'm not just telling you
because, like, I'm being a jerk,
but I'm telling you because
this needs to get better, right?
especially now, man, and I try to
do everything in that love, right?
I try to look at it through
the lens of Jesus, right?
And how he would look at things, right?
And- That's so good ⦠and
that's tough, right?
But, and it's constantly asking God,
let me see things the way you see it.
Yeah.
Let me see things the way you see it.
Yeah.
And that's not just, that's in, in, in-
Everything ⦠all aspects of my life.
Yeah.
For sure.
For sure.
in all aspects of my life.
But e- especially on the court,
is let me, let me see, let me
see things through your lens.
Well, and I think, I think that the
powerful part about this, and, and,
in my notes here, 2 Corinthians
5:21, that He who knew sin, who knew
no sin became sin for us, right?
And what that does for somebody like
you who's with kids all the time
is it, it, it, it allows you to say
this to them, that that means y- your
failures don't get the final word.
That's right.
Right?
That's right.
Your mistakes don't define you.
Your performance doesn't
provide the value.
you, you are, you are blessed, you're
loved, and you doing that is the most
instrumental part in their lives.
And I would say that what you're doing now
with, with the love of God being so shed
abroad in your heart with those kids is,
I mean, utterly it's incredible, right?
Like, it, they're going to see and hear
things they never heard before, and I say
this all the time, C, Truthfully, when
we as coaches and trainers own the origin
story of the game- That's right ⦠we
are the world, we are world-class at
telling that story and saying to kids,
"Do you know why it was designed?
This is why you love it, because
he first loved it, right?
And he first loved you."
It's kinda like, boom, their, you know,
their, their heads pop off their body.
And I think it's so important for all the
coaches and the trainers to hear that.
Like, o- owning that story and knowing who
you are allows you to say things to kids
that you would never normally say, because
one, you're being led by the Spirit, and
two, it's the truth about basketball,
and I think that's so important.
your kids don't just get better.
They grow.
They don't just, get better at basketball.
They grow into, what Dr.
Naismith dreamed of, which their
character is, like Christ, right?
you win men for the master,
Jesus, through the gym.
I'm going back to Mello's story, something
that hit me in my head, the one thing
he said was That he didn't get signed
in the beginning of the season, and it
bothered him, so he had to disconnect.
Because He bust his butt that whole
summer, and then when he didn't get signed
at the beginning of the season, like,
he was like, "Man, I, I, I literallyâ¦
I've been busting my butt.
I, I need to take some, I
need to take some time off."
And then when he took the time off is
when everything came about within that.
I think it might've took, like, a little
bit, I think it was, like, like, almost,
like, a month or something like that.
But he re- I remember him, like, and
then getting signed, that's why he,
that's why he was like, "Hey, listen,
I don't wanna go straight to the team.
Just give me a week to get ready," right?
But- Yeah, yeah.
Right?
So good.
I think about that, like,
having to disconnect, right?
Yeah.
That's powerful.
Yeah.
That's really powerful ⦠that
just hit me, man.
Okay, and so, all right, this
is a great way to close this.
Mm-hmm.
So, this message is important
because you're kinda sticking
with it, so let's stay here.
is this the message, if you're standing
in front of coaches, trainers, and
parents, is this the message that
you would tell them, to, w- with
their kids standing in front of them?
Yeah, because I, I, I b- I'm not
gonna lie, I've had a, a lot of
conversation with a lot of kids in
a sense of, like, I had one kid that
came back that played, that played
in OTE, in, that overtime, right?
So when he flew- back, he was home
for the Christmas break and we were in
the gym and- he asked me, I was like,
"Man, how is being down in Atlanta?"
like, he's like, "It's cool.
I love it, you know?"
And I was like, "What's the typical day?"
He's like, "I'm in the gym for a
one-on-one at 6:00 in the morning,
and then I'm in the weight room.
Then after the weight room, I'm, I'm in
the film room, and then after the film
room, I'm back at the gym, for team-
Goodness gracious ⦠for team training.
And then after the team training,
I'm getting either extra work with
my, you know, with my coach, or
I'm getting, I'm putting up a ton
of shots, and that's Every day.
And then my question to him was like,
"How do you, how do you disconnect?"
My goodness.
And he was like, I don't.
And you know what's wild is, is he went
to, he put his arm up to scratch his
arm, and he said, said, "In God I trust."
So I'm like- Hm ⦠and I'm
like, you know, and that's
what I mean by disconnect.
Because that gives me an
opportunity to be able to be like-
Yeah ⦠this is my disconnect.
Yeah, come on.
Right?
My- Yeah, come on ⦠disconnect
is like I'm- Yeah ⦠I'm
constantly, I'm in prayer.
I'm, I'll be, you know, I'm in the
word or I'm, you know, I be, you know,
it's, it's, it's, it's connecting with
my, it's connecting with my Father.
That's so good.
you know?
Yeah, and I, I think, I think, I think
that's important for coaches, and
trainers, and parents to hear, that
God, God said on, on the seventh day
to rest, and that is in everything.
That, that's not just work.
Yeah.
That's find, find a day of complete rest.
I remember when I was a young boy,
my dad got ridiculed for this.
We would play golf
after church on Sundays.
And just get ripped for it.
Like, people were like,
"Well, that's not rest."
And I remember my dad standing up behind
the pulpit and saying, "Don't you define
rest for me as God defines rest for me.
When I'm with my kids on the
golf course, I'm not thinking
about the world's problems.
I'm not thinking about pastoring.
I am resting with them."
And rest looks different for
everybody, and I think that is such
a powerful point that we often miss.
You're making me think about days
where I've had a chance to rest
and don't turn the switch off.
So Chris, thank you so much.
I really, really appreciate
you being on the podcast today.
there are so many people who are
gonna listen to this, to be so
touched by what God's done in
your life and hearing your story.
Yeah, man.
I'm thankful.
Thank you for having me on, man.
I'm, I hope, man, if this touches
one person, man, I'm- It's enough
So coaches, if, if, if this has
touched you today, if, if any part
of this is, has really resonated in
your heart, I want you to jump in the
show notes and grab the 10 things I
wish I knew as a young head coach.
And again, I say this every week, if
there's something in there, when you
open that up, I want you to email me
and say, "Hey, this stood out to me.
And I really want to connect
with you, coach, parent, person,
whoever hears this or sees this.
That means a ton to me.
and especially, the things that God
really taught me through those 10 things.
and lastly, again, I just wanna say
thank you for all you who click the
subscribe button and you share it.
I appreciate it so much.
More people need to hear this.
And as we say, each and every single
week on this show, we are redeeming
this game- Yes ⦠one coach, one
family, and one player at a time.
I hope this blessed you.
See you next week