The Faith-Based Coaches Advocacy Group distributes a monthly newsletter to keep its members up to date on news, deadlines and other association happenings. The newsletter also serves to let members know what the group is working on, highlighting group members and information on how you can get involved. Below is a letter from group chair Mike Lynch. To read the full newsletter, click here.
Fall is fully present meaning cooling temps, colorful (dropping) leaves, school papers/ exams and for many in this group, lots of soccer! We normally think of spring bringing in the new, but with the academic calendar dominating most of our attentions, it marks the beginning of a new year, too! And as Faith-Based Coaches, this is a great time of year to renew our commitment to both the point and purpose of sport, especially sport properly directed, ie, participating in a sporting and ethical way. Sporting behavior should have no “On Season” or “Off Season”; no situations where it is more or less appropriate. “Sportsmanship Always” is an every day, every game mantra worth adopting in all coaches but especially pertinent to faith-based coached teams in full pursuit of BOTH the point AND purpose of sport, the field where truly elite individual and team peak performance exists. None of us are perfect, but we should all strive to lead by positive example of what good sportsmanship looks like (appropriate language, fair play, the spirit as well as the words of our LOTG, etc).“Soccer Unites Us”, the first of seven cornerstone philosophy statements in the United Soccer Coaches Commitment to Culture, couldn’t be more true and more needed today than when they were launched just three years ago in 2018. Soccer remains our unrelenting passion. Coaching is our chosen profession. Soccer Coaching is thus, our aligning, uniting principle. United Soccer Coaches will continue to flourish under this unity.I invite you to check out our group’s thought provoking and inspirational Iron Chats program. Thank you to fellow Faith-Based Coaches Andy Scott and Patrick Gilliam for their leadership and persistence to make Iron Chats a valuable monthly time to share ideas. I also want to recognize fellow Faith-Based Coaches John Orosco, Lang Wedemeyer, and Marcus Wood who I believe have participated in all the chats to date. Well done coaches!All the best in everyone’s remaining fall season. Play hard, but fair and sportsmanship always … Lead the Way! |
Mike Lynch