What if the game is doing more than just developing players?
In this episode of Redeeming the Game, I sit down with two of my former players to reflect on their journey—from who they were when I first met them to who they are becoming today.
We talk about when basketball became more than just competition, the challenges and growth they experienced along the way, and how God used the game to shape their identity, discipline, and faith.
This is an honest conversation about transformation how the game can expose, refine, and ultimately point us toward something deeper.
For coaches, trainers, and players alike, this episode is a reminder: Basketball is a tool.
And in the right hands, it can be used for far more than performance.

If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first.

I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.”

No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning.

If you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for free below.

👇 Free download linked below 👇

www.redeemingthegame.com/10things

matt@redeemingthegame.com

If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first.

I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.”

No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning.

If you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for free below.

👇 Free download linked below 👇

www.redeemingthegame.com/10things

matt@redeemingthegame.com

The lies we believed about coaching.

Today’s episode is a little different.
I’m sitting down with two guys who not only train at a high level…
but have also been completely transformed in how they see coaching, identity, and the game itself.

And today we’re talking about this:
What’s the lie we believed about coaching… and what happens when that gets exposed?
The game was never meant to define you.
And the moment that lie starts to break…
everything about how you coach begins to change.

This is what it looks like to start redeeming the game.

If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first.
I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.”
No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning.
If you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for free below.
👇 Free download linked below 👇
www.redeemingthegame.com/10things

matt@redeemingthegame.com

Most players don’t need more drills.

They need something deeper. We default to skill development.
Shooting reps. Ball handling. Conditioning.
But we often neglect the foundation underneath it all.
And when players struggle, it’s rarely because they don’t know enough.
Every player needs three things:
1. Stability
📖 Hebrews 13:8
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Players thrive when their coach is steady.
If your mood rises and falls with the scoreboard, your team feels unsafe.
Beloved coaches are anchored.
2. Truth 📖 Ephesians 4:15 “Speaking the truth in love.”
Truth without love humiliates. Love without truth weakens.
Growth happens where honesty and care coexist.
3. Belief Jesus called fishermen “fishers of men.”
He saw beyond current performance.
Beloved identity means you see players not just as they are but as they’re becoming.

If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first.

I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.”

No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning.

If you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for free below.

👇 Free download linked below 👇

www.redeemingthegame.com/10things

matt@redeemingthegame.com

Somewhere along the way, many coaches learned to carry everything quietly.
The pressure. The expectations.The weight of leadership.
But carrying it alone was never part of the calling.
Coaching trains you to be strong for others.
But strength, when isolated, eventually becomes heavy.
Beloved identity reminds us
that we are sons and daughters before we are leaders.
And beloved sons and daughters were never designed to walk alone.
I’ve learned that isolation doesn’t mean absence of people it means absence of shared formation.

If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first.
I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.”
No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning.
If you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for free below.

👇 Free download linked below 👇
www.redeemingthegame.com/10things

As a coach, you’re expected to be strong. Confident. Certain.
There aren’t many places where uncertainty feels safe.
Over time, isolation doesn’t come from distance —
it comes from carrying things alone.
Loneliness isn’t a leadership failure.
It’s a signal —a reminder that formation happens in community.
Secure leaders don’t hide their humanity. They steward it.
Beloved identity reminds us that we were never designed to lead in isolation.
Strength is not independence.
Strength is knowing where you can be honest.
If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first.
I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.”
No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning.
If you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for free below.

👇 Free download linked below 👇
www.redeemingthegame.com/10things

No coach ever plans to neglect their family.
It doesn’t happen in one decision —it happens in small compromises
that slowly become normal. I told myself it was temporary.Just this season.
Just this push.But seasons stack.
And what we don’t protect eventually pays the price.
You are a beloved son or daughter before you are a coach.
And your family does not exist to support your calling —
they are part of it.

If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first.
I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.”
No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning.
if you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for free below.

👇 Free download linked below 👇
www.redeemingthegame.com/10things

Somewhere along the way, availability became the standard for care.
If you weren’t answering every call, every text, every late-night concern —it felt like you weren’t doing enough.
But constant availability has a cost. I believed being available made me a better coach.
And for a while, it did. But slowly, availability turned into expectation, and expectation turned into exhaustion.
I didn’t lose my passion —I lost my margin.