"God answers my prayers everywhere except on the golf-course."
Coaching as Discipleship
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Exploring the values and practices of principle-based coaching in the game of football, Steven D Wright, DMin, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2009
The research involved the identification to the two primary (American) football coaching philosophies – principle and performance based. Much of the thesis concerns how the values of “principle-based” coaches relate to Christ’s teaching. The priority of the thesis is to focus Christian football coaches on values and practices that reflect the character and leadership of Christ.
The research methods were questionnaires, interviews of coaches, seminars and evaluation of seminars.
The author argues that the philosophy a coach adopted revealed the value he placed upon winning as opposed to a more long term impact on the lives of people.
He states “Those that prioritise winning typically hold to a performance-oriented philosophy, while those who hold to a belief system that values more than winning adopt a principle-based philosophy”.
Among the coaches surveyed, he found a “biblically-based group” who “expressed a desire to use the game of football to convey biblical truth. Their priority as coaches was on demonstrating Christ while teaching biblical principles through the athletic experience”.
The research identified a disconnect between what Christian coaches believed and how they coaches. Six reasons for the disconnect were suggested:
1 The culture’s overvaluation of performance.
2 A lack of Scriptural knowledge.
3 A failure to apply biblical truth to the athletic experience.
4 Their concern for remaining politically correct.
5 The history of the individual coach and their experience as both a player and coach.
6 The lack of biblically oriented coaching examples.
Two of the conclusions are that “The need exists within the Christian coaching community for a biblical model of Coaching” and “The research also showed that for coaching behavior to change, patterns of need to be addressed. The initial step is to offer a set of biblical values and practices that provide the theological framework for long-term change”.