Dr Max Engel
Episode 295
23 SEP 2024
He has a long résumé in sports as an athlete, coach, and educator. After being a varsity soccer captain and varsity basketball captain in high school, he went on to compete in rowing at Boston College. Next, he became a boys basketball coach at St. Jude High School in Montgomery, Alabama, and then a girls basketball coach at Mercy High School in Omaha, Nebraska, and now for the last ten years he has been youth soccer and basketball coach at St. Pius X / St. Leo School. He is a life-long bicyclist and from 2007-2013 was a recreational triathlete. Two years ago, he co-authored a book called, “On the Eighth Day: A Catholic Theology of Sport,” and teaches in the Theology department at Creighton University.
Notable guest quotes:
“My parents were both Catholic-educated, and my father had studied for the priesthood, and so he had discerned out as a young man, but it was a key part of his life from then to this day. So the Catholic faith was a big part of our household.”
“When we would travel, we would always make sure that we would find a place to go to Mass, because that was part of our family tradition. That was part of what made our family who we were.”
“We pray as a family, before meals, we pray liturgy together, we attend Mass. Unfortunately, with our schedules a little bit today as my kids have gotten older, sports being a big part of that, sometimes Father will tease us, like he saw one of my daughters the other night before, saw two of my sons at the 7:30, and my wife and I, and my other daughter will be at the 9:30, that kind of thing. But it’s part of our life.”
“My interest in cycling started when I was cycling with my dad … we would do some … triathlons … It was a really important way to connect with my dad as I became a man, was just becoming a father.”
“Sports bring families together in meaningful ways, and that certainly is true for my family.”
“Boston College and the Jesuits and the education that I received there really opened those doors with a sacramental worldview, seeing that sports very much can be part of a life of faith, that I can encounter God through the community of sports, or I can encounter God through those moments of transcendence that made me say, wow.”
“As a 18, 19, 20, 22 year old undergrad who encountered the gospels, I encountered the Old Testament as a story of God encountering God’s people, God encountering me and how I could find myself within those narratives.”
“I could really explore my own faith as I was helping young men and women – the high school students that I had the privilege of teaching – helping them sort of have that same encounter with the scriptures, encounter with the stories, encounter with the God who loves them through all things, including sports.”
“It’s the camaraderie or those moments that just defy explanation, you know the transcendent, and then boom, okay, let’s talk camaraderie, let’s talk about love of others, let’s talk about God as love and the Trinity as community. And suddenly we’re talking theology; that any experience of authentic love, which often, you know, teams at their best always have, is an experience of God’s love for us.”
“The soccer club or the basketball program, it’s an apostolate of the Catholic church. It’s, the uniform says St. Pius St. Leo, like, what are we doing? You know, we have to be different because we’re rooted in the gospel.”
Related links:
(Use code 8day30 for 30% off) “On the Eighth Day: A Catholic Theology of Sport”
