Episodes

Mike Hoendorf

He has been coaching and working within the game of baseball for over 20 years and has been working in Catholic ministry for over ten years. He has previously spent time coaching at every level of baseball from youth to NCAA Division 1 baseball. During his coaching career he has spent time on the University of Dayton baseball staff, where he helped lead them to their first ever A10 Championship. He coached at the high school level, helping to lead two programs to their first league championships, and helped many players move on to the next level, including 2024 8th Round draft pick of the San Diego Padres, Nick Wissman. On the faith side, he is Director of Strategic Development and Midwest Sports Missionary for Catholic Athletes for Christ.

Notable guest quotes:

“I grew up in a house where my mom was very faithful. I remember many times saying, ‘Mom, why do we gotta bring faith into everything we do?’ Now I’m a sports missionary that says, ‘Yeah, faith is a part of everything we do, including athletics’.”

“Once I got to high school I made the baseball team, had more opportunities in that sport, and as I played it more and more – and my dad was a college baseball player, so baseball was also an important part.”

“It just kind of was a runaway freight train of being involved in the game of baseball and then growing to love how much it was a tool to grow as a person as well as a great game.”

“I also realized very quickly I did not want to coach at the college level because I did know I wanted to have a family and have kids down the line. I attended our – the head baseball coach at U. of D(ayton) – the year I was on staff, I attended more of his son’s baseball games than he did.”

“We intentionally did a preseason baseball retreat where we would spend a half a day in prayer and fellowship and talking about what we wanted to do to integrate our faith, having an alumni come in and give their testimony from a faith perspective.”

“I was like, all right, I’ll do another Marian consecration… I’ve had success with those, I’ll do another one, and … I’m gonna do one that where it’s gonna end on Our Lady of Lourdes feast day, and so that’s how I’ll prepare and if at the end of this consecration I feel called to go to Lourdes at that point I’ll go.”

“I got sent to a sports missionary conference that was being hosted down at the seminary in Cincinnati and that was my first introduction to, that there was this whole world and there were these organizations that did this type of work.”

“After the dinner they have time to be in fellowship if they’re staying in the dorms and all of a sudden, they were doing prayer and some meditation stuff together. All of a sudden, the walls started to break down.”

“We’re actually going to introduce adoration and confession as a part of the Friday night… All the teams that stay there, on Saturday morning we have Mass together, and so just all these different pieces where we are intentionally integrating athletics with faith opportunities that hopefully help these kids really start to put their lives in perspective and put their faith as a key piece to what they’re doing.”

Related link:

Mike’s bio (Catholic Baseball Showcase)

(This episode contains a prayer from the National Catholic Coaches Association’s “The Leadership Papers,” although originally credited in there to The Coach’s Bible.)

Noah Kararo

He currently plays for the ChiCity Orioles, as part of the Chicago Premier Baseball League. He is also Director of Baseball Operations for the Illinois Hawks, having previously served as their Director of Youth Development and having coached at multiple age levels within the Hawks organization. A former middle infielder, he played five varsity seasons at the University of St. Francis, appearing in 193 games with an on-base percentage of .346 in his career with the Fighting Saints. Prior to that he had been a student-athlete playing high school ball for Crossroads Christian Academy.

Notable guest quotes:

“Our faith life continued to grow and strengthen, especially with prayer throughout the day. So those are some of the hallmarks of my childhood faith journey.”

“The Mass was something earlier in my life that was more an obligation rather than something done out of love. As I grew older and my parents grew deeper into the faith that is something that we have held very, very dear to us on a week-to-week basis, even amongst the busyness of life… And even now that I’m in my working career, trying to make an attempt to make a daily Mass as much as I can, it’s been extremely important.”

“I started at Holy Angels Catholic School in Aurora from kindergarten through third grade.”

“While I did play other sports, I played a couple seasons of soccer. I played basketball up until I was a freshman in high school. I was best at baseball, and it really stole my heart. So, I ran with it and never looked back.”

“It was a big goal of mine to achieve an athletic scholarship in college. I was very much an undersized player. So, I didn’t have as many options on the table as some of my peers. Being a Catholic, having a Catholic institution at the center of my education was important, and just those combination of factors – the smaller school size, just to make sure that it was a fit for me athletically and then making sure that faith was somewhat of a presence – yeah, really led me to really considering those smaller Catholic universities.”

“I couldn’t see the path forward, didn’t know what the next step was going to hold, but it was just putting my head down, continuing to control what I could control, putting in the work day in and day out. And yeah, leaving the outcome up to God.”

“The way I live, my faith is not very loud, it’s often by example. So, people will see me praying before games or in the car, before or after something is going on, and just the way that I carry myself and the language that I use.”

“It’s very evident to the people that come in and out of the facility, the kind of character that I try to carry myself with, and it rubs off on people, especially those that I directly coach; they know what kind of standards that I have. I don’t let people swear during my practices.”

“It’s important that we really become attuned to how we handle failure, because especially in baseball, it’s a sport of failure, and that kind of mirrors what life is going to be in some regards as well.”

“I now attend a Bible study every Thursday night, regardless of what’s going on, that precious block of time from 7pm until 10pm on Thursdays, that is for Bible study, and I’ve grown so many fantastic relationships from being a part of that.”

Related link:

Noah Kararo on baseball-reference.com

(This episode contains a prayer by Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Melanie Meza

She had a long career as a student-athlete, playing basketball for Whittier College, El Camino College, and her high school, all in California. During her time at El Camino College she made the Academic All-State Basketball Team and in her sophomore year posted double-digit rebounds in seven games. She was the team captain there and was coming off a high school career that saw her earn San Pedro News Pilot Prep Girls Basketball Player of the Year and All Santa Fe League First Team honors. She is a Catholic women’s fitness coach and the founder of Rosary Girl Walk, which is a walking wellness community for Catholic women.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was born and raised Catholic, baptized in the Catholic Church… Went to Catholic school from kindergarten to 12th grade.”

“Going to Mass was something that we just did to check off the list… it was more of like, I’m going to Mass because my mom’s telling me to go to Mass and I went for like the wrong reason – the cute boy, I’m like, ‘Oh, I hope I can hold my crush’s hand during the Our Father’.”

“My very first sport actually was track. I was only a runner. I only used to run. I feel like that’s the foundation of everything. Why I was able to go so far. I’m just really athletic. And so, track was my first sport. I started running when I was seven years old. And I did cross-country, track. I did volleyball. I was a two-sport athlete in high school, but I was way better in basketball.”

“I got a lot of my validation from that. It was like the one thing that I felt like made me worthy or felt quote unquote worthy. If I performed really well, then I was lovable. And if I performed really bad I was like, ‘I’m nothing. I’m not lovable. I don’t want to be loved.’ So, a lot of my identity was based on my performance and my sport.”

“During that whole process it was just like finding my identity in Christ and the Lord stripping me of my idol, which was this sport, which was myself, my looks too. I didn’t have … training or the gym to fix myself.”

“I went to Puerto Rico with a Christian ministry called Athletes in Action. And it was in that retreat that I finally let go of basketball… it almost hit my reality that I had an idol of this. And that it was actually taking over my identity.”

“I had a coach who was Christian … And he started to help me understand how to integrate my faith, my love for God in my sport.”

“I had a conversion in the Catholic church. But then I just needed deeper reasons to believe why to be Catholic and why to stay Catholic.”

“I love my faith and I also love fitness, so I combine the two.”

“I asked our lady for three intentions, and she answered them. I prayed the rosary for 75 days straight and she answered my three intentions.”

“I lived a double life. So, I would party on the weekend and next day I was in the front row pew, and I was singing my heart out and I was a lector and I was doing all these things.”

Related link:

Melanie’s Instagram

(This episode contains a prayer by Fort Worth Christian Football League parent Linda Fleshman, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Joni Briganti

She has earned USA Triathlon’s Lifetime Achievement Award, among other honors. She went from being a USA racer/triathlete into an International World triathlete. In 2017 she qualified for Age Group Team USA Triathlon, and this will be her 11th year racing the World Triathlon Championships. She has raced in Denmark, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, and Australia, and in 2026 will be back in Spain as well as the United Arab Emirates. She is also a USA Triathlon Certified Level 2 Coach. Plus, she teaches 13 fitness classes weekly. As she discusses here, she has been swimming competitively since she was a little girl.

Notable guest quotes:

“I grew up in a very Catholic home, attended Mass all the time, every holiday, all the weekdays, and my mother’s sister – my aunt Dolores – was a sister of St. Joseph. And then we had a really good friend, Father Damien … who I was very close with.”

“I went to Catholic kindergarten, St. Josephat, and then I went to Resurrection of Our Lord elementary school all the way through eighth grade, and then Nazareth Academy High School, all in Philadelphia.”

“I won the 25-meter freestyle at four years old in the age group six-and-under.”

“I swam in the junior Olympics when I was nine. I swam in the individual medley in Washington, DC – took second place.”

“We moved to Japan three days after we got married in 1977… (I) was very involved in the Catholic Church over there too. Father Don, I still remember his name.”

“I coached children’s swim league for three years where we lived in Japan… it was through the Amateur Athletic Union.”

“It was kind of interesting because if it was a Protestant service then they would have just have a cross and then they would bring out a crucifix for the Catholic service in the same area.”

“We moved to Hawaii and I was really into swimming. I did a lot of open water swimming. We participated in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim series and the North Shore Swim series. And I was still running.”

“One of the things that I really love about my love of Jesus Christ in sports is that it had developed inside of me this ministry to encourage others that they could do it too. So, that’s kind of where I want to be to encourage and inspire and ignite others that they can do it too, not just me.”

“Not that I don’t like to win. We all like to win… But to see others, especially people who I work with, achieve their goals, that’s what’s really most important to me.”

“I would … pray the rosary the whole time I was swimming. I pray the rosary on the bike. I pray the rosary when I’m running. I pray the rosary now on a daily basis.”

“I feel like everybody can be empowered by our Savior to do their best… if you saw what my ‘26 season has in store for me, it’s jam packed. And this because of Jesus Christ, it’s because of the grace of God.”

“I feel like I put on the armor of God. And that’s just how I compete. And then when I finish, it’s like, ‘Thank you, Jesus’.”

“There is nothing that means more to me than glorifying the name of Jesus through sport.”

Daniel Gill

He attended Benedictine College Preparatory, where he distinguished himself as a three-sport athlete. He went on to play Division I soccer at Mount St. Mary’s and Longwood University. He later coached at Benedictine for ten years, transforming the soccer program into one of the top-ranked teams in Virginia. He achieved similar success by elevating the St. Gertrude’s soccer program to statewide prominence. In the fall of 2025, he accepted his current position as a teacher and head soccer coach at DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland.

Notable guest quotes:

“We attended Catholic Mass, but I never felt like there was something specifically special about being Catholic growing up. It was just, I’m a Christian. There’s a lot of Christians out there. It wasn’t until later that I came to see how special being Catholic was.”

“I didn’t attend Catholic school until fifth grade and then I attended Catholic school through high school and then initially Mount St. Mary’s.”

“Probably a pivotal moment was I attended this sleepaway camp every summer called Camp Willow Run, which is in Littleton, North Carolina…. it’s a deeply religious camp and someone there or something there convinced me to turn my life over to Christ at a young age, which I did. And it’s been pretty steady since then.”

“Since I was in middle school, I’ve taken my faith seriously and have not fallen away from it.”

“The ones I really settled on and grew to love were basketball, tennis, and soccer… I played all of those at the varsity level in high school.”

“It had a deep impact on the family that (my brother) made that decision (to enter the seminary). And I think it was very inspiring not just to my parents, but to a lot of my aunts and uncles.”

“I went and visited him (at the seminary)… And that had a deep impact on me because I saw all these men there really with nothing… And their life was basically prayer and work, and they were just so joyful. And then I would go back to the secular world, and I just didn’t see that level of joy or happiness or peace. And so that was a big inspiration for me in high school at a time when really I could have fallen away from my faith. It was the boost I needed at that particular time to keep going.”

“I ended up getting into coaching education and eventually going to Spain to learn about coaching.”

“I would go to the parties in college and in high school, but I wouldn’t partake in a lot of the activities that were going on there. I was a designated driver. So, I just always felt like I was able to keep my own faith. It was my job to spend time with people that their faith was not important to them. And a lot of really great things have come out of that.”

“He also pushed me in my own time to just spend time in front of the blessed sacrament and just be quiet and just sit there with God and with Jesus and not say anything, just sit there. And just that simple act of doing that 15 to 30 minutes a day, which I’ve done every day over the last three years, has completely changed my faith and it’s completely changed really my life and how I interact with people.”

“Every day no matter what has happened, I go into the chapel for 15 or 30 minutes and just sit and so then I’m, instead of relying on myself and my own words, I’m really just relying on God to give me the support that I need and by doing that … I’ve made way more progress in my life.”

Related link:

DeMatha soccer

(This episode contains a prayer from the National Catholic Coaches Association’s “The Leadership Papers,” although originally credited in there to The Coach’s Bible.)

John Paul Raiger

He was a free safety on the football team at the College of the Holy Cross, where he was selected to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. That followed a high school career during which he served as captain of the football team during his senior season, when he helped his team to an 8-3 record after having gone 10-2 with a trip to the regional finals as a junior. During his time at St. John Neumann Catholic High School in Naples, Florida, he was also a member of the track and field team, earning all-area honors and setting a school record in the 200-meter dash.

Notable guest quotes:

“Grew up going to Mass every day and … altar serving was almost expected in a town like Ave Maria… very close knit and I had the honor of serving just the regular Mass and then the extraordinary form as well. So, through that I was able to deepen my understanding of the Catholic faith, and it was just awesome.”

“I was … fixated on football and fixated on myself and, looking back now, especially during my time at Holy Cross, I realized that I did not pursue my faith and that really stemmed from focusing only on myself and what I could do to make myself look better, make myself more popular.”

“Where it all clicked for me was focusing on others and bringing others along with you. So, you can work towards being as good as you possibly can be, but are you really doing good unless you are building other people up?”

“If you’re a high school student looking to grow your faith while also focusing on sports, look towards others and look towards building up the people around you because at the end of the day that is the most important thing you can do and it’ll bring other people towards God and you’ll bring yourself closer towards God through love for your fellow man.”

“I was always in a Catholic school either homeschooled or Catholic school and the structures that they have in place and the opportunities that they have in place are really unmatched in my opinion. I think that’s the whole point is, the opportunity is there to grow in your faith if you grab a hold of it.”

“My first official visit was actually to Bucknell at that time I still hadn’t received the offer from Holy Cross, but I went over to Bucknell … and … spent a weekend there. At the end of the weekend, they offered me a scholarship. I got this funny feeling that it just wasn’t the right spot.”

“I really came to the realization that I’m here for others and to bring others closer towards God in any possible way. And the way I saw it was participate with the team, stay involved, and do whatever you possibly can to help the team.”

“I really made the connection with the faith, and I realized that we’re called to bring others towards the light, we’re called to bring others towards God.”

“God lives in all of us and sometimes we just need others to help us bring it to the surface.”

“The injury really just put me in a spot where I had to consider why I was there … and I almost started viewing the Catholic faith as like a team sport, like football, where your friend might fall short one day. Who’s there to pick him up? The guy next to him. And who’s there to pick up that guy? The guy next to him. And so on and so forth.”

“These were my brothers on the field and now they get to be my brothers in Christ.”

[This episode contains a prayer (poem) by Central Catholic High School (Pittsburgh, PA) Principal Ed Bernot, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

Will Robertson

He is a left fielder in the Baltimore Orioles organization, having played last year for both the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays. He had been chosen in the fourth round of the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft by Toronto following a collegiate career at Creighton University where he hit .307 with 30 home runs and 147 RBI. During those years he was a Second Team All-BIG EAST selection in 2017 and First Team All-BIG EAST in 2018. And he was named Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American in 2017. Back in high school he had earned four letters in baseball, helped guide his team to the Class 3 State title, and was a three-time All-State First Team selection and earned First Team honors in district and conference.

Notable guest quotes:

“Grew up raised Catholic, both grandparents were raised Catholic, so very, I would say, a very strong Catholic family and kind of extended family as well.”

“I had a Catholic education all the way up to eighth grade.”

“I think baseball was my calling and was happy with the time that I had playing basketball but happy that baseball was there too.”

“(Creighton University) being a Jesuit institution and the high values that they hold for not just the athletes but all the students that go there and then the academics were something very, very important to me.”

“When you first move away from your parents… you kind of get sidetracked a little bit just trying to… find out who you are and trying to figure out who you’re going to be as both a person and athlete and also a man of faith.”

“Prayer and praying the rosary has always been a big deal to both me and my wife and our family and praying the rosary and having a process and a prayer life to fall back on is huge and understanding that I’m way more than just a baseball player.”

“I didn’t really have any sort of help either negotiating or how the whole thing went down because I was flying in an airplane, so I didn’t have any Wi-Fi or reception obviously so another thing, yeah, put it in God’s hands and let Him create the plan.”

“My support system with my wife and my family and my faith definitely help me carry through (adversity).”

“That’s why you have faith in God and then also have faith in your support system that no matter what happens that you’re more than a baseball player, you’re more than somebody that tries to hit a baseball, and you’re important in other people’s lives as well.”

“Whatever God is wanting to talk to me about in that silence before I take the field or listen to my music, try to take a little bit of time to let Him talk to me before then.”

“I feel like something God calls us to do is use our gifts, use our platform, which happens to be baseball for me, and to shed the light and share your faith.”

Related link:

Will’s page on MLB.com

(This episode contains a prayer originally from prayers-and-poetry.blogspot.com, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)