Episodes

John Jakubik

A strength and conditioning specialist who played four years of college football at Michigan State after having played football and baseball at Kalamazoo College. After Michigan State he went on to be a graduate assistant/wide receivers coach at Missouri Western State University and later was an Ohio State University Strength and Conditioning intern. In his teen years he attended Detroit Catholic Central High School, where he played football, baseball, and basketball. Currently he also hosts the Coach Kub podcast.

Notable guest quotes:

“(I) grew up in a Catholic household.  Both parents attended Catholic grade school, Catholic high school… Myself and my two younger brothers… We attended Our Lady of Good Counsel (grade school).”

“I think I was very blessed with a lot of athletic ability, so a lot of these sports did come fairly easy to me and with that I think it helped me progress and learn to love the game, and not just one but a multitude of games, in different sports.”

“I’m forever grateful for the things that sports has done for me.”

“I’m very proud of myself for being consistent with going to Mass and going to Conf– and doing these different things and staying pretty involved in my faith.”

“I had some trials and tribulations at Kalamazoo (College) that first year, but my faith definitely kept me on the right path when things could’ve went in the wrong direction.”

“I think it’s really cool, again when you’re surrounded by people who are on these bigger stages – the basketball guys, the football guys, whatever – but at the end of the day none of that stuff matters without our faith and what we believe in and what we stand on.”

“I try to become the very best version of myself before I can help others on that same journey.  And the foundation of that process… has been my faith.  It always has been, it always will be.”

“God’s teaching us something.  There’s a lesson to be learned in all of this.”

Related link:

John’s website and podcast

[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]

Bill Bommarito

A longtime coach, having done so in football, baseball, soccer, and softball. He is the founder of Coaching Coaches and has had over 70 thousand volunteer coaches and parents participate in his coaching programs and parent programs. He currently has programs with several Archdioceses and several secular athletic programs. He is also the play-by-play announcer for women’s volleyball at two universities in the St. Louis area.

Notable guest quotes:   

“I’m a cradle Catholic… went to St. Peter Catholic Church… I then went to St. John Vianney High School… And that launched me into the University of Dayton, which is also a Marianist Catholic university.”

“The Catholic church was a huge center of our life, in my parents’ life.”

“From grade school all the way through my first teaching and coaching experience was all Catholic-related.”

“What I try to get our coaches to understand is, that within the Catholic community, within the CYO programs, what we need to be doing is to make sure that our faith is first and foremost.”

“The other thing that I tell coaches all the time, it’s how you behave at practices, not the kids, but how you behave at practices, and in particular at games, that really tells your story and tells the rest of your audience – your players and your families – how important is your Catholic faith to you.”

“You’re going to have opportunities in which you can demonstrate your Catholicism and what it means to you, as to how you present yourself away from the field, away from the court… That’s why I say coaching goes way beyond the court and field because we become this example for these families.”

“Our goal is to teach our faith.  Our goal is to teach the sport.  And if you do it effectively and you do it well, there’s a great likelihood you’re going to win.  And that becomes the bonus.”

“I think our sports programs, in some of these CYOs, they touch more families than unfortunately the number of families going to church on a Sunday.  And…  I’m not too far off.  I can assure you of that because people love their sports.  So if we’re not going to see them on Sundays, then I would love to be able to take our Catholic faith message to the field or the court where we know we’ll see them because sports are becoming more and more a huge part of a family’s experience.”

Related link:

Coaching Coaches website

(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.)

Frank Allocco

The Executive Sr. Associate Athletics Director for External Relations at the University of San Francisco (a Catholic school).  He won 17 league championships and two Division I state championships in 18 years at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, and has coached and/or been a speaker at basketball camps from China to Belgium to Canada. As a college athlete he played football and basketball at Notre Dame.  He is also an inductee to the Sports Faith International Hall of Fame.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was very blessed to be raised by two people of great faith, my mother and my father.  We were daily communicants from the time we were born, I think.  My dad was a factory worker and he would drop us off, and we always went to Mass before school.”

“I was so… grateful and I had such a great relationship with Christ… When I got the opportunity to be the starting quarterback at Notre Dame, I went to church every day to thank God for giving me the opportunity.”

“I had made friends with a guy at Mass.  I found this old man that I took under my wing.  He was 85 years old… And it was almost like God sent him to me.”

“It was a lesson in love that I actually felt was divine intervention that God sent him to me to teach me how to love.”

“My father always had priests in our home, which, I was blessed for that.  Always the parish priest was my dad’s best friend.”

“Anytime I’ve hit adversity in my life or disappointment, I think that I’m blessed to feel just a portion of what Christ felt when He sacrificed and what He went through.”

“I think that’s our duty in our ministries is not only to say the words – anybody can say words – but to live the words is most important.”

“The lesson I learned from that was, the success of any venture will be determined by the spirit in which it was entered.”

“I’ve recently become the president of the East Diablo (CYO) League, which serves ten parishes, and we are in the process of reevaluating our whole league in that we are really emphasizing prayer and sportsmanship and doing things the right way within our own parishes.”

“God wasn’t cheating me.  God was giving me all these different lessons and it took time for me to heal and to absorb those.”

Related link:

Frank’s website

(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.)

Anne Stricherz

The varsity girls golf coach at St. Francis High School in the San Jose, California, area, where she is also the Assistant Athletic Director for Mission and Engagement. She previously was the junior varsity girls golf coach at St. Ignatius Prep in San Francisco. In her college days she attended the University of Notre Dame, where she competed in rowing for four years. She is also the author of a book called, “Pray and Practice with Purpose: A Playbook for the Spiritual Development of Athletes,” and she has completed three marathons.

Notable guest quotes:

“We’re very intentional about sports as a way to form young people.”

“I teach a theology course called Sports and Spirituality… That is my favorite part of my day, even more than coaching, is the sharing of the Word – prayer and the lives of athletes and saints – with young people.”

“One of my uncles is a high school basketball referee.  So, I have great respect for those folks who serve sport in that way.”

“(my) grandfather competed against Eric Liddell, the subject of the movie Chariots of Fire.”

“Golf became, not only I would say maybe a necessity, but a reality, and I see that as a sign of God’s mercy to me.”

“There are real virtues to being an assistant coach.  Anybody… if they want to help out and work with young people through athletics, be an assistant coach.”

“As an assistant coach [cross country] I had my thing, and that was developing this, kind of, community of faith with the athletes.  So yes, I ran with them… and then I thought, ‘We can pray together, we can serve together, there are things that we can do.”

“In those conversations I would find out about these fantastic ways that coaches were including their faith with their sport.  And I just kind of started to collect them, collect the examples.”

“I think coaches need to pray for their athletes! … Maybe coaches, as a staff, want to pray together.”

“I think sometimes the Spirit calls us to another place where there might be more growth.”

“Two times a day during our walk we would walk in silence, for 45 minutes.  So, I would pray the rosary.”

Related link:

Anne’s book

(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.)

Kevin O’Brien

He played professional football in the mid-1990s, including the NFL (Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots), the CFL, and the World League (which became NFL Europe). He had played college football at Bowling Green State University.  He is the Co-Founder of Virtue Baseball and the Co-Founder of the Catholic Men’s Leadership Alliance.

Notable guest quotes:

“I call football the game of life ’cause you have those ups and downs and the struggles and it’s you play when it’s cold, you play when it’s hot, you’re bleeding, you’re hot, all of that.”

“I always had a connection to Christ.  I would kneel down and say prayers at night by myself… But… I grew up in the 70s where you didn’t really learn the faith, so I couldn’t love what I didn’t know… I wish I would’ve had that proper formation ’cause there’s so much strength and beauty in our wonderful Catholic faith.”

“Remember I always had this connection to Christ.  I always would pray.  I always had this sense in my heart… When you’re afraid and you need things, well let me tell you, at least for me personally, that’s where you go, you go to God.”

“My pro career really brought me closer to Christ because I entered a, I would call it a, crucible of suffering, mental suffering, because of the strain.”

“…the sacrament of confession… there’s tremendous power and strength that comes from that.”

“I was in sales… I was traveling a ton, by myself, so I had tons of time to study and I just sucked everything up.  Read the Catechism a number of times, which I loved… I came to learn it, so I came to love it.”

“I was in men’s ministry, very passionate about Pro Life, very passionate about Adoration, and then, of course, men’s ministry.  I have a heart for men.  I see a lot of men walking around in spiritual rags, that they just need to be lifted up.”

“I founded another apostolate called Men of Christ… and was blessed to interact with men, with leaders all across the country.”

“We start with prayer every practice, we end every practice with prayer, and every game, by the way, with prayer.”

Related links:

Men Of Christ
Catholic Men’s Leadership Alliance
Virtue Baseball

[This episode contains a prayer from the Play Like A Champion Today Coaches Manual (University of Notre Dame), as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

Ryan Vermillion

The Head Athletic Trainer for the NFL’s Washington Redskins, having started in that role in January.  He had spent the previous 18 seasons as the Head Athletic Trainer for the Carolina Panthers. Before that he had been the Redskins’ Director of Rehabilitation for one year after having started his NFL career with the Miami Dolphins for nine seasons.

Notable guest quotes:

“I get a lot of help from the Heavenly Father everyday, because the amount of stress, the amount of work, that the league has put on the head athletic trainers, in making us the infection control officers for your team, if I didn’t have the Lord, if I didn’t have Mass, if I didn’t have daily Mass, if I didn’t have someplace to go and ask for help, I’m not sure I could do this.”

“It’s been a difficult time.  It’s been a challenging time.  But with my prayer life and with the love that I know that I have from God, I can do this.  And it’s something that I thank Him for everyday.”

“I was born and raised Catholic… My mother and father are… both born and raised Catholic…  I went to Blessed Sacrament (elementary school)… There’s four of us.  I’m the third.  There’s three boys and then I have a sister younger than I am.”

“I went to St. John’s High School in northwest Washington, D.C.  At that time it was an all-boy Catholic military school.”

“The CIA moved my father back down to Miami.  So, I went to St. Brendan’s High School, a small Catholic school.”

“My First Communion and my First Communion preparation was done by my mother and father, who were great influences on me in the Catholic church.”

“I like challenges.  I like to challenge myself mentally, spiritually, physically…  So I set up a challenge of going to daily Mass.”

“Not just the rehabbing, early on… I talk to (the players) about gaining their strength from God.”

“I have kids coming from all over the United States and all of a sudden there’s a melting pot of 70 of them in my athletic training room — different religions, different faiths, different denominations.  It’s an interesting thing.  But they all want to hear about God and they want to hear about how God will give them strength.”

“Those first few weeks after surgery are their lowest points.  And I always tell them, God will not give you anything that you cannot handle.  He knows what you can handle better than you know what you can handle.”

“I’m fortunate I just married the right girl.  And, she and I say the rosary together.  She and I go to daily Mass together… She is my rock… She just makes sure I’m keepin’ the faith.”

Related link:

Ryan’s bio on redskins.com

Phil Cuzzi

He has been a Major League Baseball umpire for more than 20 years, including having worked a World Series and multiple National League Championship Series, plus even two All-Star Games. Off the field he is very active in his community and with charitable efforts. Have one or more tissues close by as this lifelong Catholic shares some emotional witness!

Notable guest quotes:

“I was born and raised Catholic. I knew nothing else. I grew up in Belleville, New Jersey, and our parish was Holy Family Church.”

“It was just a great way to grow up.  We were friends with our priests. They took us on outings. My mother cooked them dinner.”

“Even to this day I am not a good spectator.  So, as a young boy, when my mother started taking me to church, I said, rather than just sitting in the pew, I wanted to participate. So I became an altar boy.”

“I remember just praying about it and saying, ‘Lord, this is what I think I want to do, but if this isn’t what You think I should be doing, show me what it is that I’m supposed to do’.”

“I remember looking in the mirror and just hitting my knees and praying.  And I said, ‘Lord, you brought me this far.  And, if it’s over for me – I don’t want it to be over – but if it’s over for me, show me what it is that You want me to do’.”

“Now… talk about divine intervention, because, I lived it and I believe it.”

“…and we all know that God laughs at your plans…”

“When I hear people say there is no God and there is no Lord, I laugh, because He spoke to me.”

“I talk to God when I’m on the field all the time… You see players, they say a prayer, they want to hit a home run.  My prayer is to say, ‘Lord, just give me the strength to just see things clearly.’ And if i see things clearly, I think I’m going to be right more times than I’m wrong.”

Related link:

Phil’s bio on mlb.com