Episodes

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

Kramer Soderberg

An assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.  Previously he had been in the same role at NCAA Division II Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.  He played basketball collegiately at both the University of Miami-Ohio and at Lindenwood and at the latter he has been inducted into their Athletics Hall of Fame.  Two months ago his book came out, titled, “Fill Your Cup for Christ: A Spiritual Journey Sown & Grown Through Sports.”

Notable guest quotes:

“In my profession I deal with 18-21 year old kids for my livelihood, but you see the temptations and all that is pushing them in one direction and it’s hard to hone off all that stuff that the peer pressure is telling you to do and stick to your faith.”

“For all of us, we have so many different journeys, so many different paths… We all are kind of different.  Some seeds will sprout up really quickly.  And for some people their faith life explodes when they’re in grade school or high school.  Other people it takes a little bit longer for that seed to germinate and then begin to produce fruit.”

“Although I wasn’t always sure of why my dad was going to Adoration, why he was going to daily Mass, it was always an example.  So, when you do get older and you start to say, ‘Hm, maybe my faith life is important,’ you fall back on the example that you saw your parents do.”

“I… fully surrendered the future to Christ and said… ‘Lord, I give this to you.  If you want me to get a job, I’m going to get it.  If you don’t, I’m not.’  And that… really, really honed me in to this dependence and trust and love for the Lord.”

“I try to live out my faith through my example so that when my players see me hopefully on a daily basis giving joy and being excited and filled with exuberance and all that stuff, I hope that they will see that example and kind of relay that to my faith life.”

“Winning and losing used to be the most important thing.  But, you lose a game and then you look across the stands and there’s your three little ones smiling at ya’.  They don’t care about wins and losses and it makes you not care about it either, as long as you get a big hug afterwards.”

“In the midst of all that’s going on in this world, all your pursuits – trying to be a good parent, a good husband or wife, a good professional, grow in your career – we can do all these things while at the same time giving it to the glory of God.”

“Just doing your faith on Sundays isn’t what God’s asking us to do.  He’s asking us to pray without ceasing and that means all the time being involved in our faith, all the time thinking of Him.”

“As a coach you tend to be a voice that’s always, always up front.  And Joseph, for me, was such a servant of God.  A man who surrendered his life completely to the Lord, trusted completely, but did his work in a quiet way with really no recognition… he has no words in the Bible.  So that side of Joseph really hit me that sometimes it’s better to be quiet. It’s better to be away from the limelight.”

Related link:

Kramer’s book

(This episode contains a prayer originally from catholic.org, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Don Dziagwa

The Athletic Director and basketball coach at Tampa Catholic High School, where he has been for over 30 years and was a 2015 inductee to their Hall of Fame.  Back in HIS high school days he played four years of basketball and baseball, plus one year of football.  A lifelong Catholic, he also had coaching stops in West Virginia as well as five years at another high school in the Tampa Bay area.  He’s also a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Notable guest quotes:

“It goes all the way back to my parents, who were, of course, Catholic.  And their parents, my grandparents, Catholic, coming over from Poland. It’s pretty deep rooted as far as our Catholic faith goes.”

“(I) grew up, at least my younger years, were in Chicago, which is a very Catholic-oriented town.”

“We moved to West Virginia and the Catholic faith certainly came along with us.  I went to Catholic grade school, St. Margaret Mary Catholic grade school… And from there I went to Parkersburg Catholic High School.”

“I think I just try to be a good person in regards to everything that I do and hopefully that means I’m a good Catholic too.”

“What really has been very great for me is the fact that I have spent so much time in Catholic schools, ya’ know, been around the faith.”

“I think what I try to do… is being a good role model and being a good leader in regards to faith.”

“All of our sporting events, we begin with a prayer, whether it be in the locker room, we also begin with a prayer before all of our athletic events, no matter what athletic event that is.”

“Next year we’re actually going to have a priest also on campus, which is really kind of an unusual type thing for Catholic high schools, I guess, that maybe we all don’t have the opportunity to have our own priest.”

“We have a great program… in regards to our students going on retreat.  So… all of our athletes, not just my basketball players… are involved with those type of things where, whether they’re Catholic or not, it certainly is devoted to them having a faith life and having God in their life.”

“That’s a blessing ’cause there’s a lot of people that certainly will go to their job and there’s no indication that anything there would be faith-related or Catholic-related… and I kind of am exposed to that almost all the time.”

“My faith path, I’m not one maybe that’s out in the community talking all the time about my faith and things of that nature.  I think I have a very personal relationship with Jesus.”

[This episode contains a prayer by Oldenburg Academy of the Immaculate Conception (Oldenburg, IN) Athletic Director Tim Boyle, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport]

Kate Ziegler

A two-time Olympian (London 2012 & Beijing 2008), four-time World Champion and a world record setter.  In total she won 15 medals in international competition. She retired from swimming in 2016 and has since earned her MBA and helped launch two companies. She is a holistic high-performance coach and a national speaker.  As a youngster she had also played softball and basketball.

Notable guest quotes:

“We were raised in the Catholic faith.  So, went to church every Sunday, grew up going to CCD and getting all the sacraments and that was a really significant part of my upbringing.”

“Most kids don’t want to go to Catholic high school because of uniforms or they think it’s going to be boring, and, I was the kid who begged to switch from public school to Catholic school.”

“I think (my parents) were also a little taken aback by a twelve-year old saying, ‘Can I get more religion in my life,’ but that was me.”

“I think it was less me choosing the water and (more) the water choosing me.”

“My mom would hide little cards in my bag, my suitcase, my swim bag… These little cards really encouraged me… Every single one she would write a Bible verse in it for me.  And she would remind me of how much the Lord loved me, whether I won, whether I lost, no matter the performance, she would remind me that she loves me and that God has got me in His hands.”

“God is faithful and so good and He helped me.  He answered that prayer but in a way that I never expected.”

“As much as swimming gave me wonderful blessings… I also, at a pretty early age… I desperately wanted validation and love… And I started to see God as almost like a bank teller.  ‘Here, I’ll make my deposit now.  You give me something in return.’  And, that is so far from the relationship that I now have.  Thank you, praise the Lord that He has healed me and helped me get out of really this prison of a performance-based identity and now instead I see my identity in Christ.”

“Since retiring from swimming I started working with athletes on how to change their mindset so that they can really get all the blessings out of a sport.  Perform to the best of their ability but also not over-identify, not become so really constrained by the fear and doubts and insecurity of losing that they lose their faith.”

“From a faith perspective, when I faced challenges there were times where I really leaned on the Lord.  And there were times where I saw adversity as some sort of punishment.”

“One of my Bible study teachers, she said, ‘We can either control or we can have faith, but you can’t have both.  So, which do you choose’?”

“At the end of the day the Lord has the best plans and we’ve just got to trust in that.”

“I had this mistaken belief that I could just do it alone.  And what I realized was ohh how mistaken I am.  The Lord created us to be in community.  And He has blessed me so profoundly with incredible mentors, friends, spiritual guides in my life from the most unexpected people.”

Related link:

Kate’s official website

(This episode contains a prayer adapted from one by an unknown Confederate Soldier, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Jaime Barta

A junior at Syracuse University where she plays on the softball team after having played at a different school each of the previous two years.  In high school she had been a four-time all-state selection and set six school records.  Her faith walk includes work that she did for a refugee family, which she mentions in this interview.  Her father is a longtime baseball coach and her mother played college softball.

Notable guest quotes:

“Growing up we didn’t have a ton of friends from a young age, so, we grew close as a family and bonded over a lot of things like sports and obviously our faith.”

“(her dad) has had a huge impact on me.  He was a devout Catholic and shared that with us and really led our family in that spiritual aspect of how important your faith is in your life.  And it was non-negotiable.  We were going to Mass every Sunday wherever we were.  Whether we were at a tournament or we were scouting with him, we always found a church to go to Mass.”

“In seventh grade when I started Confirmation prep, something just changed, something clicked, just spiritually my faith became my own.  It wasn’t my parents taking me to Mass, it was me feeling that presence.”

“Faith isn’t about feelings, but, when you have that and you’re on fire for it, it’s a big time in your life.”

“Throughout my life I just really felt a connection to (Joan of Arc) and she’s just been really important in my faith life for me.”

“The Catholic high school was pretty expensive in town and I begged my parents to go, and, knowing it would be a financial burden, but I just really wanted that opportunity to grow in my faith every day at a school like that.  So, they made the sacrifices to send me there and I’m so thankful still.”

“In my freshman year on a retreat… I kind of discovered Adoration and just fell in love with it and then throughout my four years of high school I would go to Adoration daily during lunch, in our chapel… And it was just really transformative for my faith.”

“When I first got to college that was the first real test of my faith and my conviction… (but) …we had a really strong Neuman Center, which was really helpful for me and I had a teammate who was also Catholic, so that helped immensely just having that, kind of, accountability partner.  We would go to Mass every Sunday.”

“Get to know (teammates) and let them get to know you and… I want them to know, like, I’m not judging them.  I’m just here to love them and be their teammate.  So, just getting to know the person in their heart and showing them the love of Christ through that relationship and just how you treat them every day.”

Related link:

Jaime’s bio on Syracuse University website

(This episode contains a prayer by Gregg Easterbrook from the NFL.com and ESPN.com column “Monday Morning Quarterback,” as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Doug Lipinski

The Deputy Athletic Director for External Relations at Grand Valley State University in Michigan where he and his staff have been honored with 70 national awards.  As a student athlete at the school he was a four-year member of the varsity baseball team, followed by four years as an assistant coach.  While growing up he had played five different sports.

Notable guest quotes:

“We belonged to St. Ephrem’s parish there in Sterling Heights and went to catechism and Religious Ed throughout our childhood.”

“I played baseball, golf, football, basketball – even when I was younger for a few years was on a bowling team.  So, ya’ know, did it all and enjoyed the physical activity.”

“Like many young adults, (age) 18-22, 23, you’re not as close to the church as I am now and as I was as a child.  So, you kind of go through a period of finding yourself.”

“My wife has a steadfast belief and grew up in the Catholic church… Her commitment and her personality and who she is as a person really makes me a better person.”

“For me, it’s the gathering, the comfort, and the peace that it brings me when you go to church.”

“For me, in a pretty stressful position that I’m in at work, it gives me not only family time, but it gives me time to be with the Lord.”

“As we decide to go on vacations it’s part of, ‘Where are we going to go to church on Sunday,’ so it’s kind of a fun family deal.”

“That happened Monday morning, and Tuesday afternoon-ish, around lunchtime, I just had to get out of (work), went down to St. Luke’s University parish… and I really just wanted to sit in an empty church.”

“My mentality is a continuous improvement philosophy, trying to get better every day.  And so, taking a humble approach, an attitude of gratitude.”

“How my faith… helps, the values that I have as a Catholic, I can bring to (coaching staffs) knowing that there’s much more than what they’re dealing with right now… Giving them the 30 thousand foot view of ‘things will be okay, we’ll get through this, and how can I help.’  And I think it just goes back to the values of being a Catholic.”

“Everyone’s faith journey is different.  I think that the diversity of everybody’s journey is what is special about the faith.”

“I don’t win or lose any games.  I’m part of a team.  And so, I’m here to give our student-athletes the best experience possible.”

“Fellowship goes a long ways.  And, it’s an opportunity for prayer.  It’s also an opportunity to bring people together.”

Related link:

Doug’s GVSU bio page