Episodes

Tim Triplett

The co-founder and president of the National Catholic Coaches Association, he has 14 years of coaching experience at the collegiate and high school levels.  He is currently the head football coach and assistant activities director at Holy Family Catholic in Victoria, Minnesota, and played college football.  He also has been a member of the Knights of Columbus for eleven years.

Notable guest quotes:

“(The NCCA) started with a simple mission to positively influence others through faith and coaching.”

“Our unofficial mission is Catholic leaders developing Catholic leaders.”

“We pray before every practice.  We pray before every game.  Pray before every team meal.”

“As the head coach, as the tip of the spear, I try to live it and show my players and student-athletes every day what my faith is about.”

“My parents grew up in large Catholic families.  My mom came from ten kids and my dad came from seven.”

“I really enjoy being around the Catholic world, the Catholic high school, and having it prevalent around me all the time.”

“The presence of the priests and the presence of our spirituality… just makes us stronger, I think.  I think it’s fantastic.”

“When I was a G.A. at Wayne State College we got together with some other coaches and just did some Bible study; prayed together, things of that nature.  University of South Dakota was the same way.  I’ve led a couple groups in my time at St. Thomas.”

Related link:

National Catholic Coaches Association

David Belisle

A lifelong coach, he was an assistant coach for high school hockey for 39 years and also gained national attention as the manager of the Cumberland Americans Little League team, including being seen on ESPN in a post-game, on-field speech – a video that went viral to the tune of more than a quarter million views.  He was nominated by Sports Illustrated for the 2014 Sportsman of the Year and has also been honored with the Musial Award and the Hope Award. He also talks here about having played college hockey. You’ll want to have a tissue handy for the second half of the interview.

Guest quotes:

“I’ve been blessed with three incredible institutions that’ve fortified me with the strength of Jesus Christ.”

“That’s the Belisle family tree.  Our foundation is Jesus Christ.”

“God gave him a second chance and from that day forward his spirituality grew and grew.  My mom and my dad from… after he recovered went to church every single day.”

“As co-coach I understood, ‘Wow, this is important.  We’re not only teaching kids the game of hockey, but we’re teaching them life lessons’.”

“As you move forward and you coach, it’s such a privilege and we’re honored to coach.  If you don’t see it as a privilege, then you’re going to become selfish and you’re going to create your own goals.  I never created my own goals.  My father never created his own goals. It was always team goals.”

“It was always about my mother, my father, married, marriage was sacred – 65 years they spent together – and four boys that grew up in the Catholic-enriched society.”

“What inevitably is gonna carry you for the rest of your life is family, your friends, working together for a common goal, making sacrifices.”

“That’s why I got the awards that I got, is because of the people who made me who I am and obviously Jesus Christ.”

“God will provide if you believe, but in order to believe you gotta spread His Word and let Him come into your heart.”

Related link:

Mount Saint Charles Academy High School hockey

CSR Listeners Facebook group (for two videos mentioned)

(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)

Matt Yoches

The Director of Football Operations at Miami University in Ohio, where he is also the team chaplain. Among the many tasks he handles is being the liaison for NFL scouts. He had played football collegiately (winning two national championships) and went on to serve on the coaching staff of his alma mater (Grand Valley State).  He was born and raised Catholic and is married and the father of two.  LISTEN FOR HIS BIG REVEAL AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW!

Notable guest quotes:

“As I grew in my faith, and, I had my times that were not the brightest and not something I was proud of, but, I made mistakes along the way, and had some challenges with my faith and had some challenges just being a teenager and growing up.  But eventually I felt at home at church.  If anything, the one hour on Sunday in church made more sense than any other hour of the day.”

“My connection to God became, ‘Well I’ve got this great talent.  How do I use that to glorify God’?”

“That was always a desire of mine, was to make the most of the talent that God had given me… My desire was to do that every way, shape, or form that I possibly could.”

“Saturday morning we attended Mass as a team and before we got on the bus we would pray as a team in front of the Virgin Mary.”

“I would always say the prayer and I would always be very reverent and devout at that time and then as soon as I got on the bus I felt like, ‘Hey, I gotta flip the switch and I gotta be a football player and I gotta leave God there and do whatever I possibly could on the field to be successful’.”

“I learned eventually, Hey, you don’t leave God in the locker room when you go out to play.”

“He was highly successful, played for my Detroit Lions, but … more than anything was a man of God.  And he was someone who was someone who was not afraid to share his faith with anyone.  And he was one of the first people that showed me that you don’t leave God in the locker room.”

“Your faith isn’t just something you practice quietly, with your hands folded, on your knees, in church, by yourself.”

“I enjoy serving others.  I enjoy being the person behind the scenes.”

“I’m just here to help God do some of the work that He needs to get done.”

“He called me to become a husband and He called me to become a father and that’s my vocation and I’m proud of that.”

Related link:

Matt’s Miami University bio page

[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]

Dr. Kelly Morrow

In the lead-up to Super Bowl Sunday, we talk about domestic violence. Plus, in the wake of cheating being a hot topic in MLB news lately, we cover that as well.  In addition, there’s a discussion on “participation trophies” and playing time.  Plus, there’s practical advice for listeners to take away.  All this and more from a professional and spiritual perspective via the Clinical Psychologist at Saint Paul VI Institute in Omaha, Nebraska, where part of her work includes meeting with priests, religious, and lay men & women who are seeking faith-based counseling.  With a sports background herself, she also works with seminarians attending the Institute for Priestly Formation and conducts psychological evaluations for individuals interested in entering seminary, the deaconate, or religious communities.  She is a member of both the Catholic Psychotherapy Association and the Catholic Medical Association.

Notable guest quotes:

“Whenever we try to cherry pick from the Bible certain verses to justify our behavior, it’s probably not legitimate.  It’s probably not actually going to be on target.  And, you’re trying to make up excuses for something that actually is probably sinful behavior.”

“There’s ego-oriented athletes… They want to be better than everybody else.  They want the glory.  They kind of just assume that they’ve got all the tools they need.  And they may or may not give any credit to God.  It may just be that ‘I’m just that good’.”

“The emphasis should be on what’s best for the kids, not what’s going to make the parents happy and feed their egos and make them proud of their kids.”

“There was a study done by Project Play in 2014 and they asked kids why they play sports… And they say, ‘For fun.  It’s fun.  That’s why I play.’ … And ‘earning a trophy or medals,’ that went clear down to number 67 in this list of things that make sports fun for kids.  So that’s what the kids are telling us, but us parents, we think things very differently.”

“Winning and losing, both teach us life lessons that can be translated into other spheres than athletics.

“With winning, realizing that ‘my abilities come from God.’  So, keeping our ego in check by realizing, ‘Okay, I’m only able to really hit that ball because God’s given me the ability to do that’.”

“Your worth, your value as a human being, comes from God and being God’s son or daughter, not by your performance and your trophies that you achieve playing athletics and sports.”

“Keeping in mind that we are the temple of God and He has created this body and so we need to treat it with respect and care.”

Related link:

St. Paul VI Institute

[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]

John Keating

The head coach of the men’s soccer team at Belmont Abbey, a Catholic college in North Carolina.  He played pro soccer in South Africa and captained West Virginia University men’s soccer.  He is going into his tenth year at Belmont Abbey and had successful coaching stops at a couple other schools along the way.  He is a Benedictine oblate and at one point he even headed up the Catholic Defense League of Nebraska.

Notable guest quotes:

“I found that as the assistant athletic director (at Warren Wilson College) and soccer coach, that my faith came under attack in significant ways, being arguably the only pro-lifer, or, conservative, shall we say, on campus.  The net result was that I did not have answers for the accusations.  And, ended up learning more about my faith in that three-year span as a way to defend my faith than I had in the previous twenty-something years.”

“If you learn to be obedient, then the path is often pretty clear.”

“In addition to working with the Omaha (soccer) club, I was also working for the Catholic Defense League of Nebraska, defending the civil rights and religious rights of Catholics through the Midwest.”

“I sent in the most rudimentary of resumes and it basically said, ‘I am a Catholic who happens to be a soccer coach.  If you’re looking for a soccer coach who happens to be Catholic I’m not your guy.  But if it’s the other way around, please read on.”

“(the job at Belmont Abbey) presented itself to me as an apostolate.”

“Certainly it’s great to see the Holy Spirit working in the lives of young men.”

“Everybody knows the Our Father, so that’s kind of why we started with that and that’s what we do before every game, in the huddle, everybody involved.”

“The college itself, the broadcasting unit, will also do a prayer before the game that blesses, ya’ know, asks the Lord to bless the game and help through injuries and bless our opponents and the referees and spectators and so on and so on.”

Related link:

John Keating Belmont Abbey bio

(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)

Rachael Popcak

A competitive figure skater from the time she was eight years old through college. She is the founder/director of the Saint Sebastian Center for Performance Excellence. She is a licensed therapist with advanced training in Sports and Performance Psychology and has developed programming for the likes of Robert Morris University Basketball, the Pens Elite Hockey Team, and Franciscan University Athletics, among others.  Through Trinity Sports Medicine she is also the referral source for athletes seeking mental health services.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was able to kind of take those bad performances and say, ‘Okay, what can I learn from it and move forward,’ and also, really, give it to God too.”

“My identity didn’t really ride in that.  Sure, it was nice… to win or to do well, but it certainly wasn’t my defining characteristics for myself.”

“I was looking for a (college) that would continue to kind of foster my faith development, my faith life.”

“It’s a way for me to kind of talk to God without using words and just kind of praise Him through my body, which, kind of the idea of the theology of the body.”

“God created us and we can learn more about ourselves through how our bodies work, and dance and figure skating certainly allow that opportunity for the complete awareness of your body.”

“God is very close to me when I’m dancing or figure skating.”

“God created us each to be those unique and unrepeatable people.”

“Certainly, a score in a game or those marks on a sheet that says, This is how well you did, can feel as though somebody else is deciding who I am and what I have to offer.  But no one else can decide that besides me and God.”

“I think there’s many ways that we can really strive to live out those corporal works of mercy.”

Erika Maurer

A cradle Catholic, she played soccer all throughout high school and college, attending Catholic schools and even getting her degree in Theology. She is the creator of the Sportsmanship and Spirit Ministry for Seton High School, an all-girls, Catholic, college-preparatory school in Cincinnati, Ohio. She also talks during this interview about a group she is active with in her parish and also gives news about her family.

Guest quotes:

“Depending on the season I can work with up to three, or three to five teams at a time… So, basketball, I meet with them… right before practice for 30 minutes and we do a short faith-building.”

“I plan to be at all the home sporting events that Seton has for the week, as well as once a month we try to plan an event where all of the athletes from each team can come and just kind of get to know each other and grow in their faith together.”

“Faith-building is truly where I kind of try to bring concepts of faith to the girls lifes in a way that they can understand.”

“Through Christ we are proved and… when we play for His glory, we don’t have to wear that weight anymore.”

“I’m in prayer constantly for these girls and each week the Spirit just reveals to me what they’re going through… I’ve tried to plan it but honestly I find that it’s most impactful when I just let God be God and use me to reach the girls how He wants.”

“I don’t want to just be someone that shows up and the girls think that they need me to grow in their faith.  I want them to then walk away taking ownership of their Catholic faith for the rest of their life.”

“I really, really wanted God to love me and I thought that that really depended on me being perfect.”

“Jesus died for my sins.  He didn’t die so that I had to be perfect, He died because I was imperfect.”

“I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about what God had done for me.  He just, it changed everything.”

Related link:

Seton High School

(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)