Episodes

Mike Candrea

Coached Team USA to the Olympic gold medal in 2004 in Athens and the silver medal in 2008 in Beijing in women’s softball, but, ten days before the 2004 Games he lost his wife unexpectedly to a brain aneurysm. Now entering his 34th season as the head softball coach (women’s softball) at the University of Arizona, he is also the Division I wins leader in NCAA softball history and has been inducted into numerous Halls of Fame. He talks about his faith journey, including his involvement with the Knights of Columbus, his priority on getting to Mass despite softball games and tournaments being scheduled on the weekend, and more.

Guest Quotes:

“I think anytime you’re trying to strive for excellence the toughest part is to try to find that balance; balance between your family, your profession, and then for me it was my faith.”

“My faith is very important to me.  It was something that, at times I was missing because unfortunately in our game we play a lot of games on Sundays, which I’ve always kind of been confused about because what are we teaching young people?  We’re telling them how important balance is yet we’re at a softball game at 8:00 on a Sunday morning.”

“My journey of late has been to bring that story to young coaches, to try to get them to understand the pitfalls of the coaching profession and how important it is to make sure that you keep that balance in your life.”

“It has never been any bigger for me than when I lost my wife in 2004 to a brain aneurysm. And, I’m sitting there with two kids and don’t know the color of my checkbook and don’t know what they really need every day.  There was really a void there… It was definitely a life changer, to say the least, but if it wasn’t for my faith, and my faith in God, and the involvement that I had with the Knights of Columbus, and St. Thomas the Apostle Church… that’s an important part.”

“I used to think I coached kids for four years and they would leave me but I really coach them for a lifetime.  So, my commitment to them is to prepare them for life after softball.  And when you look at the game that way, I think there’s a blessing each and every day.”

“I always told young coaches I wish I could give them a national championship and make them realize that it really doesn’t change their life.  What changes your life is how you live it each and every day.”

“I always tell people it’s not a matter of whether you’re going to need God, it’s when.  And so you better prepare yourself for that each and every day.  And I tell them the story about how much happier I am when I have that balance.”

“I’m their father away from home.  And so I feel like I have an obligation to make sure that they understand that you think that hitting a curve ball on the field is tough, wait until the curve ball comes in life.”

[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]

Rebecca Dussault

She skied in the Winter Olympics in 2006 in Torino (Italy) and is a world champion, being a multi-sport athlete. She discusses peer pressure she had to stay away from in her late teens relative to partying, the deeper she moved into her skiing pursuits and faith commitment.  She is also a mother of five children with her sixth on the way.  She mentions having recently moved to Idaho and a 55-acre site where they hope to host Catholic families to be renewed in recreation and faith (“learn to pray and play again”).

Guest Quotes:

“I’ll be skiing ’til the grave.  That I do know.”

“One of the most defining moments was cross country skiing with our priest… and he celebrated the Mass for us while we stood on cross country skis and received the eucharist on our skis… And so I thought that, for me, was a convergence of the gift of sport, the school of moral excellence that sport is, and tasting the faith at the deepest level.”

“You’re either going to stick with your moral high ground and enjoy sport at some level or you’re really kind of a slave to the system of elite athletics.”

“As much as many of us look for mission territory abroad and elsewhere and in poor and underdeveloped places, sport is poor, it is underdeveloped.  These are athletes who very much feel entitled and who have things gifted to them all the time by sponsors… but spiritually bankrupt and absolutely mission territory.”

“Here I am trying to win junior world championships or something and all I can think about is how, I am not listening to my conviction from the Lord.”

“I just had to say, Okay I’m either going to miss Mass and sit here with the team and have a meal or I can get myself to the little market down the street and buy some hard rolls and meat and cheese and oranges and that’s going to be dinner and it’s going to be very sufficient for fueling myself that way and making it to the real meal, to the Mass.  It is about picking priorities and setting boundaries.”

“We have time for whatever we make time for.”

“It’s just waking up every day and revisiting my Why.  My spiritual core asking the Lord, ‘Why? How today do I make saints? How do I become a saint? And how do You use everything around me and about me to do that?’  Because there’s going to be triumph, there’s going to be trials.”

“When you crack open your life and you let the Lord in, He shows you what beautiful stewardship is there, for body, for soul – what does that look like.”

“Nobody is outside the call to steward their body and soul into a place of health and wholeness, all for the end goal of holiness.”

Related links:

www.RebeccaDussault.com
www.FitCatholicMom.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)

Kyle Schmidt

Playing with some teammates who are now in the NHL, he scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Michigan in the 2011 NCAA Championship game in front of 19,000 fans at the Xcel Energy Center and went on to play pro hockey in Germany and Norway.  You’ll be surprised at the amazing perspective he gives on where that ranks on his “best days of my life” list.  He also has great advice on making Mass the priority despite the demands of a tournament and/or sports-related travel.

Guest Quotes:

“Not to downplay winning a national title… It was incredible and everything I dreamed of, but, the one thing that I couldn’t wait to do was get back up to Duluth and later that month become Catholic.”

“There’s obviously different rumors you hear about Catholicism, which, going through RCIA, you learn are all untrue.”

“I was just devouring Catholicism; Catholic history, traditions, and just what does the Catholic church teach.”

“I just couldn’t wait, once I found out what the Eucharist was, what it meant, and what it actually is… I could not wait to no longer cross my arms… my hands on my shoulders, when receiving communion.”

“You can still compete in a sport like hockey and give glory to God by the way that you play it.”

“Maybe if priorities aren’t there as they should be in someone’s life, hopefully this can help at least ask the question of, ‘What is the priority in my life? Is it God? Is it Jesus? And if not, what may be some things that are taking me away from that each day or each week’?”

Related links:

Ascension Presents video (Fr. Mike Schmitz)

Kyle’s website

MassTimes.org

(This episode contains a prayer originally excerpted and adapted from Day By Day: The Notre Dame Prayerbook for Students by Thomas McNally, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Catholic Sports Radio

To launch the show, the host talks about Catholic Sports Radio’s mission and what listeners can expect to hear (and how they can help) plus he talks about what qualifies him to lead this project in the first place (his Catholic life and his sports and broadcasting/podcasting background). He also cites examples and quotes from saints who are closely connected to sports, and there is a sportsman prayer that he prays at the end.

Related links:

Bruce’s other podcast