Episodes

Erin Yenney

She just retired a year-and-a-half ago after having been a pro soccer player, although she has now started a new semi-pro women’s indoor soccer team. Her pro playing career had seen her with a team in Turkey, which was preceded by playing for a team in Finland. Before that she played for two different teams here in the States in the National Women’s Soccer League, and before that played for a team in Colombia that became champions of the first year *of* the women’s pro soccer league in that country. That came one year after having played in Sweden. As a student-athlete she had played Division I women’s soccer at the University of Louisville after having been her high school’s all-time leading scorer.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was a cradle Catholic, went to Catholic elementary school, and attended Mass regularly with my family.”

“I did gymnastics, I did dance, I did soccer, basketball, and baseball.”

“I went on a retreat my senior year of high school – it was a Catholic retreat – and I just remember leaving there feeling like, I just felt so compelled that the Lord was speaking to me, and I remember coming home, sitting in the kitchen with my parents and I just remember crying and telling them – I just was overwhelmed with His voice… I just felt like He was calling me to do something.”

“When I went to the University of Louisville I got pretty involved with (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and honestly it was so enriching for my faith because it presented Christianity to me just in a different way.”

“I do remember, I would take some of my teammates to church on Sundays… I just felt so drawn to get to Mass and I think it was because I was yearning for the Eucharist.”

“Our teacher said, ‘Oh, what’s one thing that you want people to know about you that they might not know about you,’ and I remember writing, ‘I don’t want people to know me for my soccer abilities, I want people to know me for who I am as a person’.”

“My identity in Christ sort of was tested a little bit more even in my pro career, just because you get a lot of attention, and especially living in some of the countries I did with the attention that the clubs got.”

“I do feel really blessed (that) I was able to go and play in a lot of different places because I’ve always loved getting to meet new people and experience different cultures.”

“I was actively seeking another contract and two years went by before I got the call to go to Turkey.  So, it really definitely tested my faith in the way of wanting to make sure I was following God’s call for me, and I think that really happened during those two years before Turkey.”

“I do remember feeling very conflicted at different periods where I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing it for me, that I was doing it because that was what God wanted me to do.”

“It was the first time also that there was an intersection between my faith and soccer intimately in a sports environment.”

(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)

Jimmy Coleman

He is in the middle of completing three ultramarathons in 30 days. The last one will be at the end of this month and is being called an Adoration Ultra, which will start in Mass, then Adoration, and then running to other Catholic churches and spending time in Adoration at those. He currently owns one course record for most miles ran in 24 hours (103.5). In his days as a student-athlete he competed in JV football, JV soccer, varsity wrestling, and ran cross country.  In the case of the latter, he was team captain and the team finished third in the state and he got scouted by some smaller colleges.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was born and raised Catholic with two parents that are still practicing Catholics, still love each other.”

“When I became a parent, that’s the time more than any other time that I realized just how privileged I was to come from the family that I have.  Many people don’t have parents that are still together, and of those people, many of them don’t have parents that still want to be together.  And I have two parents that genuinely love each other.”

“I chose Saint Sebastian as my patron (Confirmation) saint because, really, I loved sports growing up.  It was always my dream to be a professional athlete in some sport.”

“A friend of mine said, ‘Hey, you know, if you take really good care of your body and you work out and you look really strong, when you’re trying to sell to people, you’ll be more effective because people will respect you as a person and therefore want to do business with you, and then just therefore buy whatever you’re selling.’  So, it was a very vain reason for having any interest in getting back to working out.”

“In my faith, I saw myself as someone that would probably at least have more answers in how we all got here to begin with… I didn’t want to give my children just whatever was convenient for me.”

“To believe that there’s no Creator at all, it’s a very difficult thing to put your faith into.”

“If the resurrection is true, it proves Christianity right and everything else as not just wrong but likely even demonic.”

“I get to go to daily Mass, if nothing else I get to go to Mass every Sunday.  And I’m in the real presence of Jesus Christ… If I told you that every Sunday I’m in the real presence of Jesus, what would you do?  Would you go to your church, or would you go to mine?”

“People are under the impression sometimes that we need to water our faith down in order to reach atheists, and I think that we actually need to radicalize our faith a lot more in order to reach these people, in order for them to actually see people that really believe what they say that they believe.”

“I made this post on LinkedIn and Facebook a year ago, saying how the best growth hack of 2023 was attending daily Mass.”

“If what matters more than anything else is the salvation of our souls, the coolest mastermind to go to is, seeing all the old people in daily Mass every day.”

Related link:

Adoration Ultra website

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

Fr Don Calloway

He is closing in on 21 years since his ordination to the priesthood. He is Vicar Provincial and Vocation Director for the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. He is also a well-known conference speaker AND leads pilgrimages to Catholic shrines around the world. He is the author of 18 books and has a RADICAL conversion story that he tells here. On the sports side, he has been surfing since he was eight years old and has surfed all around the world.

Notable guest quotes:

“We started always living near water and the first place was Virginia Beach, and, I was young, and went to the beach, saw some kids surfing and I wanted to try it and was able to start and I was eight years old  and it just blossomed from there and then everywhere we moved, near water, I just continued to do it and have done it my whole life now… And I was always involved with beach volleyball.”

“We went to Japan, my stepfather’s new assignment was in Japan, which I loved, right, because it’s an island – and lots of islands – so I got to surf in Japan a lot… I was surfing beaches that had never been surfed before.”

“I was in my teens, and I got in a lot of trouble and got involved with a criminal organization called the Yakuza, which is like the mafia – and I was only 15 – eventually I ran away from home and caused a huge international scene and one thing led to another and I ended up actually getting deported from the country because of the stuff that I was doing… so they kicked me out of the country.”

“It was torture for my mom.  My mom’s a saint (for) what I put her through… I didn’t even know that my mother didn’t live in the country anymore.”

“Eventually they apprehended me, threw me in jail, and then kicked me out of the country.”

“They sent me to rehab, so I went to two – drug and alcohol rehabs – and, they didn’t work, I actually got worse.”

“I was following the band The Grateful Dead and going to all these shows and doing so many drugs it was insane.”

“I was down in New Orleans around Mardi Gras time and tried to beat up a police officer, and pulled a knife on him, and, it was crazy, and so I got thrown in jail.”

“I had no morals, I had no compass, I had no real consequences to my actions, I didn’t believe in heaven or hell, I just wanted to have fun… And so, I didn’t have anything that was stopping me, that was holding me back from hurting others.”

“I picked up a book… about the Virgin Mary, and I didn’t even know what that was or who it was.  I was clueless about Christianity.”

“When I had this huge conversion experience I just fell madly in love with Jesus Christ.  I was so in love with Him because He unlocked meaning for me, for why I was here and what life was all about, and I just wanted to serve Him, I wanted to be as close to Him as possible.”

“I love the rosary and I promote it and write about it in those kinds of terms and categories and… I try to bring that – I guess you could say athletics, sports, that – battle kind of scenario into my spirituality… Even the scriptures describe our Lord, the psalms say, ‘The Lord is a warrior’.”

“We’re normal people.  We pray hard and we play hard.”

Related link:

Fr. Calloway’s website

Dan Torpey

He is a competitive Masters Athlete for Olympic weightlifting and strongman competitions, AND he works as a referee, plus he is on the Board for USA Olympic Weightlifting. He has won bronze and gold medals at local and Texas state meets and even did a strongman competition in late 2019 and finished in third place for the master’s group and qualified for Nationals. He also dabbled in “Vintage Baseball” – baseball played by the original 1860’s baseball rules – and he played on such a team for about three years. On the faith side, he is managing partner of Virtuous Leadership LLC, working with bestselling author Alexandre Havard. He is also a Legatus member, serves as a national board member for Young Catholic Professionals, served on the Board of Catholic Charities Dallas, and was a member of Regnum Christi for eight years.

Notable guest quotes:

“We all went to Catholic school… we all had jobs… we helped… pay for our Catholic school education… I went to Catholic grade school, high school, and then ultimately to St. John’s University.”

(was an altar boy at) “Our Lady of the Snows parish in Floral Park (New York).”

“I went to Archbishop Molloy High School, which was about an hour and 25-minute bus ride… from my house.”

“I believe I’ve been a very faithful, devout Catholic, going to Mass and things to that nature, and would volunteer on retreats in high school and college, and help out and go on retreats and different programs like that.”

(when) “My kids went to the school here… my wife and I did participate more with Regnum Christi… I just really rediscovered my faith… I never really moved away from it…  It was kind of a reawakening… for me.”

“When you get close with God, when you practice your faith, when you’re trying to be a better person, often times there’s obstacles too that are pushed in your way – more temptation, more distractions.”

“My wife and I… we’re really working on virtue, growing in virtue.”

“I realized where God was working in my life, He’s moving me and introducing me to these people – I just felt more alive, more empowered, more responsibility to be the best person I could be.”

“I ended up volunteering for the 5am Saturday time slot and I did that for almost a year – I did Eucharistic Adoration – and it changed my life.”

Related links:

Dan Torpey on LinkedIn
Alex Havard 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)

Jay Romig

He is the Team Administrative Director for the National Football League’s New Orleans Saints and has the distinction of being the organization’s longest serving employee, having started with the team in 1977 as an assistant athletic trainer. In 2017 the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame presented him with the Joe Gemelli “Fleur-De-Lis” Award, and he has affectionately earned the unofficial title of “Vice President of Everything.” He had been a football manager all through high school, having attended Brother Martin High School, which is a private, Catholic, all-boys college preparatory school run by the United States Province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

Notable guest quotes:

“Both my parents were born and raised Catholic… We went to Catholic grammar school, St. Dominic’s, St. Louis King of France… my brother followed me to Brother Martin (High School).”

“My dad also was the stadium announcer for the New Orleans Saints, starting in the third year, 1969… back in Tulane Stadium… I’d spot for him, I’d sell programs at the games.  I’ve been doing stuff for the Saints since the early 70s and getting a job to work here out of college was like a dream come true for me.”

“I lived at home all through college and being around two parents who were so heavily into their faith kinda helped.  There’s no reason to stray or not be interested.”

“(New Orleans Head Coach) Hank (Stram) liked me ‘cause I was the only one in the (Saints’) organization that was smaller than him.”

“God does put people in your life for certain reasons.”

“We have a Mass scheduled most of the time the day before the game, sometimes it’s the day of the game if we’re playing that night… Depending upon the season a handful of players, a handful of coaches, some staff (will attend).”

“The owner of the team, Tom Benson… actually went to St. Aloysius High School.  We had a special friendship… He was a strong Catholic.”

“It’s good when you have leadership in the coaching staff.  Our head coach here, Dennis Allen, is a Catholic and definitely wants to make sure we have a Mass.”

“At St. Dominic’s I was on the committee to help start (an adoration chapel)… My hours were 2-3 in the morning on a Tuesday morning, 2am-3am.  And I’ve done it for 23 years now, the same hours.”

“I love it.  I mean it’s great and it’s an hour that you’re in peace with God in the chapel.”

Related link:

Press release including “Fleur-De-Lis” Award announcement

Bennett Lee

A catcher who this past June was chosen by the Detroit Tigers in the sixth round of the 2023 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft after having played collegiately, first at Tulane University and then at Wake Forest. Prior to that, he was a four-year letterwinner on the baseball team at Jesuit High School in Tampa, having been part of the team that ranked No. 1 in the nation in 2020, at 9-0, and that won the state championship in 2019, posting a 27-5 won-lost record.  Away from sports, he is a convert to the Catholic faith, as heard in this discussion.

Notable guest quotes:

“My family’s Christian, and I went to St. Mary’s Episcopal Dayschool, so I was kind of raised in an Episcopal household and I learned a lot at St. Mary’s, and it was awesome, but my faith never really exploded the way it has until I got to Jesuit (High School) and was introduced to Catholicism.”

“Going into Jesuit (High School) as a non-Catholic I was not well read and well learned of the Catholic faith, and I had an incredible religion teacher my freshman year in Intro to Catholicism class.”

“Two really good friends of mine went through RCIA and converted to Catholicism… Seeing those two guys go through the process and ultimately get confirmed really sparked an interest in my heart to do it.”

“I’m very close with Father Hermes, who is the president of Jesuit (High School), and he has had a great impact on me as well.”

“Going into the season I was the third string catcher and then a couple weeks in I earned the starting role and kind of just went from there.  It was really a blessing.”

“God has opened up a lot of doors and a lot of help from a lot of people that… it’s very significant and I’m very grateful.”

“Looking back on that time, it was all just God reeling me back in, just saying, ‘Hey come back to me.  We know baseball isn’t all that important.  I’m more important.  Eternity’s more important.’  And all that kind of helped me, kind of grounded me and helped me to realize all that.”

“The Wake Forest (University) Catholic community was big for me in helping me stay in line with the faith through the whole season, through the whole year, and even today.”

“The Catholic faith wasn’t given to me from birth.  I kind of discovered it – well, through the gift of God, but – on my own and I take ownership of it and that’s why I really appreciate all the things that Catholics have access to, all the sacraments and everything.”

“Now I feel very compelled to just walk one step at a time with God and allow wherever that takes me to take me.”

Related link:

Bennett’s page on MLB.com

(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)

Dr. Dobie Moser

A special episode, of sorts, he returns after having previously been on this show way back on Episode 120, more than two-and-a-half years ago.  He is the Senior Director of Mission Integration, CYO, and Social Action for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Cleveland.  Earlier this year he was awarded St. Ambrose parish’s Servant Leader Award.  Over two years ago he had started a parish-based mental health ministry at St. Ambrose, and, as we hear about during this conversation, back in January of THIS year CYO began training their athletic directors regarding the mental health crises of children and teens.

Notable guest quotes:

“My parish… we were seeing and hearing of some pretty significant mental health issues in families with young people.”

“I went to the pastor… and said, ‘I think we need to do a mental health ministry here in the parish.’  And talk about great pastoral leadership, his response was, ‘I love it.  You have my support.  What do you need’?”

“That led us to say, ‘We need to start training our (athletic directors), who are wonderful folks, and they really care about kids, but this is a different landscape than the one many of us have in our background’.”

“Catholic Charities has an ongoing support network of services, counselors, support groups, et cetera, for anybody of any age.  Well, that led us to say, well what does that look like with the young people entrusted to our care in athletics?  And the front-line people in that are coaches.”

“It is really problematic when individuals with good intention spiritualize mental illness in a negative light, i.e., ‘If you only had more faith.’  i.e., ‘If you prayed more.’  And I would just use the analogy to say, what parent who had a child with a broken arm would say that that is because of lack of faith?”

“Can coaches see themselves – ‘Yes, I coach basketball.  I coach flag football, track and field,’ whatever the sport.  Yes, we value that for the gift that it is.  It is the tool and the needs, but the heart of the matter – are you as a coach willing to be a loving, caring, and trustworthy adult for kids?”

“The See, Judge, Act piece comes from our Catholic social teaching… We should look at any challenges in our world through that framework and connect it to our Catholic faith.”

“I actually think part of being a Christian is we do not look at human suffering and look away.  We actually look toward it and say, ‘What is God calling me to do as a response’?”

“I like the line from St. Don Bosco.  It’s, ‘Because you are young is reason enough to love you.’  Not because you score baskets or because you’re a good or bad athlete.”

“How can we give that pain and loss to God so it’s transformed into something that gives life and hope to the world?”

Related link:

How to Start a Parish Mental Health Ministry (webinar by Dr. Dobie Moser)