Episodes

David Belfield

He is the head men’s basketball coach at Belmont Abbey College — a Catholic institution. Previously he had been an assistant coach at the United States Military Academy (Army West Point). As a student-athlete he had played collegiately for two seasons at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, before moving into a student-assistant coaching role. He had earned his first coaching position in 2018 at UNC-Charlotte and is a graduate of Charlotte Catholic High School.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was baptized (Catholic) at a young age… as I transitioned my junior year of high school to Charlotte Catholic, that’s when it kind of picked back up for me and I was a member of RCIA.”

“As a junior in high school I was actually in the class with some of the younger children and that’s when I did my first confession, first communion, confirmation, and all that as a high school student.”

“Maybe I was worshipping the game of basketball.  I don’t think it was until I got into the coaching side that I put a lot more thought into using basketball as a vehicle.”

“(My dad) saw basketball as a way to help those kids make better decisions, to take them off the street and kind of give them something to strive for.  So that was probably one of the big pieces for me early on, seeing that you can use the game to really help people.”

“Thankfully, the two coaches that I worked for first, their faith was really important to them… (they) constantly were connecting faith and basketball, and who they were as a coach kind of was a direct correlation of their faith.”

“I played for two coaches in college who were both Christians.”

“This is a Catholic college.  When I interviewed for the job, they didn’t ask me any questions about Xs and Os, what we’re going to do, how I was going to run practice, style of play.  It was all about, ‘How are you going to help develop these young men in body, mind, and spirit.’  That’s all they cared about.”

“For us, personally, as a team, obviously we pray before and after a contest.  The biggest thing for us, though, with myself and our staff is we just try to pour into our young men on a daily basis and we try to know who they are as people so that we can help them grow in all areas of their life.”

“What I like to tell guys, ‘If you’re faith is important to you, regardless of if you’re Catholic, Muslim, Baptist, whatever it is, this is a place where you can grow’.”

“I feel like I’ve grown the most in my faith when I’m around people who also prioritize their faith.”

“Be thankful for the hard times.  It’s easy to be thankful when things are going well.”

Related link:

David’s bio on Belmont Abbey 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.)

Rick Eckstein

He has been working in baseball for parts of four decades now, including having been the hitting coach for the Washington Nationals and the Pittsburgh Pirates as well as the player information coach for the Los Angeles Angels AND the minor league hitting coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. He was also on the coaching staff of the 2008 Team USA Olympic baseball team, plus he coached at the collegiate level, including the University of Kentucky, as well as the University of Florida, having played for the Gators during his years as a student-athlete.

Notable guest quotes:

“We were a very strong Catholic family… I was born and raised with a very strong faith and at the very young age of around seven I started doing the altar boy (duties).”

“Everything about our faith, ya’ know, praying and relying on the Lord and everything, was very strong in our household.”

“I started playing baseball.  I was, at the time, six (years old).  So, I did the Little League Baseball thing.  I was an avid surfer… And then I did gymnastics.  I did the rings in gymnastics… And I also did basketball.”

“Definitely my faith was a big component in that because when you’re sitting in the silence of your own head, thinking about what your future looks like, what just happened, I just said, ‘Ya’ know, Lord, everything always happens for a reason, and it’s always turned out for the best’.”

“That’s how my faith got me through the injury, is, I just said, ‘Okay, Lord, maybe I was meant to be a coach, not a player’.”

“I can remember going to Sunday church in Gainesville, Florida, at the University of Florida, and I would pray – I had my own prayer in my head that I said daily – and I started that that year because I didn’t know that what I did was any good at coaching, so I prayed to be a good coach.”

“If I have a plan and I show up ready to execute that plan and I’ve done my homework and put everything out there, then I know the good Lord’s gonna, whatever happens is best for me.”

“In the process with that, when you get to know me, you get a sense of my faith as well.  You get a sense of who I am as a person and what I value and a lot of times the conversations in the (batting) cage do have a faith-based message behind it.”

“We went on a retreat… we hired a bus and… went to Miami to see Pope John Paul (II).  So, we made the trek down to Miami from the Orlando area… When I always, when I see the word ‘holy,’ I think of that day, and I don’t know why.  But when I think of ‘holy’ I always think of seeing the Pope riding through the crowd… It was fascinating; truly, truly moving.”

“We started bringing in one of the local priests to do Catholic Mass inside the locker room so guys wouldn’t have to miss ‘cause Sunday day games are tough to go to Mass.”

“I could tell you the story about being at Dodger Stadium and Vin Scully reading the first reading and second readings to us as a congregation inside Dodger Stadium.  You talk about super special?!”

“I went and saw Pope Benedict.  I took my mom to Rome, Italy … and we did Mass with him and, just phenomenal, fantastic.  One of the best trips I’ve had.”

(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.)

Joe Wieland

He has been playing professional baseball since being selected in the fourth round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Texas Rangers.  He is a pitcher who has played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Seattle Mariners, plus he has earned numerous honors while pitching at the minor league level, and he even spent a couple seasons pitching in Japan and one other in Korea.  As a student-athlete he had been named State Player of the Year by two newspapers while playing high school baseball.

Notable guest quotes:

“The Catholic faith was a priority with my parents, my grandma and grandpa, Sunday Mass, it was a necessity growing up.  I went to Our Lady of the Snows elementary school and then I went to Bishop Manogue Catholic High School.  While I was at Manogue I went – and actually led – a Quest Retreat … and then… Kairos.”

“Growing up the Catholic faith was – a cradle Catholic – it always part of my life.”

(waiting for the MLB Draft) “There was a lot of praying.  There was a lot of just asking for guidance, and at the end of the day it’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to.  God’s got a plan and we were fortunate enough that Texas came calling in the fourth round.”

“You can’t just be kind of a, say you’re Catholic, go through the motions, go to Mass sometimes; it’s, you gotta be all in.”

“That retreat was really what kinda lit and got my faith journey kinda more back on track and full head of steam.”

“I realized going through that whole rehab process, if I had not relied on my faith… I don’t know where I would’ve ended up.”

“That year I really had to trust what God’s plan was because the writing was on the wall; hey, you’re healthy, and you’re pitching, you’re gonna be in the big leagues… it was tough.”

“It’s God’s plan, it’s not ours.  That’s what you really have to grasp, and you trust that it’s not your plan.  And when you do, when you fully let go, you see all along that things are better when you trust, and you let God handle it.”

“Going through that consecration it brought me so much closer to Jesus and through St. Joseph…  And then I’ve had a devotion to Mary for a while now.  I feel like the rosary is a weapon against Satan that I think every Catholic should be carrying around and praying.”

Related links:

Joe Wieland on MLB.com
Joe Wieland on MiLB.com

(This episode contains a prayer originally from prayers-and-poetry.blogspot.com, as seen in Play Like A Champion Today’s prayerbook for sports, God, Be In My Sport)

Bear Woznick

He returns after having first been on this show way back in October of 2019 (Episode 38). He is a TV and radio host, author, speaker, and world surfing champion. He operates Deep Adventure Ministries and his new book — his third book — is called, “12 Rules for Manliness: Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?”

Notable guest quotes:

“I tell the men, teach confirmation classes, be young adult leaders, and coach… I just think it’s incredibly vital and important work if you just coach.  You don’t even have to tell them about Jesus, they’ll know you’re a Christian because you’re modeling the virtues of fortitude, of justice, of self-mastery, of prudence, of faith, hope, and love.”

“(My wife and I) are going to get on our boat and we’re going to sail away, but we do know that God is up to something.  But our first step is just to take a deep breath, and say, ‘Okay, Lord, we’re listening.’  There’s a scripture verse that says ‘those (that) are led by the Spirit are like the wind’.”

“I love the catechism.  I think everyone should read for a few minutes every day and make their way through that catechism – let the catechism read you.”

“My dad was actually a deacon there in Lahaina at the Maria Lanakila Catholic Church.  And with all that tragedy, what’s interesting is that everything burnt to the ground, except that Catholic church… We had Mass there three days after the (wildfires).”

“In Hawaii when there’s someone who passes away, we’ll have a paddle out, and it happened two weeks later… we had about a thousand people paddle out on our surfboards, paddle out about a half a mile, and then we all get in a big circle and then we splash the water up in the air and we just pray.”

“I love that scripture verse in 1 Corinthians 13, ‘Be on the alert, make a stand, act like men, and do it all in love’.”

“We believe in fitness to witness.  If you’re not physically fit, you’re not going to fulfill your mission.”

“John Paul II, he says, ‘Love is self-donation’.”

“My personal creed is that the most radical quest a man can pursue is to abandon himself to the wild and adventure of God’s Will.”

Related links:

School of Manliness website
Bear’s new book

Dr Brian Duncan

He owns and coaches at a mixed martial arts gym and runs an acupuncture sports medicine clinic.  He has been training in martial arts for 30 years, having started in karate and gotten his black belt in Koei Kan Karate at just 14 years old. He eventually trained in Wing Chun and practiced and taught it for ten years and got a black belt in it as well.  Along the way he dabbled in different martial arts like Kendo, freestyle wrestling, Judo, and others, eventually finding his way into the world of MMA. He is now a fifth-degree black belt in SGC Karate and Kickboxing and a blue belt in BJJ. He is a convert to the faith and recently started a line of Catholic themed athletic clothing called Catholic Fightwear.

Notable guest quotes:

“I started playing sports, well, specifically doing martial arts, when I was about four (years old)… There was a guy at our church that ran a karate school, so they got me into that, and I’ve done that ever since.  I also played some baseball as a kid and soccer.  I actually did soccer all the way through high school and was on the varsity team as a goalie.”

“I always had a dream since I was about ten years old that I wanted to run a Dojo, but in between there I actually had set out to be a pastor.”

“I started a gym, and it has been going pretty well and I’ve seen God’s providence where I had a friend of mine come in who wanted to invest in it and kind of become a co-owner and so we’re actually building up the MMA gym… God just keeps providing.”

“My whole conversion was probably a good decade-long journey.”

“I went to a Bible school briefly, which is kind of like a seminary.  They’ll call ‘em Bible Institutes… and I began to study Biblical languages.”

“I got myself a Catholic Catechism because I wanted to know exactly what the church taught and not just give my version of it or what I’d heard from other people.”

“I found that I couldn’t really deny Catholic teaching anymore and I couldn’t argue against it because I was agreeing with it.”

“I’d been reading some theology from, like, Thomas Aquinas.  St. Francis de Sales was huge in my conversion.”

“Even to this day, people ask (my wife), ‘Why did you convert?’  And she’ll just say things like, ‘Because I trust my husband.  God put him there and I’ve trusted him so far and I just know he won’t mislead me’.”

“I found that through coaching I can help other people build their confidence.  I can help other people just affect their lives in positive ways.  And that to me has been far more powerful to me as a person than being a champion myself.”

“Coaching is so much more enriching to me than being a competitor because when I’m a competitor I lift myself up, but when I’m a coach I get to lift up an innumerable amount of people.”

Related link:

Catholic Fightwear website

(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)

Brooks Bollinger

He was chosen by the New York Jets in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft and spent time with four different organizations between then and 2009, to also include the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys, and Detroit Lions. He went on to play for the United Football League’s Florida Tuskers, leading them to a perfect regular season won-lost record and to the championship game and was named season MVP and came back to start for the Tuskers the next season. He went on to two high school football coaching jobs and was the quarterbacks coach at the University of Pittsburgh.  Back in his days as a student-athlete he was a four-year starting quarterback on a football scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, and in 2017 he was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame.  Listen for a powerful story in the second half of the show when he describes a professional opportunity and the sacrifice he made for family reasons.

Notable guest quotes:

“I was born Catholic, baptized, and then I attended St. Michael’s Catholic School… that was K-6.”

“The first NFL game I ever went to, I was wearing a uniform.”

“I grew up being Catholic because I was born Catholic and I certainly, being the first born, wanted to do the right thing and enjoyed kind of learning about the faith and doing all the right things.”

“I prayed more probably to help me be a good teammate and help me play well enough to help my teammates be successful and for us to be successful.”

(In college) “My faith, I knew it was important to me, I knew what my values were, I think my values did help guide me.”

(In college) “I was also really lucky, we had a team priest in Madison, Monsignor Mike Burke, who was an amazing man that was kind of the rock for me.”

“There was a ton of failures and they hurt at the time, but as I look back, I think those are the things that’ve helped shape who I am today as much as anything.”

(regarding any spiritual direction during his pro career) “For me was kind of a mish mash of people, based on the different stops that I had, whether that be teammates or priests that were involved with the team or outside the team.”

“I think there’s so many great things that sports teach us and it’s such a great environment to learn about yourself and how you react under pressure and how you react in these moments and how you build trust with people and how to be selfless.”

“I grew up in what I call the Norman Rockwell era of college football.  My dad and his staff, they coached to use football as a vehicle to shape young men.  In my mind, that’s the only reason anybody coaches… I never coached to show how smart I was.  I didn’t coach to show that I could out scheme other people.  I coached to use that as a vehicle to shape young men’s lives.”

“Matt (Birk) sends a text out to, I don’t know, twelve or fifteen people, and said, ‘Hey, I feel like I need something right now.  I’m going to do this Exodus 90, who’s in?’  And I didn’t even look at the thing, I just said, ‘I’m in.  Like, I’m hungry for whatever you’re doing’.”

Related link:

Brooks Bollinger career stats from Pro Football Reference

(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)

Marty Langlois

She runs Rebuild the Body — Catholic-based coaching integrated with fitness — and she also runs Catholic Body Image, which uses a Theology of the Body approach. She is also a fitness instructor and is in the early stages of starting a podcast. As a student-athlete she had played basketball in high school and then in college worked the women’s basketball team’s home games.  She later became an assistant coach for high school basketball and present day is getting ready to run a 5K in November. She has a story that she tells here about a major medical occurrence that she has had to work to overcome.

Notable guest quotes:

“I went to Catholic school from kindergarten and literally all the way through graduate school.”

“My parents were focused on raising us in our faith… and then there was also an interest for me, personally, to grow in the faith and learn in the faith.”

“I went to the University of the Incarnate Word (in San Antonio, Texas).”

“I’m also a big Duke basketball fan… have absolutely no personal connection with Duke, but I developed a fascination for Coach K and the way he coached the team, the way he encouraged leadership, and even brought his own faith as a Catholic into what he did.”

“I’ve worked in campus ministry, music ministry, hospice ministry, I worked in hospital ministry as a summer intern as a chaplain, and parish ministry as the Catholic Religious Education Coordinator for the Hollomon Air Force Base chapel in Alamogordo, New Mexico.”

“I don’t believe God inflicts the suffering.  I’ve never once believed He inflicts the pain.”

“The conclusion I drew was, ‘Well, if He’s allowing this to happen’ – because, we believe as Catholics that out of suffering can come, His glory can shine through that.”

“Just reflecting on even the cross of Christ, the most horrific event in all of human history led to the greatest glory and story ever told of the Resurrection, and that’s what I held onto was knowing something was going to come out of this.”

“I saw that, if you will, the manifestation of the body of Christ, or that Eucharist, you kind of see that heart of who we are spreading out, become bread broken, shared for others, I actually got to experience that and witness that through the parish community we were surrounded by.”

“I really wanted to help and do something… and build this bridge between my love for the faith and now a growing love for fitness.”

“When you’re not looking sometimes God helps you find what you’re looking for.”

Related link:

Website being launched for Catholic Fitness Coaching