Coach's Corner
Warm-Up
“I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” — John 10:10b
What does a perfect life look like? (Allow players to answer). A perfect life for an athlete might mean being on the best team, being the best player or getting a lot of awards. A perfect life outside of sports might look like being popular and having the right friends, wearing the right clothes and getting your way all the time. Act out your best life and have the campers try to guess what it is!
- How would you describe your best life as an athlete?
- How do you think having that best life would impact your daily existence?
Workout
Professional or Olympic athletes seem like they have the best life. So many people look up to them and want to be like them. But just because they’re famous and are really good at their sport, doesn’t mean they don’t have problems like you and me. It might seem like their life is perfect, but they aren’t always living their best life.
There are many professional athletes that made it to the top; they won the World Series, the Super Bowl or the Masters, yet right after getting there, they had things go wrong in their life. Just because you win or do really well, or even become famous, doesn’t mean you won’t still have problems. You won’t live your best life until you give your life to Jesus.
- How do you think reaching the top of your sport would make you feel?
- Do you ever think about what your life would be like without sports?
ABUNDANT LIFE
In John 9, Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth, but the religious leaders were not happy. They didn’t like that the blind man was telling everyone about what Jesus had done for him. In the next Chapter, John 10, those same religious leaders and Jesus were talking, and Jesus explained that being blind doesn’t just mean not being able to see out of your eyes.
Jesus also taught His disciples a similar lesson—that you can have what the world calls a great life and yet have no life at all.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?” — Matthew 12:25–26
When we invite God into our life, we can have the greatest life. It’s the only life the is based on Truth.
Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that we can have full, loving life through Him. It’s a life with greater joy, greater peace, greater purpose and greater freedom from the pressure to perform or do well.
- What are some areas of your life could you use more joy, peace, purpose and freedom?
Wrap-Up
There is no greater life than a life that is surrendered to God. Here are three key points to show what this truth can look like in your life:
- Joyful Life. Joy is greater than happiness. It’s a state of contentment in all things, the good times and the bad, that only greater life in Christ can bring. — Psalm 16:11
- Peaceful Life. Peace is hard to come by inside the performance trap. But God’s peace will overcome all your fears and anxieties. — Philippians 4:7
- Purposeful Life. There’s more to life than awards, achievements or material gain that comes through competition or a career. God’s purpose is life-giving and life-changing. — Exodus 9:16
Huddle up and shout out, Greater Life! Close in prayer or ask an athlete to lead the team in prayer