Latest / Fostering Faith / Let's talk Sports

Transcript

Let's talk Sports · Fostering Faith

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to fostering faith today in our first episode.
• 0:05
  We'll be talking about sports.
• 0:08
  And so we're a sports like family.
• 0:10
  My husband loves the Cardinals.
• 0:12
  Gia's in track volleyball and basketball.
• 0:14
  I got to be a part of her JV coaching last year and this year we're going to lead in
• 0:19
  varsity basketball coaching.
• 0:21
  And so we are a house full of faith.
• 0:25
  And so as we go into the sporting season, Gia, how do you feel like your attitude has
• 0:33
  become different following Christ as you came into your middle school year?
• 0:38
  I feel like following Christ has made it way better to like follow.
• 0:42
  Do you feel like your attitude on the court has been any different?
• 0:46
  Oh, yeah.
• 0:47
  But like, I feel like since I was raised in a Christian home, I feel like I've always
• 0:52
  been like, like having like a good attitude and everything on the court.
• 0:57
  Do you feel like it's important to have a sportsman like attitude on the court?
• 1:02
  Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 1:03
  I do because like you what you do in the game, someone's watching you in the stands or like
• 1:10
  a little kid is so like you have to have that good attitude and everything.
• 1:15
  I do.
• 1:16
  Yeah, I absolutely.
• 1:17
  And as you had mentioned in our intro that you do go to a Christian school and there's
• 1:22
  unbelievers in the stands.
• 1:23
  There's we play different teams.
• 1:25
  There's the referees.
• 1:26
  I mean, and we know that, you know, God is always watching us.
• 1:30
  And so I think that he gives us talent to shine on the court.
• 1:35
  And because we know scripture, I think that we're we're held to a higher standard because
• 1:40
  as Christians, we are set apart.
• 1:42
  Do you feel like having faith keeps you from having fear and anxiety?
• 1:47
  No, I feel like fear and anxiety is just an emotion that you can't really stop.
• 1:53
  I mean, you can, but like it's just an emotion you have.
• 1:58
  And do you feel like that the fear and anxiety as you've kind of game closer to Christ, do
• 2:05
  you feel like it's getting better?
• 2:07
  Do you feel there is there a difference between fear, anxiety and excitement?
• 2:13
  I mean, do you have a way of telling the difference?
• 2:16
  Oh, yeah, I'm a way of telling the difference between anxiety and excitement.
• 2:20
  Really, I just pick out like different types.
• 2:23
  Like, am I like excited?
• 2:25
  It's like the team.
• 2:27
  Am I like just like nervous or anything?
• 2:30
  That's how I pick it out.
• 2:31
  And God has helped me with anxiety because I can just go to him and ask him to take it
• 2:36
  away and everything and take like slow and easy breaths.
• 2:40
  And so I do think it's important to differentiate between anxiety and excitement.
• 2:44
  I think that people get nervous before they go into the sporting game.
• 2:49
  They get nervous or anxious about like the teams.
• 2:52
  And I think that, you know, that's a negative vibe versus like having excitement that's
• 2:56
  more positive.
• 2:57
  I mean, it's the same type of feelings.
• 2:59
  You can still have like your adrenaline's going or, you know, your heart rate's going.
• 3:03
  You have this like kind of upset stomach, but, you know, having more of a positive tone
• 3:07
  to it and saying that you're excited because you guys have trained, you know, that you
• 3:11
  have the talent that God has given you to do, you know, what you're going to do on the
• 3:17
  court.
• 3:18
  And so I do think that, you know, just having that more positive outlook on, hey, I'm excited
• 3:22
  to see what this team is.
• 3:23
  I'm excited to see how our team plays versus like, oh my gosh, I'm so nervous.
• 3:27
  I'm so like nervous about like losing and going on in that nature.
• 3:32
  I think that it's more of a, let's turn into a positive spin versus a negative spin.
• 3:36
  And I think that can be a flip sometimes.
• 3:39
  Whenever you're on the court, who are you playing for?
• 3:43
  I'm playing for God in my school.
• 3:46
  Do you feel like having that good attitude, what happens if your parent would make you
• 3:51
  play sports?
• 3:52
  How could you turn it into something that's positive?
• 3:56
  Because some people, like, some people can't play sports.
• 4:02
  That's like their only dream.
• 4:03
  So like, just think, you have such a privilege that you get a walk in the morning, that you
• 4:07
  get to run, that you get to dribble the ball, that you get a jump, that you get to do everything.
• 4:13
  Some people just can't do that.
• 4:15
  And I think that instead of, you know, you're not playing for, you know, your parent or
• 4:20
  the school, in my eyes, I think that we, and everything that we do, we're doing it
• 4:25
  unto the Lord.
• 4:26
  And so we're not playing for man, we're playing for God.
• 4:29
  And so I think that it's really important to give him credit for, you know, everything.
• 4:35
  You know, the ability to, like what you said, to run, jump, play, breath, he gave us breath
• 4:39
  in our lungs.
• 4:40
  And so, you know, playing at 110%, like every game, if your parent is making you play, you
• 4:48
  know, you're part of a team.
• 4:49
  And so it's really about having that discussion with your parent.
• 4:53
  Like I really don't want to play the sport.
• 4:55
  Like why are you making me having open communication?
• 4:59
  Do you feel like you can tell yourself apart having Christ in your life versus teams that
• 5:07
  maybe don't know Christ?
• 5:09
  Yeah, I know.
• 5:11
  Because just all your action, the way you act, the way you react and everything.
• 5:18
  I think, and even just as a coaching aspect of it, I think us, you know, we get so excited
• 5:23
  we get, like, you know, we can get upset, we can get mad, we can get, you know, all
• 5:27
  the different emotions that come, but the way that we react, we really do have to remember
• 5:32
  grace and mercy and just how it's so easy to get frustrated.
• 5:36
  But then also too, we have to emulate and be that reflection of Jesus.
• 5:41
  And so in the times where we have screwed up so bad as a human and how God just loves
• 5:47
  us, you know, just so unconditionally and just passing it on to you guys as the players.
• 5:54
  Now is that going to lower our expectations of you guys?
• 5:57
  Absolutely not.
• 5:58
  You know, we do know your abilities.
• 6:00
  We do know how capable you are.
• 6:02
  And so just pushing you and to be better.
• 6:06
  Do you know of any instances where you were afraid to try out for a sport?
• 6:12
  I mean, yeah, track.
• 6:14
  I was really afraid to try out because I'm not the fastest runner like ever or the most
• 6:19
  long distance runner.
• 6:21
  But then my coach came up to me and she was like, you want to do hurdles?
• 6:24
  I was like, sure.
• 6:27
  So I did hurdles and then I was the only girl for a little bit there.
• 6:29
  I got my friend to do it.
• 6:30
  Then I got my other friend to do it.
• 6:32
  It was like, now it's like really, really fun.
• 6:35
  And so I do think that's important to that you said that you, you know, you were encouraging
• 6:40
  your other friends to do it and how did you encourage them to do it?
• 6:44
  I just begged them until they came and then like, I say you'll be like really good at
• 6:48
  it and make like encourage them.
• 6:50
  Like, yeah.
• 6:51
  And I think that's also, you know, a Christ like, you know, attribute is that you because
• 6:56
  life and death are in your tongue.
• 6:58
  And so surrounding yourself with people and building each other up, you know, I think
• 7:02
  is so important in the sports community and life in general is about surrounding yourself
• 7:08
  with people that are lifting you up and that you didn't let fear intimidate you because
• 7:15
  Christ gave us a spirit of courage and strength and not a timidity and fear.
• 7:20
  And so, you know, whenever we're in scripture and being, you know, an athlete that loves
• 7:27
  God and just is on fire for Jesus, I think that knowing scripture.
• 7:32
  So whenever you guys get into, you know, those hard moments like, oh my gosh, like I can't
• 7:36
  do this.
• 7:37
  I can't.
• 7:38
  I can do this because we have a Holy Spirit that's in us too.
• 7:42
  And so we know that it is just so important that we just try, we just try our best.
• 7:50
  Now do you feel like having Christian friends is beneficial to having, to doing well in
• 7:57
  sports?
• 7:58
  Yeah, I feel like Christian friends, they know what they're supposed to do.
• 8:02
  They know that they're supposed to help their friend out when they like need them and everything.
• 8:06
  Yeah, so it definitely does help.
• 8:08
  Now do you feel like it's important to be friends and to play other teams that are not
• 8:13
  Christian?
• 8:14
  Yeah, because we can reflect on them.
• 8:16
  We can like show them what to do and whatever.
• 8:19
  And like, this is a little simple things like if they miss a shot or something or like,
• 8:24
  if they fall on the ground, always help them up, always do.
• 8:28
  Yeah, showing respect and the words that you say on the court can be so reflective because
• 8:33
  if they come in from a non-Christian home and they just don't know the words to say and
• 8:40
  so the words that we speak over people could really just even just change their day.
• 8:45
  And so if they miss a shot or if they get hurt, just helping them up, lending them a
• 8:49
  hand and just, oh my, you played a really good game and giving credit where credit is
• 8:55
  due if you played a really good person and not being, and having poor sportsmanship.
• 9:02
  I think it's so important as the kids are young and youth and junior high, high school,
• 9:09
  and that way they're really grounded in good sportsmanship because they, and they can see
• 9:14
  that in the fans.
• 9:15
  They can see that in their parents, how their parent responds, how the coaches respond.
• 9:21
  I think it's really important that we can show the students how to act.
• 9:29
  And so as a mom, as a professional woman, you are following not the community standards,
• 9:39
  you're following kingdom standards.
• 9:41
  And so God has a high expectation, I think, of us and that we are to emulate him.
• 9:49
  And so are we going to be perfect?
• 9:50
  No.
• 9:51
  And he knows that.
• 9:53
  But we try to be better every day.
• 9:56
  Do you feel like as you walk into your last eighth grade year going into high school,
• 10:04
  what are some things that you could tell, maybe some sixth graders that are scared to
• 10:10
  try out for something?
• 10:12
  Is there anything that you could tell them to shine some light on what to do or what
• 10:19
  not to do?
• 10:20
  I definitely do.
• 10:21
  I'm not too sure to not do it if you're too afraid.
• 10:26
  Like who cares what other people think, just care what God will think.
• 10:31
  He thinks it's so cool that you want to try out.
• 10:33
  He wants you to try out and he doesn't want you to fail, but when you do fail, he wants
• 10:39
  you to come to him.
• 10:40
  So if you do fail, God is always there for you.
• 10:43
  Yeah.
• 10:44
  And I think that's would be a great thing to maybe end this episode on is that God is
• 10:49
  always there.
• 10:50
  And it doesn't matter if you're on the track field, the volleyball court, the basketball
• 10:54
  court, lacrosse, field hockey, badminton.
• 10:59
  It doesn't matter.
• 11:01
  Tennis, pickleball.
• 11:03
  We always want to show Christ and no matter what court that we're on, because someone
• 11:08
  is watching.
• 11:09
  There is going to be someone in the stands and we really have got to get God's name
• 11:16
  out there into the world because it's about spreading the light.
• 11:18
  It's about growing the kingdom, it's about making heaven crowded.
• 11:22
  And so how do we do that?
• 11:24
  We want to enjoy and bring people to the party.
• 11:27
  And so it's about emulating and just showing love because of the love that Christ has given
• 11:33
  us and his grace and mercy are so good because we screw up every day and yet he loves us
• 11:39
  anyway.
• 11:40
  I mean, he literally died for us.
• 11:43
  And so how could we just not love life to the fullest?
• 11:47
  And he gave us breath and so we are a sports family here and so we do take health and wellness
• 11:53
  so good.
• 11:54
  And so fueling your body right, eating the food that God made, meat, vegetables, berries,
• 12:01
  not eating a lot of junk food.
• 12:03
  Gia does not care for that idea.
• 12:06
  She likes the junk food.
• 12:07
  I love it.
• 12:09
  But I do take fitness pretty seriously.
• 12:12
  And so in this household, we try to eat real food, clean food, I exercise every day.
• 12:18
  I do try to press that into Gia how to exercise and how to strength train.
• 12:23
  She says it on buff because I do strength train every day.
• 12:27
  I do take workouts pretty seriously because this is our body, this is our temple.
• 12:32
  And so we always want to take such great care of it.
• 12:35
  Besides Jesus and wellness, I'm pretty passionate about those two topics.
• 12:41
  And so as we end this episode, thank you for listening and tune in for the next episode
• 12:46
  and have a great week.
• 12:47
  Bye.