10.22.18

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Quote of the Week

Article of the Week

Three Keys to Pre-Season Success

Pre-season is a great time to get a head start on your opponent, as well as sharpen your skills for the upcoming season. Depending on the state, coaches may or may not be able to work with you in workouts. And depending on if you play a fall sport, your preseason length could be very short. This makes pre-season a different time than the off-season and should be approached slightly different. Click the image below to read on.

A Word from DistinXion

Weekly Devotional

​“​​​We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” - Romans 5:3-4

Perseverance isn’t always about doing it all by yourself. Sometimes it’s about faith. Sometimes the only way you get through it is by saying, ‘God, I need you to help me through this. It’s possible to persevere through hard times because we know that Jesus persevered for us.

Question 1

​What are you holding onto? When you’re in a time that is hard, what do you hold on to?
Is it selfishness? Wanting to get out of the situation by making it as easy as possible for yourself?
Is it a friend? Clinging to friendship to help you get through a situation? Is it Jesus? Fixing your eyes on Him and holding steadfast to Him while you persevere through tough circumstances??

Question 2

​​​What does it mean to “rejoice in our sufferings?” Why would we be thankful when we are going
through times of suffering? How could we rejoice in our sufferings?

Drill of the Week from Dr. Dish

Game-like Preparation with David Hicks

CLICK HERE to view this week’s Drill of the Week from Dr. Dish.

Message from Coach Thompson

Using Your Talents

We all have different approaches, philosophies, etc.  No better advice could be offered to new coaches other than to simply be yourself.  Be you and be you to the upmost of your abilities.  Don’t try to copy another coaches methodologies for success - it is a sure fire way to fail.  I heard Steve Bennett (former New Castle coach) speak at a clinic once and he presented on “40 Things to Better Your Program” and he offered up all great things that they did with the New Castle program that were not necessarily all basketball things that made them better.  Then he followed that up by saying, “Now don’t go home and try to do all forty of these things because you will get yourself fired.”  In other words, if you go home and try to put in everything you learned at clinics or round-tables you won’t be successful.  Try to take a couple of nuggets that will work for you and get better.  Use your talents.

The Lord has given us all different talents as coaches.  We have to have faith in our abilities and the abilities of the coaches around us and use those talents in the best way to help our players get better on and off the court.  In our spiritual walk, God knows our talents and he has placed us exactly where we need to be for exactly the right reasons, right now.  Embrace that in whatever level you are coaching and in whatever school you are coaching at.  Remember He seeks us to do our best for Him and to use our talents for his glory.

Coaches, have an awesome week of practice (girls) and preparing for the upcoming season (guys).  Remember the words from Peter and use your talents to your program’s benefit this week, “10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
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Message from Jason Brand & Billy Holder, SW Indiana FCA

The Focus of the Eyes

READY 

"Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" - Matthew 14:29b-30

SET

So much in sports is related to the eyes. A ball is dropped because a player takes her eyes off the ball at the last minute. A batter misses the pitch because he fails to keep his eye on the ball. As a coach you've likely cautioned your players, "Keep your head up," so that an athlete will look at the right thing in order to avoid injury and be most effective.

Coaches are a lot like the Apostle Peter. We may get the season off to a good start but as the weeks progress, we often find ourselves looking at the winds of difficulty that blow throughout the season. If we look at these winds, we cannot also be looking at Jesus, and if we aren't looking at Jesus, our walk of faith will seem dry and unfruitful. Scripture warns that one of the causes for spiritual barrenness is "the worries of this age" (Mk 4:19).

Prayerfully focusing on God's Word is the key for coaches in formulating the best possible game plan, one that involves keeping our eyes on Jesus even during the most intense moments. This was a plan that Jesus modeled. We read, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there" (Mk 1:35). Whatever time we schedule to be apart with God will enable us keep our eyes focused amidst the waves of busy and stressful seasons.

GO

1. When is a good time to meet with Jesus daily?
2. How can this Bible reading fit into a solid spiritual game plan?
3. What will be the waves challenging you to keep this plan?

WORKOUT

Psalm 119:105-12

OVERTIME

Father, draw me to keep a daily time with You. Amen.

Contact Us

Coach Thompson - coachthompson44@gmail.com - @coachthompson44
Luke Zeller - lukezeller@distinxion.org - @lukezeller40 and @distinxion
Nick Bartlett - nick@drdishbasketball.com

Dave Hudson - dhudson@fca.org

Jason Brand - jbrand@fca.org