There are two sayings that I have heard hundreds of times in my life. One is “You can’t tell a book by its cover,” and the other is an advertising statement that assures us “It’s what’s up front that counts.” I would like to take a little liberty with those two statements and apply them to the world of sports. I think that anyone who has played baseball can attest to the fact that “You can’t tell a baseball by its cover” and “It’s what’s inside that counts.”

When David wrote this instructive psalm, he was in trouble. He was most likely cowering in a hole dug deeply into a hill, hiding from enemies that were pursuing him. He was lonely, desperate and in need of help. As he hid from his adversaries, he felt out of control and uncertain of the future. So David implored the Lord for guidance, acknowledging in this time of distress that his trust and confidence had to come from God.

While I was eating lunch one day in the teacher’s lounge, I overheard an office aide talking with her friend. The office aide could not understand how God could be God and Jesus at the same time—how He could be in heaven and on Earth at the same time! Her friend didn’t know how to respond.

I asked God to give me the words to help them understand this difficult concept, and the Lord, being gracious, brought an idea to my mind. So, feeling confident, I got up from my table and went to tell them about God and an apple.

In the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, sprinter Bob Hayes tied the Olympic record on his way to winning the gold medal in the 100-meter dash. Just a few months later, Hayes was dashing past defensive backs as a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. It was a radical idea at the time: taking a world-class sprinter and turning him into a football player. Hayes’s success altered defensive strategy and changed how football was played.

As the head women’s basketball coach at the same institution for 26 years, I had just completed a rewarding season. We had a great group of athletes who played their hearts out, got along well and won games. There were many magical moments during the season, and no one wanted it to be over. But all good things must come to an end.

One of my favorite Bible stories is David versus Goliath. David was small, weaker than most his age and, by the world’s standards, not prepared to play in the “big game” against the Philistines. If we had read the pregame report for this battle, David would not have been on the roster. But David surprised everyone. He was empowered by his belief in a God who could overcome any obstacle or challenge—even a Philistine giant!

Competition is an obvious part of the coaching life, resulting in either winning or losing. But God’s Word reminds us not to get so caught up in the results that we forget to take care of the flock—the athletes—who have been put under our watch.

Of course, we all want to win. Yet if we forget that we’re really working toward an imperishable crown (as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:25), then we’ve lost sight of why we’re coaching in the first place. In other words, just as we live our lives to please the Good Shepherd, so too should we coach our players with the same goal. In the process, we’ll serve as examples to the sheep. 

I once worked with a head football coach who had a large sign behind his desk that simply read “No Excuses.” What this meant to his staff and players was that he would not accept any explanations when something went wrong. He wanted them to be personally responsible and not put the blame on any other people or circumstances.

One of the Division 1 schools in my area entered its conference tournament as the number eight seed and appeared to be a long shot to win it all. The head coach for the team admitted they fell short of expectations, but that the one goal they could hold on to was winning a conference tournament championship. Despite the odds, the team achieved that goal by knocking off the first-, second- and fourth-seeded teams, earning an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament in the process. As one player said, the team put it together when it counted most.

One of my favorite things about John Wooden’s coaching was that he taught his players each year to put on their socks and tie their shoes properly. You’d think college-aged athletes could already do this, but Wooden took nothing for granted. He paid attention to the little things, which made the big things come more easily for his teams over the years.

Of course, Coach Wooden wanted to teach his players a lesson: If they were going to play in his program, they had to put aside what they wanted to do and follow his plans for the team. That discipline in the small things gave his teams great results, as they won 10 national championships and set an example for the rest of us how the little things make the biggest difference.

Almost every Christian coach I know wants to have a philosophy of coaching that is positive. But in the battle of competition, sometimes we get caught up in the heat of the moment and lose our focus. We may stay positive on the outside, but inside we are feeling the tension—tension that causes us to lose that positive edge.

I have found that what we tell our athletes to think about is exactly what they will think about. We may say, “Don’t ever miss a serve on game point.” What are they thinking when they come to the line? They are thinking about not missing the serve. What do they see? Missing the serve, which is exactly what we told them to think about!