FCA Coaches Academy Podcast

Dr. Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares compelling reasons why coaches in the 21st century should be deliberate about coaching the heart of their athletes due to the societal changes that have taken place over the past two generations.  Click here to download/listen

Dr. Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry gives an introduction and overview of the 3Dimensional Coaching concept, and explains why every coach should be deliberate about coaching beyond the first dimension only. Click here to download/listen

Dr. Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry introduces the revolutionary concept of 3-Dimensional Coaching, and how a focus on coaching in the 2nd-Dimension will help coaches capture the heart of his/her athletes. Click here to download/listen

Motivation is defined as the inclination to pursue and persist in the journey towards a desired outcome.  Extrinsic motivation occurs when the inclination to pursue and persist is imposed by positive external factors like scholarships or trophies, or negative external factors like the threat of punishment or coercion.  Intrinsic motivation occurs when that inclination is driven by an interest in or enjoyment of the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on ex...

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares some biblical truth behind the concepts that are presented in the Motivation I unit.   Click here to download/listen

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares an additional story about a coach and the powerful impact coaches can have on athletes when they learn to coach in a way that motivates from the inside out. Click here to download/listen

By being deliberate about how you structure your practice plan, you can create an environment on the field or on the court that fosters intrinsic motivational growth in your athletes. The combination of competent “leader modeling” and capable “peer modeling” can be a powerful formula to produce intrinsically motivated athletes. Although it will take courage, preparation, and planning to use delegation as an effective development tool, delegating authority to the right student-leaders is the most...

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares some of the biblical truths behind the concepts that are presented in the Motivation II unit.   Click here to download/listen

Confidence may be the most influential psychological contributor to success on the playing field for an athlete or a team. Confidence can be defined as an individual’s belief that he/she has the necessary skills to produce a desired outcome. When confidence is lost, an athlete must continue to work on the fundamentals of physical performance (1st dimension).

Every training and competitive experience offers information that can either build or harm an athlete’s confidence. Optimistic athletes are taught by a coach how to recognize positive feedback and distance themselves from negative feedback. In this session, Jeff explains the different dynamics of “attribution theory,” and how you can drastically impact athletes’ confidence level in all areas of their lives simply by how you coach them on the field.

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares some of the biblical truths behind the concepts that are presented in the Confidence II unit.   Click here to download/listen

Few things like competitive athletics have the ability to put on display the whole range of human emotions. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and everything in between is regularly felt on fields across the nation and around the world. Although there are many things that cause emotional responses, in sports emotion is often a response to performance.

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares some of the biblical truths behind the concepts that are presented in the Emotions I unit.   Click here to download/listen

It should be the goal of every coach to help athletes gain mastery over their emotions so that they can help rather than harm athletic performance. This begins with a coach’s personal awareness of the emotional response and it’s effects, and then helping the athlete become aware, take control and practice responding accordingly. In this session, Jeff helps coaches understand the difference between unpleasant emotions that help performance and unpleasant emotions that harm performance.

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares some of the biblical truths behind the concepts that are presented in the Emotions II unit.   Click here to download/listen

When a team becomes unified in pursuit of it’s goal, it’s a beautiful thing. Coaches know how to recognize it when they see it and feel it, but how can they coach for team cohesion with intentionality when the culture shapes athletes to be “me-centered?” In this session, Jeff shares some of the social dynamics that contribute to an entitlement mentality in athletes, and explains how to create an environment where relationships begin to flourish within the team setting. Click here to download/lis...

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares some of the biblical truths behind the concepts that are presented in the Team Cohesion I unit.   Click here to download/listen

There are four different areas to focus on if you want to create great team chemistry. Every good coach spends time developing a plan to work on individual-tasks and group-tasks. Last week we discussed some ideas to develop an individual-relational plan.

Jeff Duke of the FCA Coaches Ministry shares some of the biblical truths behind the concepts that are presented in the Team Cohesion II unit.   Click here to download/listen

In sports, each season marks the beginning of a new journey with a unique set of challenges and obstacles. Part of the appeal of sports to so many is that a sports season is really just a microcosm of life. In sports, just like in life, there is a definite beginning, a definite end, and a whole lot of ups and downs along the way.

We all know that there is more to a person than just the physical. We are three dimensional beings and all three dimensions are intricately connected. If a coach wants to get the most out of his/her players, it is important to have a plan to coach in all three dimensions.

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

Whether we are talking about a flower, an athlete, or a nation, understanding is the basis of care. If we are going to properly care for something, we must properly understand the purpose for it. In our transformational journey of learning to care properly for the athletes who are entrusted to us, we must also understand the purpose of sport itself.

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

The role of the coach in our culture has reached new levels of significance over the past two generations as the popularity of sport has continued to increase. Coaches are not only helping athletes to develop on the fields, courts and tracks, but they are also helping athletes to develop an outlook on life that will likely shape their decision making process in the future. In this session, Mark helps coaches to see the importance of their role in the lives of young people by examining how the cu...

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

The jury is out, and the verdict is in! Reliable research has conclusively shown us that sport, left to itself, erodes moral character in the lives of competitive athletes. However, other evidence has surfaced to show us that sport presents an incredibly powerful opportunity to pass on meaningful life lessons to athletes, if a coach is deliberate about teaching and modeling moral character.

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

Coaches are always striving to create great programs that yield success on the athletic fields and courts.  As 3Dimensional coaches, along with our desire to succeed in sports, we have a desire to create programs that transform lives as a result of the athletic experience.  In order for this to happen, we must evaluate the different aspects of creation that go into building our programs.

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

As 3Dimensional coaches, if we want to unlock the hidden treasures of the good and the great to produce beauty in sports, we must learn to harness the power of love in our programs. There is nothing like love that will motivate us to pursue and persist towards a goal with a great attitude and effort. In this session, Mark helps us understand a clear definition of what God's love is, and what it’s role is in helping athletes to embrace trials.

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

If you had to pick one theme that Jesus taught on over and over again during the three years leading up to His death, burial, and resurrection, that theme would be “The Kingdom of God.” As people who live 2,000 years after these events, we merely hear that phrase as a euphemism for “Heaven.” This is largely due to the fact that the language of “kingdoms” is mostly absent from today’s political scene, as we are more apt to talk about governments and nations. But was Jesus really just referring to...

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

When sport is done right, it should capture our imagination and our effort in the process and pursuit of our goals. If we want to be “Kingdom coaches,” we need to imagine what sport would look like with a distinctly Christian imagination. Romans 14 tells us that the Kingdom of God isn’t merely about behavior modification, but is about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

Earlier we discovered that God gives us three gifts of grace to help push back against the conforming pressures of sport: God’s word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people. The pressure to win-at-all-costs is so great in our culture, that if we don’t access all three of these gifts we will be conformed in such a way that we will likely return to being a level one coach only. While God’s word and God’s Spirit are powerful means of transformation on their own, to maximize the transformative power of thes...

Mark Hull of the FCA Coaches Ministry discusses this unit with a panel of coaches and FCA staff members.   Click here to download/listen

As “Kingdom coaches,” it’s helpful to think of ourselves as from the future. In other words, we are seeking to see with the eyes of faith what the future might look like when Christ fully institutes His rule and reign, and are seeking to coach in a way that looks like that future, now. By the power of God’s word, God’s Spirit, and in community with God’s people, we are striving to discern what it might look like for God’s Kingdom to come, and His will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven in t...

Because the sport world is so pressurized to "win-at-all-costs," it is easy to become so focused on first dimension goals that you lose sight of your primary purpose as a coach. Goals are important, but goals are specific events in time that will eventually become a piece of history. In this step, Wes Simmons of the FCA Coaches Ministry helps coaches to distinguish between goals and purpose in their pursuit of becoming a 3Dimensional Coach.

When coaches know their purposes in coaching, they begin to coach beyond success as defined by the scoreboard and towards the significant cause of impacting the lives of the players that come through their programs.  As demonstrated in this ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the Carroll Academy Lady Jags, a coach who is coaching for significance understands that winning has little to do with being able to fulfill his/her purpose.  Click here to download/listen

If you want to leave a legacy as a coach, it helps to paint a picture in your mind of a preferred future you want to see so that you can move with intentionality towards that vision.   In this step, Wes Simmons of the FCA Coaches Ministry helps coaches to forecast the legacy they want to see by contemplating the funeral topics: relationships and a cause that is greater than yourself. Click here to download/listen

Once you have an idea of the legacy you want to leave in coaching, it is important to identify your top 3-4 core values that will help to govern behavior in the present so that you stay on target towards your vision.  In this step, Wes Simmons of the FCA Coaches Ministry helps coaches to identify the values that will keep them on target towards their preferred vision of the future. Click here to download/listen

In a win-at-all-costst sports culture, it is important that coaches define the "Y's" (why's) behind the "X's and O's."   In this step, Wes Simmons of the FCA Coaches Ministry helps coaches to get into writing a first draft of a "Transformational Purpose Statement" that can act as a filter to govern every activity and relational engagement that takes place within their programs. Click here to download/listen

At the end of the day, coaches are still evaluated based on performance.  It is a fair question to ask, "If I begin to coach this way, can we still be good?"  In this step, Wes Simmons of the FCA Coaches Ministry reiterates what the research shows about the results of coaching in three dimensions.  He also spotlights a 3Dimensional coach who adds his name to a long list of other coaches who prove year after year that you can still be a successful coach while seeking to be transfor...

     Although you are at the end of the FCA Coaches Academy online training curriculum, this does not mark the end of the tranformational journey. Hopefully, the completion of this online curriculum marks the beginning of a new journey as you seek to live out your transformational purpose in coaching. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has partnered with 3Dimensional Coaching to serve as an ongoing resource to coaches who would like to continue the transformative journey or who ...