FCAV California

Welcome to the first FCAV California podcast! For the next few weeks we will be sharing all of the teachings for our Summer Coaches' Huddle here.  We have an awesome lineup of coaches, professional players, and leaders in the volleyball world teaching on what they have learned about leading self, others, and teams with God. For this first episode, Sierra Crook Shenkin talks about the vision of the Coaches' Huddle, FCA Volleyball, and we believe our lives as Christians, and that is the invitation for us to join God in "tending the garden" here on earth.

For this episode in our Summer Coaches' Series we have Daniel Rich, founder of FCAV California and the current FCA Hawaii State Director. Daniel shares on FCAV's foundational value of With God. He talks about the reality available to us to live and play not just for God, but also with God, how God just enjoys being with you, and shares a tool we can use to identify when we are hearing from God and stepping into doing something about it.

In this episode of our Summer Coaches' Series, we have Jenna Lodewyk, FCA Volleyball California Team member, speaking on what it looks like to hear from God and do something about it. Jenna dives deeper into the tool Daniel Rich talked about last week to help us listen and obey what God is saying.  She talks about the ways we see Jesus step into this, what it looks like practically, and how it is a crucial practice in living a life of "tending the Garden" with God.

For this episode of our Summer Coaches' Series, Tim Parlier, former San Diego FCA Area Director, Lead Pastor at Generation Church Oceanside, and Varsity Football Coach, talks about emotionally healthy living. Tim goes into why he thinks God cares about emotions, how they can be our best tools, how to pursue emotionally healthy living with God, and the ways in which emotional health can affect our leadership.

This week's episode from our Summer Coaches' Series features four coaches from our Coaches' Huddle--Rita Stubbs, Deitre Collings-Parker, DiShondra Goree, and Verniece Graham--sharing with us what partnering with God in the fight against racial injustice can look like. We discuss what their experiences with race have been, how racial injustice and race has affected their teams, where they have seen God in the fight against racial injustice, how they have engaged with it on their teams, and next steps we can all take to partner with God in addressing and discussing race.

In this week's episode, FCAV team member Jenna Lodewyk talks about identity; what it is, why it is important, and how it affects us and our leadership. In the teaching Jenna talks about identity as how who we see God to be should affect how we see ourselves and how working from that place frees us up to take risk, fully show up as ourselves, and "be in the arena" of life every day.

In this week's episode, FCAV Director, Sierra Crook Shenkin talks about the idea of Sabbath Rest. She goes into what Sabbath even means, what God has to say about it, why it's important in letting our relationship with God affect how we interact with the world, and tangibles on how to start finding a daily, weekly, and monthly Sabbath practice.

In this week's bonus teaching we have sports psychologists Dr. Rhea Holler and Dr. Rachel Stewart sharing on the importance of mental health in sport and how that affects our leadership and faith. They cover topics like the importance and practicals of self care and attention to burnout, how the mind affects performance, and how our faith can and should inform our pursuit of mental health. Dr. Rhea Holler specializes in trauma, integration of spirituality, and helping people build a life worth living. She obtained her degrees from East Tennessee State and Azusa Pacific University. Dr. Holler provides professional trainings focussing on the burnout prevention strategies that help those in leadership take care of themselves. Her mission is to help people drag themselves out of spiritual, emotional, and material poverty so they can go free someone else. Dr. Rachel Stewart is a clinical psychologist with expertise in mood disorders, anxiety trauma and PTSD, sport psychology and performance. She has a Bachelor's degree in both Psychology and Communication Studies from UCLA and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Washington State University. She co-founded Triangle Services Consulting, a boutique practice providing direct clinical and coaching services, supervision and consultation for individuals and large agencies, trainings and education. This was one of our favorite teachings from the summer so excited for them to share with you!

For this episode from our Summer Coaches' Series, FCAV team member, Jenna Lodewyk, talks about a tool to help us think about leading others the way we see Jesus model. In the episode she talks about the way we see Jesus empower His followers and disciples, how He made strategic decisions based on where His disciples were at, and how we can emulate the strategies we see Him use in leading others and identifying how we are best led. **Below is a picture of the tool Jenna talks about for reference during the episode.

In this week's episode from our Summer Coaches' Series, FCAV team member, Sierra Crook Shenkin, continues our conversation from last week on leading others the way we see Jesus model. She talks about the progression Jesus took His disciples through, how He adjusted His leadership based on what they needed, and discusses another tool we can use to navigate and make decisions in our leadership of others.

For this first episode in a two part sequence from our Summer Coaches' Series, we have Meghan Locklair, former FCAV Staff member, current team member of a startup called inSand, and healthy teams consultant. In this episode, kicking off our shift to discussing leading teams, Meghan talks about healthy conflict. She discusses how to think about it, why it matters to God, how it affects the way we view and interact with people, and why she believes it is a crucial key to not only leading teams well, but having all around healthier relationships.  

For this second episode in a two part sequence from our Summer Coaches' Series, we have FCAV team member Jenna Lodewyk continuing our discussion on healthy conflict from last week. Specifically she speaks on how to give and receive feedback. Jenna goes into why we believe God cares about how we do this, why it is important to think about as leaders in a world where feedback is necessary, and how it is a crucial component in the greater picture of building thriving and kingdom minded relationships and culture. She also walks through some tools and frameworks to use tangibly as we both give feedback and receive it that allow us to engage in healthy conflict well.

In this episode of our Summer Coaches' Series, we have Jen Greeny, Head Volleyball Coach at Washington State University, talking about implementing values centered team culture with God. Greeny has been the head coach at WSU for eight years and has taken the team to the NCAA Championship Tournament four times.  She was named PAC 12 Coach of the Year in 2016 and played both volleyball and basketball as a student athlete at WSU. She has rebuilt culture and success for multiple programs at the high school and collegiate levels, including most recently at Washington State. In this interview she shares her story and experience of implementing faith centered values within her teams and programs. She talks about what those values are, how she has instilled them, what culture that has created, and what has been hard, effective, and fulfilling in the process.

In this week's episode from our Summer Coaches' Series, we have Jordan Cheng, USA Volleyball Beach coach in pursuit of the Olympics, speaking on creating healthy, thriving culture. Jordan has worked for some powerhouse programs in the volleyball world led by some giants of team culture (think Pepperdine, UCI, USA Volleyball), and has been able to take what he has learned from those mentors and applied it to his own coaching style and teams today. In this discussion, he talks about playing and coaching with your "why" in mind, how to operationalize team culture concepts, and how language creates culture.