“He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, ‘Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.’” (Mark 9:35)

A few years ago, I used to take my wrestlers to a unique summer wrestling camp in northern Nebraska called the Outdoor Challenge Camp. One of the awesome features of this camp was a military-style obstacle course, which was designed and built by the camp director Steve Hansen, a former Iowa Hawkeye. I absolutely loved this feature because of how it enhanced the spirit of teamwork when the wrestlers would run the course in a team relay format.

Teamwork is the foundation of servant leadership, the beginning of the “We Before Me” mentality. Yet one of the biggest struggles we have as coaches is overcoming the self-centered mentality that so many athletes seem to naturally possess. My son is really getting into the sport of soccer, and he’s begun watching highlight videos of some of his favorite players. He recently asked me if I liked a popular player from Portugal, and he was shocked when I quickly told him no. “Why not, Dad? He’s amazing!” My response was that I didn’t really like how this player’s pride and ego clashed with his potential to be a huge role model.

I like for my son to have success models (a concept I learned from Gene Zannetti's Wrestling Mindset program) in his favorite sport who are also strong Christians and amazing people. I struggle to find comfort with my son looking up to a player who is notorious for treating his teammates with contempt, showing extreme arrogance with celebrations, and showing a serious lack of respect to his opponents.

This conversation about our favorite soccer players quickly became a teachable moment in which I talked with my son about the idea of being a servant leader and a team player. I told him that every time he steps on the field (or whatever competition setting), he needs to focus not on what happened the last game, but on the game at hand. He needs to focus beyond what opposing coaches or the media might be saying and instead focus on what he can do to make this game his best. It needs to be because he wants to do his best, not because of outside pressure where he feels like it’s a must-win scenario.

In order to be a champion on the field, he needs to be a champion in life, and that means pursuing success in God’s kingdom. This sort of success comes from serving others, checking one’s own pride and vanity, and embracing the concept of humility and meekness. It comes from avoiding the pride that causes us to think that we are better than others.

This simple—and commonplace—conversation was a great moment between a father and a son, and I savored the chance to encourage my son to look out for the interests of Jesus before his own interest. He learned that in order to put Him first, he needs to put others first as well. The ancient Greek word for “first” is protos, and has a connotation of first in influence, honor, and rank. In order to be first in the eyes of Jesus needs to take last place and put others before him- or herself.

After all, isn’t this what we do as coaches on a daily basis?

Teamwork means sacrificing one’s own immediate interests and putting the team ahead of oneself. Nearly all of the best coaches with whom I’ve worked in my career have embraced the term “servant leader” and strived to instill this value in their programs. As a coach, the spirit behind the idea of servant leadership has been a natural part of my philosophy, but in order to better understand it, I often research it by reading articles or talking to other coaches. What I’ve learned over the years is that servant leadership becomes a game-changer when the following things are modeled by the coach and practiced by the athletes:  

• Healing: Ask what you can do to help your athletes, and they can in turn ask what they can do to help their teammates
• Listening: Be an active and understanding listener when your athletes talk, and they can learn how to be empathetic themselves when listening to their teammates
• Empathy: Treat everyone in your program so that they feel important and not inferior to anyone else, and your athletes will begin lifting each other up, rather than putting teammates down
• Openmindedness: Be open to new ideas with your program, perhaps involving your team in the decision-making process, and your athletes will not only take ownership, but that will also demonstrate the same openminded attitude

Moment of Kaizen:

• With respect to building team unity, what style of leadership is your natural style? Can you see how it might have any negative impact on instilling servant leadership?
• What elements of your coaching style can be more flexible? Does the “My way or the highway” style truly fit in as a servant leader? Why or why not?

Related Passage: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Indeed… he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being… he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:3-8)

As Jesus asked his disciples to put others first, He asked them to be humble, obedient, and loving. Coaches embody servant leadership on a daily basis, and there may be no greater achievement in our careers than successfully creating the spirit of servant leadership without our athletes.

August 22, 2021

This article is a part of a series of Coaches Devotionals that I will be writing over the course of the next year. Please click here if you would like to receive email notifications when a new devotional is published.