When five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe retired from competitive swimming at the age of 24 he said, “breaking records wasn’t as inspiring as it should have been.” As a teenager, Thorpe splashed into the swimming scene and swam to 13 world records from 1999 to 2002, becoming an international star after dominating at the Sydney Olympics.

Even with all the success, he realized the medals, titles, records, and accomplishments did not last long. The fans went home. The cameras were turned off. And Ian was left with an empty feeling that success cannot fill. The external stuff fades quickly. It is never enough.

When I first started working towards becoming a head coach, people wondered if I could do it. I wasn’t the type to yell at people. I wasn’t the type to get in people’s faces. They didn’t know if I could control the players. How would they respond to my coaching style? How would I handle being in charge of an entire team?

My style has always been one that relies on motivation, encouragement and teaching. I always want to help people get better. That’s the idea behind correction. It’s not about tearing people down. It’s about helping them improve. You have to let them know when they’ve done something wrong, but the goal is helping them became a better player and a better person.

In this verse, Solomon had been experiencing the greatest time of his life. Untold riches and phenomenal success were part of his everyday life. Yet within that prosperity, Solomon said his heart was tested. He knew that God is delighted by “uprightness,” or integrity of heart, and he pursued those qualities.

To be whole, complete, undivided in our heart’s motives and desires is to have integrity. Does that characterize how we coach? Are our hearts full of integrity on our worst days? How about on our best days? Some of us are tested by bad days and others by good days. Some are tested by losing streaks and others by championships.

As the coach of a college fall sport, for me, this time of year is a time of looking forward and planning ahead. We've finished reflecting on the past season, we've completed our exit interviews and we've laid out the plans for spring training. Now our attention turns to filling open positions with future recruits and envisioning what the future team will look like. Veterans return from Christmas break ready to embrace the challenge of becoming smarter, better and stronger. New recruits sign on with the hopes of becoming an important part of the future of the program.

In every new season, we are presented with new opportunities, new challenges, new relationships and new realities.

The atmosphere was filled with tension. Players from both teams had been encouraged to protest the game. An outside source was trying to convince players that they were being exploited by big-time college sports. Everyone—including the 74,000 fans watching—was anticipating a conflict, but what people didn’t expect was some risky prayer.

Jesus chose the disciples as His team—all twelve of them—and all twelve failed! When Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested, the disciples ran away into hiding. They started out wanting to defend Jesus, but fear took over. Jesus predicted this would happen, yet still wanted these men on His team.

We all fail. As athletes we will blow an assignment, strike out, or miss a shot. When this happens will the coach still want us on the team? Truthfully, sometimes yes and sometimes no. But if we keep trying and do not give up, we are more likely to keep our spot on the team.