Getting in a Player’s Ear: A Response to Joe Ehrmann’s Visit
by Kevin Vande Streek
Men’s Athletic Director and Men’s Basketball Coach
Calvin College
There are many great things about Joe’s visit and I’d like to share a few of my thoughts, one of which is how grateful I am for the number of conversations I’ve been engaged in since the event. These conversations have taken place with parents and coaches, after church, at Calvin, and in the community. What great topics to be thinking about and discussing! A second thought, which was mentioned on the BLOG, is that Joe did not overtly speak of Christianity, which is correct. I would speculate that he did this intentionally as not to offend anyone, but more so to give people who educate in a public sector where profession of the Christian faith is not allowed a vision and words to speak.
When Joe said, “I don’t whisper Jesus’ name in my players ears” my immediate thought was, “Yes you do. You just aren’t using your voice or lips.” I would certainly say Joe lives out his Christianity as a football coach in his message and methods. Finally, the two points that struck me were to love my players and encourage them to love each other. My methods are quite different than his and I certainly question whether I do this well enough. Joe’s presentation was a great reminder for me to keep working at it. The other was to educate young people about what it means to be a human being. Success by how society defines it is grossly in error. Success is not about money, athletic success and sexual conquest. It is about relationships. The most important relationship for me is with Jesus Christ. I’m very thankful that I am in a place that not only encourages this self development and its teaching and mentoring, but it expects it. Again, I’ll keep working on it.
~Kevin Vande Streek
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