Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I thought I was a great basketball player. I thought I knew all the answers. I thought. I thought that relationships could. Could fill what this empty spot was in my life.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the official Emmaus athletic podcast in the nest.
I'm your co host, or the host of today's episode, Shane Douglas. Matthew Tomlinson had a coaches meeting, so he's not here today, but we are with the Eagle. Whoa. Who's the Eagle? We have a special guest today, so we just had them wear their little eagles head. And please welcome to the show for the second time, second appearance.
Who is it? Luke Sirwinsky.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: There. We hot in there?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Yeah, sweating a lot. Luke Zarwinski is a fellow admissions counselor as well as Emmaus athlete. You played one year in basketball, one year in soccer.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Yep, played both of them.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: So you made your way around.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: So you tried out both. Understand it from the Emmaus athletic side of basketball as well as soccer. Now you just got to do cross country. But you ran track.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: I did ran track. In high school. My best sport was probably track.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: You went to Drake relays, correct?
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I went to state twice.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: That was back in the day. I'm not going to be that guy that talks about his high school, but.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: I'm going to ask you about it right now, like, how did you finish at state?
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Yeah, we didn't do so hot, so I made it to state in the four x four. So, 400 relay. Four x four. I made it in the distance medley running the 200 leg.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: And then I made it in the four x eight running the anchor leg of the four x eight.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: The anchor, yeah. So you're the fast guy.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: I don't know if I was fast, but I just loved catching people. Okay. So that was why I ran anchor.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Fair enough.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: But, yeah, at state, we totally flopped in the four x eight. I'm pretty sure we got last at state.
The four x four, we did like, okay, in middle of the pack, and then the D med. We had an insane district final my senior year, and we were ranked, I think, 7th in the state going in. So we were like, what a is this? What a one a? Okay, which is like, in track, it really doesn't matter. If you're fast, you're fast.
But then we were ranked 7th in the state, and then I think we got like 16th or something in the state. We flopped every year at state.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Well, Luke has been on the show before. He's a friend of the show. You listen pretty much every Thursday at nine. I hear you from the desk in front of me so I get to listen to my voice every day. We also have updated our board in the back right here. Sometimes we tend to forget about it, but that's a good thing. Honestly, it's a good thing to forget about that. But with that said, luke, remind everyone what your favorite coffee drink from the bean is. Just for a little friendly gesture.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Okay, so, from the bean. I actually do not like coffee. Yes, I've tried. My wife makes me just. I can't do it, dude. It's bad. So I love tea, though. But I never go to the coffee bean and get tea because I just bring my own. But I always go to the bean and get a blue lotus probably once a day. I really try to cut back, but.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: You get it more than once.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Yeah. There's days like yesterday I had it twice, and today I just had a red bull and a blue lotus.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: So the caffeine, I need to go down. I went two and a half weeks at the beginning of the month without it. And now I'm like, I gotta do it again, though.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Yeah. You see that with a lot of students going through some counseling psychology classes. Have to give up an addiction. You don't want to call it addiction, but know.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: I mean, it kind of is, though. I guess everyone is addicted to caffeine at this point.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: If you're friends with Luke or you just love Luke so much, now, you know his favorite drink is the blue lotus from the coffee bean. Make sure to give him that whenever you see him. Or if you're feeling gracious of any sort. Of course, mine is the ice spice chai with oat, milk with pumpkin spice. So if you get me that white girl drink, I would love.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Okay. That's what it was. I was going to say, I thought you liked the pumpkin.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: I'll take the blue Lotus. I'll take anything. But with that said, let's get into the show. So today it's going to be short segments. We're going to talk about regionals and recap regionals of what happened.
And then we're going to also get into a sports testimonial. So we're going to hear a little bit about Luke and his experience with growing up in a christian family, going through sports as a Christian, developing and truly understanding what it means to be someone who carries their cross, not just off the field, but on the field or court. And then hopefully, we'll have some time for a top five. Another top five second I believe we might have done in the past. But it doesn't matter because it's a fun top five with a lot of new things are added to Emmaus in that specific category. But with all that said, luke, let's talk about regionals. So the men's and women's team just traveled to the state, the lovely state of Michigan, the soccer state as I know it. As if you don't know that is Michigan, is Michigan soccer State. Huge in soccer. But playing against our new region. What's our region?
It's midwest or north.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: I don't even know what it would be now, man. Michigan, it's not the midwest. No.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: But all the team we talked about last time in NCAA, there's new regions, and it consists of Marinatha, Moody, Great Lakes, Grace, Kuiper and Emmaus. So those are the teams that we're going to play every year in regions. They've expanded and they have. I don't know if they expanded, but they expanded some regions and mixed around based off of location to make it more sense. Make it make sense. So we went to Grace. We traveled to. I think it was at.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: Traveled to Grace to play, and the men's team had a rematch against Marinatha, played them three times this year. Did you have an opportunity to go to any of the games that were.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Home against Marinatha, the one game?
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Home or even away? Did you watch?
[00:06:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I was at the home game when they played Marinatha.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: It was a tough one.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: It was a heartbreaking one.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: It was just a couple of weeks ago, too.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
But hats off to Marinatha. They kept through and played a good game and won.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: That's true. And honestly, that kind of carried over to this game. It's tough to beat a team three times in a row in the season. And Marinatha took the w 78 to 62 against our Emmaus boys. So really tough men.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Come on. Sorry. Give it to them. They're men.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: All right, men. So not the way you want to finish the season at all, especially as a senior. We're losing a couple of seniors this year, so shout out to those seniors and everything they've given to this program. We haven't graduated a senior from our men's team in quite a while, and Matt has talked about that in the past. So really awesome to see them persevere for four years and do incredibly well. Going to regionals a couple of years back, you were on that team, so speak on that. What do you think of as a senior? Just the season not ending how you really want it?
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Well, I mean, so I played adamaus my junior year, I transferred in, played my junior year, we won regionals. Kind of honestly, just Cinderella story. Like, we did not play good through the season, and then we kind of just really shaped up in that regional tournament and made it to nationals and we knew we could be a good team. But, I mean, obviously any team can be good when they start hitting their shots.
So then going into soccer, I played soccer my senior year and I absolutely loved playing soccer.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Nothing against basketball, but.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: No, nothing against basketball at all. Honestly, it's like I trained my whole life to try to be a basketball player, and I've always loved soccer. And so being able to play it finally on a team was like. It was just awesome, a great experience. But still, my senior year we played at we. It was a regional game, first round, played against Crown. We had the opportunity for a tap in. Shout out. Joe Rock. I'll give him a slight shout out.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Is it a shout out or like a dis?
[00:08:23] Speaker A: A little bit of both. I love Joe, so he knows, but we missed a tap in and it wasn't obviously just Joe's fault. Everyone, it's eleven man game.
Yeah, we missed a tap in and we just ended two one. And I remember just my senior year, I was just like, dang, all that work is over now, and obviously you learn things. I know we'll talk about that a little later, but, yeah, it's just like a culmination of so many emotions. You're like, it's done. Sad.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: What's a way around it? As someone who just finished their collegiate career, gave everything they got, all that's now looking forward is either coaching at a level or old man pickup at the y.
What's the mindset? Or some encouragement or encouraging words you have for those seniors, including for the women's team, too, which we'll get into.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think one for me. I knew, obviously, I was nowhere near good enough. I completely understand. I'm playing at Emmaus Bible College. There's no chance I'm going.
I'm. I'm well aware of my limitations and so that was never like a thought to me, but it is. You finally have that emotion. Like, I put in all that work since being a fourth grader, playing basketball and playing sports to get to this point, and now it's just done. And that part of my life is over.
And it's a bittersweet moment, I will say. But I guess a piece of encouragement is like, don't forget all the things that sports have taught you. I think that's a huge thing, even in my spiritual walk. Sports teach you how to communicate with your team, which can be translated to the church and things like that. And there's so many lessons in sports that are valuable within the church and within your spiritual walk.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: And Matt and I have talked about that in previous episodes, talking about how it's not just off the court or it's not just on the court, but off the court as well. So it's what you learn on the court that you can take off the court, but we always think about the other way. We always think about. We learn off the field, off the court, and then we take it on. But you can do vice versa, so it works that way. So shout out to those seniors on the men's and women's team that just finished their season. And speaking of the women's team, they had a close.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah, they were close game.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Had a good game, though, against grace, and they lost the game 57 to 53. And the grace men's game, women's, ended that way. Super close game. A very good game, as you said. And for the Midwest region, Great Lakes ended up winning for women's and going to nationals and then grace for men's. So both Michigan's team took away the w and were able to walk off in the sunset and go to nationals.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: And they didn't have to cheat to get there like the other Michigan team.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: I had to throw it in there.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: Why you got to do that, man?
[00:11:25] Speaker A: I can't stand.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: I like Jim. I don't care what you say.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: Yeah. It's because you're a Chargers fan.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: I know, honestly. But even if he wasn't on the Chargers, I wouldn't care too much.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: Yeah, whatever. If the Vikings draft JJ McCarthy, I'll cry.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Okay.
Do it, please. I hope they. I hope I still got to watch the combine with JJ, but I won't get into that. We won't get into that. So shout out to all of our seniors and all the hard work you guys have put in for you four or three years here at Emmaus, and we appreciate you guys, we love you, and as well as your families for their support to you.
So, great season.
Way to walk off with heads held high. And exactly what Luke said of the encouragement, of remembering what you learned through your entire life of playing sports, of playing basketball here at Emmaus. Remember what you learned and take it to your workplace, take it to your family, take it to the way you live your life and how you represent Christ. So shout out to you, all you guys. Thank you so much.
So basketball and sports here at anime is over.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: For the meantime, I know we need a spring sport.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: It sucks, dude. It's like, what do we do now? What do I do with my hands? So a lot of intermurrals have picked up a lot here. Honestly, intermarrals have been really great. This year has really gained a lot of momentum and steam. Been very competitive. So that's really fun to see within the student body here. So I guess that's it. The basketball team can now compete for t shirts, which is always awesome when the basketball team can, because typically they.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Can'T the whole year.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: They can't pretty much the whole year. And they're usually some of the most athletic people on campus. So intermittals is just going to get more intense. So it's going to be great. So besides that, we'll have some more signings in the future that we'll announce. We just had one last week, but we'll announce that when Matt's here next week and do more of official nothing against you. It's not that.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: I can't believe you dumbbell me like this.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: I didn't do this to you.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Okay, whatever.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: Fine.
We had one signing. How about that? We'll talk.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: There we go.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Okay.
We just met her, too.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: We did? Randomly.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: Yeah. August Christensen. So shout out to August and signing. She runs for local track or local school. Dubuque senior. Senior for cross country. Did I say track?
[00:13:51] Speaker A: I don't know what she said. She signed for cross country.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: And she's a good cross country runner.
[00:13:56] Speaker B: So you should totally go to our instagram, like the signing post and just kind of what it says is her pr is a 21 50. Pretty good. She's a Dubuque native and she's going to join their eagles.
Dubuque senior having one of the top high school programs in the state of Iowa. So we're super excited to have Dubuque seniors.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: A bunch of athletic kids. They are good at everything.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: Yeah. So a quote from Gerardi, the head coach for the cross country team, is we are excited to see the immediate impact that Augie, as she goes by, will make to the women's cross country team, said coach Gerardi. Her faith, her strong faith, joyful spirit and heart of gratitude will make her a wonderful fit here at Emmaus and on campus. So looking forward to Augie joining the Emmaus Eagles cross country team and joining a bunch of dogs. That's what I can say is dogs. Cross country is definitely the most underloved sport that we have here.
No shot at anything.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: I feel like cross country is always like that, though. I ran Cross country in high school. I love cross country and just no one pays attention.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: I swear, it's tough.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: It's just hard.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: And you can't go to the games.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it's not like you can go and just watch them in one place. You got to run around, which I think is kind of fun. I love going to cross country meets, but yeah, it's tough. Definitely doesn't get the praise because cross country, to me, is one of the hardest sports.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: To be good at cross country, it's insane.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: I mean, I'm going to say this. Ever since we started the program, we've been up there. We've been up there. Emmaus has been like in the top three in a lot of categories, sometimes top one, like first overall, top one, top one, top one in some of the categories. So, I mean, we've been dogs from the beginning. They've been dogs from the beginning.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: They have been dogs.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: So we got to show them love. Show them more love. Show cross country more love. But with that said, we're going to look forward to having more signings for some of the fall sports as well as the winter sports coming up this summer in the next couple of weeks and months. But stay tuned. We got a lot of great athletes, great christian character coming on campus this fall, not just for sports but just in general. So really looking forward to fall athletes and where the fall sports go. With cross country as well as volleyball and soccer, it's going to be a fun fall season and then just to follow that in this winter. So I'm actually super excited for next year. We're going to say that every year, but it is exciting to look forward to the next year and knowing being in enrollment, what we're bringing in volleyball is going to be.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: That's what we said. Volleyball. That's what we talk about half the time. It's like, oh, this one. Here we go.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: Here we go.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: I have a couple of bold predictions for volleyball already, but I won't say it because coach Hannah will probably kill me.
Just saying. I mean, it's the truth. All right, well, let's get into kind of what we really want to talk about here is kind of a sports testimonial. Luke. So we were kind of talking about what we wanted to talk about today, and I think you're a great person to kind of talk about sports and how you grew up.
Kick Matt out.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: Compliment.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Ever see hashtag kick Matt.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: Whoa, stop that. Don't kick Matt.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: I love Matt. Matt's the sweetest guy ever. If you know him, you love him. With that said, you grew up in a christian home, Luke.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: I did.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: And you're a pastor's kid?
[00:17:22] Speaker A: I am a PK. PK.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: But then, like you said, you kind of went through high school wanting to go through sports, wanting to train your body to play basketball. Ultimately, you wanted to be a backup, a third string quarterback in NFL.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: Oh, I did just tell you that story, didn't I?
[00:17:39] Speaker B: But with all that said, tell us a little bit. Tell us a bit of your journey as a PK through high school. So a christian kid in a christian home, not just a christian home, but a pastor's home. And how did that affect you in positive and negative ways? Through high school?
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: With athletics, of course.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Yeah. So in high school, I'll be honest, I guess my quote unquote, day of salvation, I was probably, like six years old when I was saved.
So I grew up in Georgia for about four or five years while my dad was getting his pastoral degree. And while I remember going down there, real Southern Baptist preacher, I remember him saying, like, if you get in a car accident tonight, are you going to go to hell? And I was like, dude, I'm sick. I'm terrified.
I remember going home and telling my parents about that, and I said the prayer and I was saved. And so that was kind of what I say. But I don't really think I had faith until I was 19.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: Through high school and my dad being a pastor, and I'm sure other pks relate to this a lot, is like, we know the answers.
Not trying to be boastful. I know my bible, but I didn't have faith.
And so if you ask my friends in high school, they could attest to that. I didn't act apart around them, but when I was at church, yeah, I could play the part. I'm the pastor's kid. I'd worship, I'd serve, I'd do vbs, I'd help do skits, like, things like that. And so obviously going to sports and being on a team, it can really affect character a lot and what you're around. And I really was just a sponge to what other guys who are not believers did. And so I think in sports in general, I love this quote just because it's so true.
You're the average of the five people you hang out with the most. And in high school, it was not the right crowd.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Wasn't a good average.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: No. And so you could see that in sports.
I know something I struggle with. I get angry. And so in high school, it wasn't as bad, but you could definitely see that in me.
I think sports was something that the Lord naturally gave me an ability to do.
And so that was kind of where I harvest or harbored. That's the word. Harbored a lot of that anger. Okay. Just like always feeling like I'm not good enough, not tall enough, not fast enough, didn't know things. And so, in sports, that was something where I kind of excelled at. So I quickly became prideful in that area, and that became my identity really fast.
Yeah.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: How'd you get around all that? How'd you get around.
Was it in high school when you realized that you didn't have faith? Or what was the moment that really clicked for you? That was a snap. Like, wow, I need a change.
I need faith. I need Jesus.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
So I was in high school, and I was in a relationship.
Don't say it like that. But, yeah, I was in a relationship with a girl.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Good.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: And it was not a God honoring relationship.
I wasn't going on and sinning and hiding all these things, but it definitely was not honoring to Lord.
By my senior year, I was just in such a low spot at the time, I thought.
And I realized, like, I'm not honoring the Lord. I don't. I don't remember why I had that thought or that conviction, but it was probably April, my senior year, and I was like, I can't keep living like this. This is terrible. And I had just got accepted to be a camp counselor at hidden acres. Shout out, hidden acres. I love that place.
And I graduated barely. Like I say, barely made it through. I just mean mentally, I had senioritis to the team.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: I had senioritis for two years. My sister was a grade ahead of me, so when she would skip, I would skip.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I get that. My sister was great ahead of me, and I was just like, I can't handle this anymore.
So senior year came, and I made it to hidden acres. And I remember during training week, I believe, end of April. So I had, like, a week, two weeks till I graduated. And I remember being in training week, and I had a friend named Kobe who was there, and we were just sitting there in the chapel. And like I said, I knew everything. But at the time, I, looking back now, would say I probably wasn't saved. And I remember sitting in that chapel in.
What's the song?
[00:23:07] Speaker B: It's amazing grace.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: No, not amazing grace. It's like, good father. I'm no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God. I don't remember what the title is.
To fear.
You know that one? Okay. Anyways, I don't remember what it is.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: We got the important line.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: Yeah. And so I remember just listening to this song in the chapel, and I was just, like, just convicted.
I was like, I have not been a child of God. Like, I have not been acting like someone who has been changed by God. I remember going off to the side of the chapel with Kobe, and I was just honestly just bawling there, and just like, I have not been living this way. And so in that moment, I, quote, unquote, rededicated my life to Christ. And then since then is when I would say I had salvation.
But in turn, they didn't really affect.
It did affect me right away. I felt really convicted for a year. I was doing really well. I feel like. But as far as sports go, like, I graduated high school. I'm just trying to get back on top of sports.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: No, you're good. Yeah. That's why I was going to ask, how did your transition, not your transition, but I guess your rededication or even your salvation moment of Christ finding you really change your mindset on the court.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And so in high school, my senior year, I was looking to run track at Waldorf University. I had an offer from Waldorf. Waldorf in.
So I was thinking about going there, wasn't sure, and I became a believer. And through that summer, I realized, yeah, maybe I shouldn't go to. I don't think it's healthy for the state I am right now of being a quote unquote new believer, rededicated believer to go to a private institution on my own.
I don't think that's smart for me. Like I said, you're the five people you hang around the most. I don't know if I'd find good connections there.
I don't know. I just had a lot of doubts, and I don't think they were bad doubts, if that makes any sense.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: And so I ended up going to community college for a year.
Didn't do anything. I just would practice basketball all the time. I'd be playing all the time, try to stay in shape. I was trying to contact coaches, things like that. And I ended up, after that year, transferring to Tacoa Falls College, which is also an school, and down in Tacoa, Georgia, which is where I actually grew up, and so made it there. And I talked to the basketball coach. He wasn't super convinced that I could play there, and I was like, okay, well, I'm going to try out.
So I went to Tacoa thinking, I can walk onto the team and I'll make it and I can play. And so that was really what I want to do. And I made it to Tacoa and again tried out for the team, and I didn't make it, and it honestly stung.
And don't get me wrong, I didn't make it because I was not good enough. I can say that they are some dogs at Tacoa. They are great basketball players.
And, yeah, I wasn't good enough to make it, and it honestly kind of wrecked me a little a. I got into another relationship there and through Georgia.
Georgia was really just a time of God humbling me.
I thought I was a great basketball player. I thought I knew all the answers.
I thought that relationships could fill what this empty spot was in my life.
And God quickly said, oh, you think that can fulfill you? You think being on a college basketball team can fulfill you? You think this relationship can fulfill you? No, I'm just going to take it away. And God took all those things away.
And like I said, it was super humbling. I went through a really, just rough time mentally, just struggling with mental health and physical health.
What I kind of tell people are like, well, how bad was it?
The mental problems caused me to lose, like 40 pounds in two months is kind of how I explain it to people. That's the mental state I was in.
And again, I had reached a point that February where I was like, God, where are you? I rededicated my life. I tried to make these commitments. I'm trying to be better.
What's going on, man? I thought I was committing to you.
Why aren't you helping me?
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you find that as, like, maybe your identity wasn't wrapped around Jesus?
[00:28:18] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: And your identity was wrapped around sports, other things as well.
[00:28:22] Speaker A: And I feel like that's the case for a lot of athletes.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And as you're speaking right now, I just think about how many other people are in the same situation around the world.
How many people are in the world? Like 8 billion. 8 billion? Plus 9 billion? Close to it. Almost 9 billion. If not, we just reached it or we just reached eight. But either way, there's so many people, especially in the states, are going through the same things as you probably grew up in a christian home and their identity wrapped around athletics or identity wrapped around something else, and they get lost.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. And it's sad.
As much as I feel like christian athletes can say, well, I can honor God through my sport, which you very much can. You can honor God through your sport, but Satan can also use that sport to be an idol. And I feel like we forget both sides of that. And so the real question is, which side of that scale are you on? Are you truly dedicating your sport, your effort, your attitude to Christ, or are you using your sport as an idol to say, well, look what I can do. Look how good I am, look what my team's doing. What side of scale are you on? It's really a question we need to ask just in sports, in even. Even at Emmaus, a christian school, you don't escape that. If anything, you really see a more. Because people see that name on you, like Emmaus, the Emmaus road, and they think, okay, if he's a Christian, he's acting like that. I don't want to be a Christian. And it's a huge testimony.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Bad testimony.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: And I mean, it's bad testimony to the other team. Bad testimony for a school.
And this is no shade towards anyone, but there's so many schools that we play either in basketball or whatever sports it is, and someone swears at our teammates, or maybe one of our guys swears, and immediately you think of the other team and you're like, are they even Christian?
[00:30:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: What's going on there? We were just talking about that earlier.
It's a massive thing. But the thing is, those guys, those women who might have that poor attitude might be going through similar things that you went through when exiting high school and trying to find your way and trying to find your identity, how would you say was the turning point for you that really changed your identity, that really brought you to the Lord?
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
Like I said in Georgia, I really had started questioning.
I was trying to edify my soul with these things that are not meant to be edifying.
At some point, God had taken it away.
Mental health, like, struggling. And again, I just cried out to God, like, what is going on, dude? I remember the real moment was I was laying on my knees in my dorm room, just crying. And I said, God, if you're there, you got to help me. I was like, I'm done. I give this to you, I'm done. I just remember saying, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.
That school year ended, made it through, and decided maybe I need to stop with college. Maybe I'm rushing in things. Maybe sports isn't for me if I'm trying to chase after these things.
And that summer came.
I finished my sophomore year of college. That summer came, didn't know what I was going to do at all. And then I remember this little college called Emmaus Bible College that tried to recruit you, that tried to recruit me out of high school. And I said, no. I thought it was way too small. That was my reason I didn't come.
Sorry, Matt. I ghosted you. And I never responded.
[00:32:27] Speaker B: You already know he's listening.
The Leonardo Dicapo.
[00:32:36] Speaker A: But, yeah, I ghosted Matt. But then after sophomore year, after being at Tacoa, I decided it's too far away from who I was, 18 hours from home. I was like, I need to be somewhere closer to home, just for my own health.
And I was like, you know what? Let me go to mass.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: And there's a beautiful girl that was in Iowa as well, correct.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: There was a beautiful girl. We were not dating at this time, so you threw me off track. But so I'm two weeks before classes start at Emmaus, two weeks before classes, and I text.
I remember going through my phone just randomly. I was bored. I was just going through my contacts, and I saw Kyle Graa. I said, kyle grah, that's the coach at Emmaus. So I shot him a text, and I said, hey, are you guys still accepting applications? And he's like, yeah, why don't you come on a visit? I was like, okay, so seven days, or like seven or ten days or something before classes start, I come on a visit. I just talked to coach Gra, and I just came to Emmaus to pray, just about what to be doing. And after that visit, I had a huge piece. I was like, I need to come to Emmaus. So I came to Emmaus. Grob was like, yeah, but you're playing basketball. And so I was like, okay, let's go. I'll have fun.
And basketball was honestly the real test of my character playing here.
I had the expectation that everyone playing in this conference is a Christian. Everyone loves the Lord. I'm going to be surrounded by people that love the Lord all the time, and that's just not the truth. That was me being naive, going into it and thinking that everyone's going to have the level of knowledge and maturity in their faith. And I didn't even have it. I know I didn't have it.
And that year was really testing. And don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of struggles. There was a lot of anger with just the trials of the basketball season, and we somehow won regionals. I'll be honest, looking back, we just played our butts off at regionals, just all of a sudden made it to the nationals.
We lost in the first round of nationals, upset the number six team in the nation, beat them, and then we went and lost in triple overtime to Bob Jones by one point.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: That's nuts.
[00:35:08] Speaker A: It was the longest game of my life, but was also probably the most fun I had.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Everybody wanted an a's to win, too.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: It was crazy. And so I think we finished 6th out of ten as a national tournament. And I remember walking off the court having played probably one of the funnest games I'd ever played.
And still in that moment, I was like, this is not satisfying.
I was like, lord, is this all I wanted?
I remember asking myself in the locker room, just sitting there, and I was like, I worked since fourth grade to try to play college basketball. I made it, won regionals, made it to nationals, and I was like, man.
[00:35:58] Speaker B: And walked away happy.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: And I walked away happy. We won. But at the same time, just deep down, I felt like I'm just like, it's a pit. That's it.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: It was worth nothing. I gained nothing out of this.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: What I'm hearing a lot is there's so many christian athletes out there that might be listening, or you might know one that is in the stage that you were at when you were in high school, where they believe in God, they might not have that faith. They might not have transitioned that faith on the court. Right. They might be born again. Yet on the court, they're not too faced in a way, just as I know I was two faced. Right? I had who I was at high school, who I was in youth group. Right?
You shared the same way of who you were on the sports, with, the five people you were hanging out with, the average. And how sports impacted you negatively as a christian athlete, as a pastor's kid in sports, and how you acted in church. So there's so many people out there today to bring it all together and to wrap this up. But maybe what's some encouragement or some wisdom you have for people out there that are going through the same things as you that are struggling with identity in sports? Identity. Identity in Christ. Not in sports, but struggling with their identity in Christ while playing sports? What is some wisdom or advice you have from what you've experienced?
[00:37:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I think to start that point, if you're having the struggle of like, wow, I feel like my identity is wrapped up in this, if you're getting angry, it's okay to be upset if you lose. But if you're getting angry, it's not producing righteousness for Christ. And I was the same way. I'd be angry. I'd be mad at people. I'd harbor anger and rage towards these people, even on my team. And if you're at that point and you're recognizing, wow, this isn't what it's cut out to be, that's a good place to be, to be able to say, I recognize that this is a problem. That's a great place to be.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: There's so many people that I played with that I still hang out with that will be playing sports and be so upset that they're just blinded by it and they do not care and they're ruining the testimony of Christ, not themselves. Like, people may say, oh, look at them. That's how they act. No, but you represent Christ. You are an ambassador of Christ. Yes. And you're wrecking your testimony. So I just want to say, if you can recognize in yourself, like, I may be struggling with it. Great step. Great step.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: It's the first step.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: I know for me, something I really struggled with was being angry. Like I said, I would just harbor a lot of anger.
And so my senior year playing soccer, that was something I really tried to work on, was just allowing my effort, my attitude to be in control. And so I think for athletes, a big one to focus on, and my encouragement for other people to work on is like, how do you handle conflict?
I know a lot of time I don't handle it well. I know that it's something I really struggle with and I still want to work with. But during that time, I think as Christians, a lot of time, especially in sports, we think that conflict is bad. Like, oh, we're christians, we can't have conflict. We can't approach it. That's not true.
If we can approach it in a rational way and be able to speak to each other like humans, it's okay.
It's okay to have conflict. It's going to happen.
But, I mean, I don't know.
Sports is tough. Sports is an emotional thing.
And like I said, if your emotions and your identity are wrapped up in that sport, you're going to keep getting angry, you keep getting let down, you're going to keep being disappointed. But if it's wrapped up in Christ, you're going to say, well, that sucked. Yeah, but you know what?
It's not the biggest issue.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: Just like you said in walking away from that final game of yours and basketball season, walking off that court, playing probably the funnest game you've ever played, and upsetting some teams along the way, it wasn't enough. It wasn't satisfying, because the only thing that will satisfy us is Christ.
But the encouragement. To you young believers out there, young christian athletes, or if you know one, take that first step. Take that first step to acknowledge where you're at in your identity, in your walk and how you live on the court as well as off the court or field or. Yeah, field, court. Both works. But find out where you stand. Find out where your identity lies in if you're the same person on and off the court and field. Luke, I just want to thank you for everything you said. I wish I could talk longer.
[00:41:11] Speaker A: I felt like I was rambling.
[00:41:12] Speaker B: No, you're good, dude. You had a lot of great stuff to don't, don't put yourself down.
People want to hear what you say. You have a great story. You got a story that's honoring and glorifying to the Lord. Everyone does, right?
[00:41:22] Speaker A: Everyone's unique in that story.
[00:41:24] Speaker B: It's not our story, it's the Lord's. So thank you for sharing. I think it was extremely helpful for a lot of young christian athletes out there, especially for the know. Shout out to the seniors that we are going to be graduating this spring. Take Luke's words as advice and as wisdom as you carry on outside of Emmaus and what you've learned from your sports teams, your coaches throughout the years, not just at Emmaus and for you high school athletes, the same thing. Take what you learn and know and understand and find your identity in Christ because he's the only one that will satisfy you. Not a state championship, not a regional championship, not a national championship. With that said, please like and subscribe. Follow us on all social media platforms. Check out concerning him they just had a great episode with Travis Holton and it was really good.
[00:42:17] Speaker A: I still got to listen to. I was literally going to listen to this.
[00:42:20] Speaker B: Check that out on concerning him. A lot of other great episodes there. So like and subscribe r share it. But also thank you for the love and support from everyone. And just even tuning in today either, if that's at 09:00 a.m. It's probably almost 10:00 a.m., now, but no one usually ever listens right at nine. But whenever you do listen, thank you for listening and all your love and support from friends of the school, alum, as well as parents and family. Of students here. So again, thank you for listening. Thank you, Luke. Thank you, will. Love you. Dude, what Matt usually says is, you know what? He.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: Gosh. He says he listens. You don't listen.
[00:42:59] Speaker A: I do listen.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: You don't listen. To the end. I'll just be Matt and I'll sign us off. But, guys, it's a great day to be an eagle. Have a great day.
