Title: Preseason Isn't the Obstacle Before the Season
Category: Faith & Sport (or Training / Devotionals)
Excerpt/Meta Description: Preseason feels like something to survive. But it's actually where the person who plays the season gets made. A Christian athlete's guide to training camp.
Body:
Fall preseason is either here or about to be, depending on what your athlete plays.
For the players walking into camp, the story we're told about preseason is that it's an obstacle course. Get through it. Survive the two-a-days. Endure the conditioning. Suffer through the fitness tests. Wait for the real season to start.
That's the story. And it isn't wrong, exactly. It's just too small.
Because when you talk to athletes years later about the moments that formed them — the ones they'd point to as making them who they became — a huge number of those moments happened in preseason. The impossible run they didn't think they could finish and did. The teammate who spoke life over them at 6am when they wanted to quit. The coach who saw them when they were failing.
Preseason isn't the obstacle before the season. It's where the person who plays the season gets made.
You're being formed by camp whether you notice or not. The only question is what into.
Three Shifts That Change Everything
These three shifts turn preseason from something you survive into something that shapes you:
1. Recognize God's Presence Psalm 139 says you cannot flee it. God's presence isn't something you invite into camp — it's something you notice was there the whole time. In the ice tub. On the film-room bench. At 5:47am walking to the field with dew on your shoes: God is here. You just haven't been looking.
2. Consider It Pure Joy James 1:2-4 says the trial itself is where perseverance grows. Which means the awful conditioning session isn't an interruption to your growth — it's the classroom. The pain isn't a bug. It's the curriculum.
3. Focus on Others The performance-based identity that whispers in every athlete's head during camp — am I fast enough, strong enough, are they going to cut me — is answered not by chasing better metrics but by pulling your gaze outward. Encourage a teammate. Serve a rookie. Shift from performance-based identity to purpose-based identity.
A Daily Preseason Rhythm
Here's how to fold these three ideas into a single practice you can use every training day:
Recognize God's Presence — As you walk to the field or gym, breathe once and pray:
- Breathe in: "You are with me."
- Breathe out: "Wherever I go." Do it three times. You've now walked into camp with a different set of eyes.
Consider It Pure Joy — When the drill gets hard — the fifth sprint, the third lift, the moment your legs are lying to you — ask one question: "God, what are you growing in me right now?" Don't wait for an answer. The question itself changes what you're doing. You're no longer just enduring. You're being formed.
Focus on Others — Before you leave the locker room, say something specific and encouraging to one teammate. Not about their performance. About who they are.
- "You brought good energy today."
- "I saw how you handled that. It made me want to be better."
- "I'm glad you're on this team with me."
Do it every day. Ten camps of this and you become the athlete other players tell stories about later. Buy now
For Coaches, Captains, and Parents
The culture of your team's camp is set by three people you probably aren't watching closely enough.
Ask yourself this week: What am I doing in the next two weeks that will shape who these athletes are when the season starts?
- Coaches: Name the spiritual stakes of camp out loud, once — in the first team meeting: "You're going to be tempted to see this as something to get through. It's not. This is where you're becoming who you'll be in October. Don't waste it."
- Captains and upperclassmen: Find the freshman or new transfer having the hardest time in week one and welcome them by name. Every day. Just a moment: "Hey, glad you're here."
- Parents: When they come home exhausted and quiet, resist the interrogation. Try one question instead: "What's something God might be growing in you right now?" Don't require an answer. Let it hang. Ask again in a week.
The kind of athletes and teammates they become in November is being decided in July and August. Don't waste the classroom.
Originally published by The Christian Athlete. Shared with permission. Visit
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