Redeeming The Game

Raising Competitors Without Losing the Child How do we raise children who compete with excellence without believing their worth is determined by their performance? In this special episode of Redeeming the Game , I sit down with my two brothers and my sister for an honest conversation about growing up as athletes and now raising athletes of our own. Together, we reflect on what our parents modeled,...

What if your gym is more than a workplace? What if it’s a mission field? In this episode, we talk about calling, purpose, and what it means to be sent through the game of basketball. This conversation challenges coaches to see their influence differently—not just as instructors of the game, but as leaders entrusted with lives, relationships, and transformation. Because basketball may be the platfo...

Pressure, Surrender, and Trust Every coach feels pressure. Pressure to win.  Pressure to perform.  Pressure to carry everything. But what if we were never meant to lead from anxiety and control? In this episode of Redeeming the Game , we talk honestly about burnout, surrender, trust, and learning how to coach from peace instead of panic. Because leadership becomes lighter when we stop trying to ca...

What if coaching was never just about basketball? In this episode, we explore the deeper responsibility of coaching—not simply developing players, but helping shape people. We talk about discipleship, relationships, influence, and why some of the most meaningful moments in coaching happen far away from the scoreboard. This episode is a reminder that players are more than performers, and that great...

What My Parents Got Right | The Foundation That Mattered More Than Sports Before there were wins and losses, championships and coaching, there were two people laying a foundation. In this deeply personal episode of the Redeeming the Game Podcast , Coach Matt Sanders sits down with his parents to reflect on the values, lessons, and priorities that shaped his life long before basketball ever became...

What happens when former players grow into leaders of their own programs? In this special episode of the Redeeming the Game Podcast , Coach Matt Sanders sits down with two former players who are now head coaches: Coach Zak Kirkman and Coach Philip Parker . One leads a women’s basketball program, the other a men’s program, but both are navigating the same calling—to lead people before they lead tea...

In this episode of Redeeming the Game , Coach Matt Sanders ,and  Coach Phillip Morrison, “The Basketball Missionary” — answers a powerful question asked by a coach: “Can basketball share the Gospel?” The answer takes us all the way back to the origins of the game itself. Dr. James Naismith didn’t just create basketball to keep athletes busy during the winter. His vision was far deeper: “to win men...

In this powerful conversation, Coach Sanders is joined by fellow basketball missionary Coach Phillip Morrison to unpack one of the deepest identity battles coaches, leaders, and people face every day  living from the “I am nots” instead of the truth of what Father God says about us. Drawing from the teachings of theologian and teacher Baxter Kruger, this episode explores how so many coaches silent...

So many coaches spend their lives trying to prove themselves to parents, administrators, other coaches, and even themselves. But what happens when your identity is built on reputation instead of righteousness? In this episode of Redeeming the Game, we talk about the exhausting pressure of performance-based leadership and the freedom that comes when you realize you are already accepted by God. This...

More Than Wins: The Legacy of a Transformational AD What does it really mean to win in athletics? For 25 years, today’s guest served as an athletic director, leading coaches, building programs, and impacting countless athletes across basketball, baseball, and football. But her greatest legacy isn’t found in championships, records, or trophies it’s found in people. In this powerful conversation, we...

What if you didn’t have to prove anything this season? What if you coached from a place of being already accepted ? That changes: your tone your patience your leadership You don’t coach for approval. You coach from identity. And when that shifts…Everything else starts to follow. This is where coaching starts to change. Because when your identity is secure…You stop using the game to build yourself....

What if the game is doing more than just developing players? In this episode of Redeeming the Game , I sit down with two of my former players to reflect on their journey—from who they were when I first met them to who they are becoming today. We talk about when basketball became more than just competition, the challenges and growth they experienced along the way, and how God used the game to shape...

If I could go back and talk to my younger self as a coach, these are the 10 things I’d tell him first. I put them all into a free guide called “10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach.” No fluff. No playbooks. Just real lessons from years of coaching, leading, winning, losing, and learning. If you’re early in your coaching journey, or you want to coach with more purpose and clarity, grab it for f...

The lies we believed about coaching. Today’s episode is a little different. I’m sitting down with two guys who not only train at a high level… but have also been completely transformed in how they see coaching, identity, and the game itself. And today we’re talking about this: What’s the lie we believed about coaching… and what happens when that gets exposed? The game was never meant to define you...

Most players don’t need more drills. They need something deeper. We default to skill development. Shooting reps. Ball handling. Conditioning. But we often neglect the foundation underneath it all. And when players struggle, it’s rarely because they don’t know enough. Every player needs three things: 1. Stability 📖 Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Players th...

Somewhere along the way, many coaches learned to carry everything quietly. The pressure. The expectations. The weight of leadership. But carrying it alone was never part of the calling. Coaching trains you to be strong for others. But strength, when isolated, eventually becomes heavy. Beloved identity reminds us that we are sons and daughters before we are leaders. And beloved sons and daughters w...

As a coach, you’re expected to be strong. Confident. Certain. There aren’t many places where uncertainty feels safe. Over time, isolation doesn’t come from distance — it comes from carrying things alone. Loneliness isn’t a leadership failure. It’s a signal —a reminder that formation happens in community. Secure leaders don’t hide their humanity. They steward it. Beloved identity reminds us that we...

No coach ever plans to neglect their family. It doesn’t happen in one decision —it happens in small compromises that slowly become normal. I told myself it was temporary. Just this season. Just this push. But seasons stack. And what we don’t protect eventually pays the price. You are a beloved son or daughter before you are a coach. And your family does not exist to support your calling — they are...

Somewhere along the way, availability became the standard for care. If you weren’t answering every call, every text, every late-night concern —it felt like you weren’t doing enough. But constant availability has a cost. I believed being available made me a better coach. And for a while, it did. But slowly, availability turned into expectation, and expectation turned into exhaustion. I didn’t lose...

Pressure doesn’t change who we are —it reveals what we’re leaning on. The game has a way of exposingwhat’s been holding us together all along. I’ve coached in moments where pressure made me sharper…and moments where it made me smaller. Short-tempered. Reactive. Tight. That’s when I realized pressure wasn’t the problem. It was showing me where my identity was anchored. 👇 Free download linked below...

What in your leadership feels urgent but isn’t actually important? And what is your urgency communicating to your players, your staff, and your family? Beloved coaches lead from rest — not from scramble. Urgency says, “If I don’t act now, I lose.” Beloved leadership says, “I can wait — because I’m not trying to prove anything.” Calm is not complacency. It’s confidence rooted in identity.

Practice reveals what you truly value. This episode breaks down how to design practices that shape decision-makers, competitors, and men—without burning out your team or yourself.

Wins and losses are loud, but they don’t get to name you. This episode speaks directly to coaches whose identity has been tied to results, seasons, and expectations—and offers a better, freer way to lead.

Wins and losses are loud, but they don’t get to name you. This episode speaks directly to coaches whose identity has been tied to results, seasons, and expectations—and offers a better, freer way to lead.

In this first episode, we will set the foundation for the journey we will go on. Coaching was never meant to cost you your soul, family, or your identity. We will explore how the game drifted from its original design-and how God is inviting us coaches back to lead from our Beloved Identity not pressure.