PODCAST · sports
Redeeming The Game
by Matt Sanders
This is a space for coaches, trainers, and leaders who love the game — but don’t want the game to cost them their family, their integrity, or their soul.Here, we talk about leadership, pressure, culture, identity, and the quiet tensions no one prepares you for when you step into coaching.This isn’t about chasing wins at all costs.It’s about restoring what the game was meant to form in us — and in the players we lead.This podcast is presented by the Beloved Coaches Collective, a community committed to coaching from identity, not insecurity.I’m Coach Sanders.Let’s redeem the game — one coach at a time.
Episodes
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Leading the Family-Leading the Team PT.2 W/Zach Hopp
🏀 MORE THAN X’S & O’S: LEADERSHIP & THE JOURNEY What happens when we stop measuring a coach only by what he accomplishes and start looking at who he is becoming? This week on Redeeming the Game, I’m joined by Zach Hopp, a Division I basketball coach whose journey has taken him through Kansas,...
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Leadership & The Journey PT.1 W/Zach Hopp
More Than X’s & O’s: Leadership & the Journey | Zach Hopp — Part 1 What does it take to grow as a basketball coach, a leader, and a follower of Jesus? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation on Redeeming the Game, Coach Sanders sits down with Zach Hopp, a Division I basketball coach whose journey...
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More Than Wins: The Heart of a Leader
More Than Wins: The Heart of a Leader What does it really mean to be a successful coach? Is it championships? Winning seasons? Players moving on to the next level? Awards and recognition? Or is there something more important happening every day inside the gym? In this episode of Redeeming the…
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When the Game Isn't Enough/ PT.3 Phil Morrison
When the Game Isn't Enough/ PT.3 Phil Morrison: FROM PRO PLAYER TO BASKETBALL MISSIONARY Phil Morrison has experienced basketball from just about every angle. 🏀 NAIA All-American 🌎 Professional player around the world 🎯 Highly sought-after point guard trainer ✝️ Basketball missionary But his...
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Why Players Burn out
Why Players Burn Out: Are We Helping Them Love the Game? Why do players burn out from a game they once loved? A basketball player recently shared a story that really challenged me. He said that after a bad practice, he couldn’t simply go back to his dorm and enjoy the rest of his day. He felt…
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When the Game Isn't Enough/ PT.2 Joseph Lewis
Welcome back to Redeeming the Game. We’re continuing our series: When the Game Isn’t Enough. Last week, we talked about developing people instead of simply developing players. Today, we’re going to approach that question from a completely different perspective. My guest has actually reached the...
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When the Game isn't Enough (Chris Morales)Pt.1
Welcome back to Redeeming the Game. Today, we’re beginning a brand-new series called: When the Game Isn’t Enough. Over the next few weeks, I’m sitting down with some incredible friends of mine who have experienced basketball at very different levels. We’re going to talk about the game. We’re…
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They won only seven games… and then won a championship. Part 2
7 wins. One championship. Two future pastors. But this story isn’t really about the championship. It’s about grief. It’s about personal battles. It’s about grace. It’s about redemption. Two former players. Two very different journeys. One faithful God. Years later, one is a youth pastor. One is a...
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From 7 wins to a Championship: What Was God Building!
They won only seven games… and then won a championship. Nobody saw it coming. But years later, I’m realizing the championship wasn’t the greatest part of their story. These two former players took very different paths. One walked through the devastating loss of his father during his freshman…
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Who Did Basketball Make You Become?
The Greatest Victory Wasn’t a Championship.” What if the greatest thing basketball ever gave you wasn’t a trophy… but the person you became? In this special episode of Redeeming the Game, I sit down with two former players from the early years of my coaching career to reflect on a journey that...
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What was Basketball Created For?
What Was Basketball Created For? Why did James Naismith invent basketball? Was it simply to create another sport or was there a greater purpose behind the game? In this episode of Redeeming the Game, we step back into basketball’s origins and explore the vision that shaped its beginning. Dr.…
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What story is your team living?
What if the greatest battle in basketball isn’t against the opponent—but against the story we’ve come to believe? In this episode of Redeeming the Game, we go back to the beginning. We explore the original vision behind the game of basketball and contrast it with the three forces that quietly…
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Different Stories One Redeemer
How God Used Basketball to Shape Two Lives What happens when two athletes from completely different backgrounds find themselves on the same team—and discover that God has been writing a much bigger story all along? In this episode of Redeeming the Game, I’m joined by two former players whose...
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Raising Competitors Without Losing the Child
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...
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Are you Coaching or Being Sent?
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…
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Pressure, Surrender, and Trust
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…
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Coaching is Transformational
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…
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What My Parents Got Right
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...
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When Players Become Coaches
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…
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Can Basketball Share the Gospel?
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...
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When you Question: Am I doing enough?
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…
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Righteousness over Reputation
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...
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More the Wins: The Legacy of a Transformational AD/Coach
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…
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Identity Before Performance
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...
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What The Game Revealed in us
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...
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Hard Conversations That Build Athletes
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...
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Lies we believed about coaching
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...
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The 3 Things Every Player Actually Needs
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...
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You Don't Have to Carry This Alone
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...
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Leadership Loneliness is Real
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...
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Winning… But Losing at Home?
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…
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The Cost of Always Being Available
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.…
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What the Game Reveals Under Pressure
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…
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Urgency is Not Leadership
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…
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Winning Practices, Losing Peace
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.
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When Coaching Becomes Performance
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.
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You Are More Than Your Record
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.
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Why The Game Needs Redeeming
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...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
This is a space for coaches, trainers, and leaders who love the game — but don’t want the game to cost them their family, their integrity, or their soul.Here, we talk about leadership, pressure, culture, identity, and the quiet tensions no one prepares you for when you step into coaching.This isn’t about chasing wins at all costs.It’s about restoring what the game was meant to form in us — and in the players we lead.This podcast is presented by the Beloved Coaches Collective, a community committed to coaching from identity, not insecurity.I’m Coach Sanders.Let’s redeem the game — one coach at a time.
HOSTED BY
Matt Sanders
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Redeeming The Game have?
Redeeming The Game currently has 38 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Redeeming The Game about?
This is a space for coaches, trainers, and leaders who love the game — but don’t want the game to cost them their family, their integrity, or their soul.Here, we talk about leadership, pressure, culture, identity, and the quiet tensions no one prepares you for when you step into coaching.This isn’t...
How often does Redeeming The Game release new episodes?
Redeeming The Game has 38 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Redeeming The Game?
You can listen to Redeeming The Game on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Redeeming The Game?
Redeeming The Game is created and hosted by Matt Sanders.
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