From the October 29, 2026 International Coaches Connect webinar with Chad Simpson, Athletes in Action Tennis Director
Every coach knows what a well-timed timeout can do. It stops the momentum. It resets the plan. It can change the outcome of a game. Chad Simpson believes coaches need the same thing for their own lives, and that most of us wait far too long to call one.
Chad shared an old photo of himself as a college coach. He was coaching at a high level, but inside he was struggling. His marriage was strained, his kids did not know him well, and he had no mentor. "What I see is a young coach who's desperate for a timeout," he said.
Then he asked coaches from more than a dozen countries to picture their final day in the office. You are packing up the notes players wrote you, the books that built your expertise, maybe one trophy that still shines. What will you feel? What did you pursue? Who did you impact? Chad's point was simple: we have one life to steward, and we need to know now what will make it worth it.
Three phases, two timeouts
Chad sees every coaching journey moving through three phases:
Calling. A young coach asks why they want to coach at all.
Craft. They learn, experiment, fail and adjust until they master the work.
Legacy. Usually in their late 30s or 40s, they look at what they have built and ask what it was all for.
The phases run in order, but they also repeat. Every few years a coach returns to the same questions: Why did I start? How do I keep growing? What do I want to leave behind?
Timeout 1: Re-examine your why
Chad's own path started as a Division I player who wanted to influence people through sport. Early on, though, he was tempted to "coach to crush" in two ways:
Crushing it: chasing the highest level, the most money and the biggest name for yourself.
Crushing down: burying old wounds from childhood or a past coach and hiding them behind the role of leader.
Neither builds the next generation well. The alternative is coaching from calling. Chad pointed to Romans 12:2, which calls us not to conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
He offered four questions for this first timeout:
Am I coaching from calling or from comparison?
Where am I looking for validation: God's "well done," or the applause of others?
What pain might I be carrying into my leadership? Hurt people hurt people.
Am I becoming more like Jesus as I coach?
Master your craft, and watch for drift
Chad was clear that skill matters. Doing the work well honors God, in the same way you would want a builder to measure carefully before you step into the house they built. A team, a program or an academy is a house too.
The craft phase is a long apprenticeship. You read, observe, ask questions and serve under a head coach. You try systems, fail, adjust and improve. After five or fifteen years, if you keep going, you develop systems, trust your instincts and start equipping others.
The danger comes with that success. "You can be successful on the outside and still be drifting in your heart," Chad said. Many coaches hit a wall in their late 30s or early 40s. Burnout sets in, and the weight of leadership grows heavy. Most respond the way they did as athletes: train harder, put in more hours, grind. That works in the weight room. It does not work for the soul.
That is the moment to be honest, tell the truth, seek wise counsel and call the second timeout.
Timeout 2: Recreate your vision
If you keep coaching the way you did in your 20s, Chad warned, you will burn out. The second timeout is about finding a deeper mission, and he pointed to two places to find it.
Solitude. Jesus, "the greatest coach of all time," often rose early to be alone with the Father. If he needed it, we do too. When Chad coached at a small college in Georgia, he would sometimes pull off the highway by a lake on his drive to work. He spent 20 minutes there reading Scripture and praying. The demands of coaching never stop, so you have to turn off the phone and get away.
Community. Leadership is lonely at the top. In tennis, the people who sit with a player during a match are called the player's box. Every coach needs one: a few trusted people who walk with you.
Chad gave three action steps:
List every relationship that matters to you, such as your spouse, children, players, friends and family, and choose a next step with each one.
Design your perfect week. What would bring you joy? Pursue whatever parts of it you can control.
Coach with Christ. Whether you are on the court, in the weight room or on the road, remember that God is with you.
Winning matters, but fruit lasts
As a coach rises, the road splits. You can keep driving until you burn out. Or you can take a halftime: let God lead and choose to finish well.
Chad has watched coaches skip that timeout and end up in the headlines. They were lonely inside and empty, they had moral failures, and they were left with trophies that did not last. Coaches who stop and meet with God can flourish inside, stay faithful and bear fruit that outlasts them. Their families and players notice the difference.
Chad also read from Psalm 1, which describes a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season. That fruit shows up in three places:
Inner fruit: love, joy, peace, patience and kindness.
Relational fruit: players, assistant coaches and family.
Spiritual fruit: people who come to know and follow Jesus.
"I hope you win it all," Chad told the coaches. He hopes Christian coaches rise to the top in every country. But a fruitful legacy also means athletes formed in character, coaches equipped to lead and families made stronger.
Your timeout begins today
Chad closed with a question: which timeout do you need? The first asks why: what is really driving me? The second asks how: which relationships, rhythms and habits need to change so I can keep coaching faithfully?
Your timeout does not have to be big. Choose one:
Spend an hour alone with God. Turn off your phone, bring a Bible, read, listen and journal.
Have an honest conversation with a trusted mentor.
Block off a full day to pray and reflect.
Change one rhythm in your week.
Strengthen one relationship.
Go back to that last day in the office. What will bring the deepest smile to your heart will not be a trophy or a game-winning shot from 30 years ago. It will be the people you influenced.
As one Athletes in Action staff member likes to remind coaches, you have unlimited timeouts. Use one before practice, between meetings or before you respond to a hard-to-coach player.
Go deeper: Chad's new book, Walk Like a Champion, is a short fable about a young man addicted to sports who meets a wise mentor named Paul. Paul teaches him seven steps to walking like a champion, and like Christ. Many readers finish it in a day. It is available on Kindle.
Stay connected: Want to talk through your next step with Chad or Jason? email Jason.Stankus@athletesinaction.org
