FCS Blog

The mission statement for Faith Christian School is FCS exists to glorify God by partnering with Christian parents to provide a
challenging college preparatory program and disciple future-ready students. Of course it is always important to explain the why
in most statements and that is pretty straight forward. As an athletic director, teacher, coach, and instructor I also feel it’s
important to explain the how. School athletics can be the most visible way to represent a school’s culture and mission. When a
team competes well with an attitude that displays what the school is about, it can be inspirational to everyone involved including
the other team. I believe Knights Athletics should represent how Christ has an influence in everything we do. So how do we do
that?
Respect (Matthew 7:12 So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the
Prophets.)
Players should be able to talk to adults/ coaches/ teachers/ officials/ other schools with
respect and confidence. Trash talk is always detrimental and in most cases will disqualify us as a positive influence. I’ve been a baseball
umpire for seven years for local showcase tournaments for teams 13 - 18 years old. There are few coaches or teams who show the basic
respect for officials or the other team for that matter. There was one team that stood out to me in all my time as an umpire. A coach
from a Cincinnati team said in our pre game meeting that “We are a Christian team and you won’t hear any complaints out of us”. I
reminded him that it was our fourth game of the day in 100 degree heat and we might make some bad calls. He said “I don’t care how
bad you may be, we won’t say a word.” Their team played hard and with complete class. They played like a Christian team should. They
happened to win that game but I doubt it would have mattered. It was inspirational!
Accountability (Romans 14:12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God)
Players, coaches, and parents should be accountable and take responsibility for how they compete and handle obstacles. A popular
quote says “There may be a 1000 reasons for failure, but not one single excuse.” We will all make mistakes and those should be
opportunities for us to show our character by getting back up and getting better. One of the best things a true leader can do is take the
blame. As a professor I had for one my classes at the Citadel “Mess up, fess up, and move on.”
Humility (John 15:5 ...apart from me you can do nothing)
Matt Holliday, a former MLB all-star player once said “There are two kinds of players. Ones that are humble and the ones who are about
to be humbled.” Having been a player for the last 38 years of my life and a coach for 20 years, I can confidently say that he is right. We
should always remember Who gives us every talent, ability, and opportunity and be appreciative by giving our best effort every day.
If we can learn how to win and lose with humility, be a great teammate, and handle criticism and instruction well, we will be a great
motivation to others.
This isn’t a complete list of every character trait an athlete should have, but it is a great start and will set us apart from nearly every
other team. I look forward to a great year with all of our teams and I know we have a lot of student leaders who can help us be successful
in conquering our mission to be great ambassadors and disciples for Christ.
Mr. Nathaniel Stoner, FCS Athletic Director