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Episode Info and Transcript

Coach Steve Funke joins us this time on the Coach to Coach podcast. 

Topics Include: 

Vision for the program
Being a lifelong learner
Core Values
Alignment as a coaching staff
Coaches who impacted him
Belief in your players
Work Ethic

Playing Career: 
Simon Kenton High School: Football and Track Athlete
Georgetown College: NAIA National Champion Freshman Year

Coaching: 
Twenhofel Football Coach as well as 2 years as Athletic Director
Simon Kenton HS assistant Track Coach (Throwers) 

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Nate:
This is the coach to coach podcast episode number 31, Game time. Hey, what's going on, guys? Welcome to the coach to coach Podcast, where we believe every kid deserves a coach that cares, and every coach deserves someone in their corner. I'm your host, Nate Sallee. This podcast is sponsored by the Northern Kentucky Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We have an incredible team of donors of supporters, board members, volunteers, student leaders. It is a true team effort to see the movement of God and the life change that we experience right here in northern Kentucky, and one of the big ways that we do that is, through this podcast, we capture the collective wisdom and northern Kentucky, Greater Cincinnati and beyond. Why? We can all get better together, so many times we might trade plays or X's and O's type of tactics and strategies. But we really want to set aside some time to How do we grow better together when it comes to thriving personally in our faith, even our marriages and our homes on the field with our teams have we motivate kids having built trust and relationship, How do we get the most out of them while also transforming them their lives in the process. And I'm really excited for you to hear from a good friend of mine who is doing just that day in and day out. This episode is gonna be funkier than our intro music because we have coach Steve Funke on the show today and just a good friend of mine. Current coach at Twenhofel middle school. He's also has helped out with Simon Kenton's Track program. He came up the ranks through Twenhofel, Simon kenton, and found his way to a national championship team at Georgetown College. He has years of experience to pull from In the coaching ranks. You'll get to hear some of things he's learned personally along the way. The wins, the losses. And I think you're really gonna appreciate some of the things that coach Coach Funke has to say. Well, I don't want to waste any more time. Let's hop right into our conversation with Coach Steve Funke. All right, guys, we're here with coach Steve Funke Steve, how you doing today? Great. If you don't mind him, just give us a quick kind of Reader's Digest version of Steve Funky growing up in Independence to Now, where you're at in the coaching ranks.

Coach Funke                 
Yeah, well, anybody who knows me knows that I'm not capable of the Reader's Digest version. But I'd be more than happy to give you the rundown. I was born in, DeMossville Kentucky, which is the very southern tip of Kenton County. And I attended Piner Elementary Twenhofel middle school and Simon Kenton high school, I'm one of 12 Children. I have five brothers and six sisters. My parents are still alive, and they live on the farm down in Demossville. Was raised in a very traditional Catholic home. I say traditional, but it was what we called Catholic Baptist. We grew up, down and, uh, in the southern part of the county. So it was very much a rural community. And it was kind of neat because, from the standpoint of the faith community, almost everybody was small-town farmers, we'd stick around after church for an hour just talking with everybody and catching up each week. I'm number seven in a line of 12. So by the time I went through elementary school and middle school in high school. My brothers and sisters, thankfully, had a pretty good reputation. So it was up to me to either carry that on or ruin it. And, you know, in some cases I carried it on. In some cases, I altered it, started playing football in eighth grade. It was the greatest thing I've ever experienced in playing sports. We always were a big sports team at home, a sports family. We played volleyball and soccer and we played against each other. And you will never have a more intense game than when you play against your brothers and sisters. And my sisters were the toughest of the group. My brothers were easier playing.. sisters cheat, so I had to get really, really creative with them.
Nate                 
When you have a full basketball roster wow, you got a full 12 even got a couple of bench players too

Coach Funke                 
Yeah, yeah, well, we didn't have a whole lot of time for that. We bailed 20,000 bales in a year and 100 cords of wood and, uh, 80 cows, and it was a working farm. So did a lot of farm work growing up. My senior year at Simon Kenton drew some interest from small colleges, and that took me to Georgetown College, where I played from 91 in 95. I was part of a national championship team and that really, that really kind of altered my view of how sports we're supposed to be played in what they were about..spent 10 years after graduating from college in sales. And then I was teaching 10 years after I graduated from college. I tell people all the time, My best day in sales Isn't anywhere close to being as good as my worst day in teaching. It's always been something that I kind of thought I would be good at. And then when the opportunity came, I took it. It definitely was a vocation rather than a job, and I've never regretted a day of it. It's been 16 years, and since it will be the end of my 17 years when I finish up this year, so it's been a great ride.

Nate                 
I definitely agree. I believe you're in your sweet spot you found on your slot there. That's amazing. Well, you had between eighth grade with 20  

Nate                 
Twenhofel, SK, and then Georgetown had some different coaches along the way. And I'm sure everybody contributed to you in some form or fashion. But what would be maybe the top one or two coaches that really impacted you in a positive way along your journey?

Coach Funke                 
Yeah, when I've my very first experience with football is not was not great. I didn't really enjoy it all that much and growing up in a large family, it was pretty easy to be in a competitive situation. So I was a pretty competitive person up. Continue to look for ways to improve. And I played my 1st 4 years of football just doing the best that I could, but not really getting much instruction. And Tim Odem came along and he and his father coached with him. His name was Bob Odom and that happened my senior year, and they just completely transformed how I knew how to play football. They taught me the techniques that became a technician, rather than just blind strength and speed and fury. I played as a junior at 230 and as a senior played at 195. So I was almost 40 pounds down. Some of that had to do with it. The tree I hit 45 miles an hour while falling asleep at the wheel, coming home from my junior prom, Uh, kind of reorganized my body that but despite having a broken arm and a messed up shoulder, the new coaching staff coach Tim and Coach Bob they told me They said, Look, you're gonna be a part of this team and regardless of how you're feeling from your waist up, we're gonna condition you from the waist down. And it dropped almost 1/2 a second off my 40-time, the strength in my legs and really, mentally they just strengthen. We always had a lot of drive and desire, but they were able to focus on It. I switched positions that I played in it. At first, I was really bummed out about it. But later on, I realized that it gives me the confidence to know that I could play anything, Whatever, whatever the job, was um, I could do it. Coach Odom just taught me about loyalty to your teammates and how important it was to support everybody around you and make it about the man next to you and the man that's depending on you Behind you. In the case of you're running backs and their linebackers. Whatever position you're playing in. Odom taught me just you don't try to win a game. You win a game, one step, one moment, one piece at a time. You don't try to make all of it happen all once. You just have this moment and you do your best. At this moment. It's the collection of all that. It will lead to success. It was actually pretty rough. We had eight seniors that year. We had five Freshman starting For us, it was, ah, real learning experience. But it was probably one of my greatest years of football, just growth-wise and they were really, really loyal to me and they have and did take really good care of me at that point. They put me in contact with Georgetown, and at that point, I was just like any other high school kid. I thought I was playing for Florida State for national Champions share the next year. You know, they put me in touch with Georgetown and just an odd little thing. I was encouraged to run track to stay in shape for college football and in the midst of going and running track. I was a sprinter and a discus thrower. That happened to coincide with my recruiting trips for football. So whenever I'd go on a recruiting trip, I'd ask them about different techniques for desk and kind of off. In an odd little thing, as every time I take a recruiting trip, I'd get a little better throwing disc because they get some coaching from outside sources. I was fortunate enough to actually place in the track playoffs leading up to the state championships, place second place for three weeks in a row and then end up beating the guy who beat me three weeks in a row and won the state championship in track after one year. And I didn't realize how significant that would be a time, you know, for me, it is reinforced. If you try hard, you could make a lot of things happen, But, when I went back to teaching the very first coaching job ahead. His coaching track, not football. It's been amazing like that that really got me hoped and realizing how much I could do it. Also, that experience taught me that you can give your best to whoever is looking for guidance. You don't it doesn't always have to be just too team that's designated to you. But, you know, there's a lot of other people that are looking for your guidance and help. People help me along the way, and I always felt the need to help them. So yeah, it was. That was an interesting ride from Simon Kenton to Georgetown. Tim Odem had a lot to do with it, and then when I got to Georgetown, uh, had a lot of good coaches. But really, Ah, it was the teammates that camaraderie there. I didn't win a state national championship with Florida State because with Georgetown, but we did end up winning a national championship my very first year down there, 13 and one. And, um, my perspective of what it was too to be on a successful team really changed tremendously. And it was an amazing experience.

Nate                 
Yeah, thanks for sharing. That's some excellent points there. As far as being flexible on positions and looking for guidance and assistance and always trying to grow not being you mentioned not just kind of relying on your size or just blind strength of just trying to always find the different ways to improve. I think it's the same as an athlete, but also as a coach. And you, you've just been a great example of that where you've you've won the national championship in Georgetown, you come back home and you have some coaching opportunities. You could think that you have everything completely figured out and it's my way or the highway, period. So just let's just walk through a little bit of what was your coaching philosophy is starting out. And then how is that kind of progressed to where you're right now?

Coach Funke                 
Sure, yeah, well, starting out. I really struggled. I know this sounds kind of strange, but, uh, all the success I had as a player and even as an athlete in track and through college, I just never felt confident. I just really didn't feel like I had a lot of confidence. I kind of chased the success to reinforce my worth if you will. So when I went back to coaching initially, you know, I was just trying to get these kids to perform as good as they could so we could win a game. It was 6th 7th and eighth-grade students, and then in high school. It was freshmen through seniors for track, and I was really focused on only the way we need to get you to win this, regardless of what their there ability levels were. Pretty quickly, I realized that it was There was a lot more about the relationships. I valued the relationships more than the value the win on the football field or even on the track. Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy it. It's it felt a lot more fun than win than it did to lose. Uh, and then over a couple of years, some of these kids would move on, and I would hear back from them. That's when I realized the time that I was spending with him was impacting your life more than what I taught them on the athletic field. I was the assistant coach for the 1st 4 years at our middle school when we had the program, and then I became the head coach. I had a couple of assistance. They were really big in the win, and I really bought into that for the 1st 2 years, and I just I didn't enjoy it. It's just a lot of because of love or angst and anxiety. And finally, I can't step back and talked with one of my trusted assistant coaches and was like we have to do something better for these kids. they need us. A lot of these guys are coming here to practice and nobody comes to the games to watch him play. And, you know, and that by this time I got a couple of letters from kids who had left, graduate from high school and sent letters back when they were in, enroll in college or went into the armed forces, and they talk about the time, the belief I had and what impact it had. I told the coach. Actually, I said, we have to do something more than just the exes and those. We need to build into these kids, and our goal shouldn't be to win the championship. It should be to build husbands and fathers and leaders of the community and for some of them, just give them a responsible adult male that they may not have in their life at this time. Really, I tried to be much more purposeful with that, but including the type of coaches, I had around him. But there's still a little bit of an element missing. It wasn't really until I moved into an athletic director position. It struck me one day like a You know what? I know Nate, and I need to give him a call and talk to him more about FCA. And that's kind what got our into how the building character through faith and instead of just trying to build up young men through football, building up with the principles of faith and integrity in that direction, that's where you and I have built this relationship over years. We've really seen the quality of the person who comes out of our program improve tremendously.

Nate                 
Yeah, excellent. It was a joy for me to hang out with you on. I remember it was Tuesdays at noon. That was your planning. We got to hang out pretty much weekly, we missed the occasional one, but wow, it was just really cold to process things with you. You completed the three-dimensional coaching training that we offer for coaches. And then you're back for more the following semester with transformational leadership and you're just gobbling it all up. And you're like, Man, I'm taking so much and I'm getting all the puzzle pieces together. And now I gotta figure out where we need to put him. And it was just really, really invigorating to watch that. Walk that out with you. What would be at two or three of the top takeaways from either one of those pieces of training that you feel like that really helped you either personally or kind of with the program?

Coach Funke                 
Well, one was just to go in love. I don't know. I think that was in both three dimensional and transformational leadership is try and look at the individual and whatever you're doing, are you doing it for their benefit or are you doing it for your benefit? And if it's for your benefit, you're coming at it from the wrong angle there, the term building into somebody used a lot, and I think it's misunderstood but to come from the direction of my coaches. Since I'm the head coach, I coach my coaches and my coaches coach. The coach is that and then they coach the players and some of these players are more experienced. Coach the players below them and soon empower each of those individuals that I'm in charge of. Number one to know that I'm somebody who is going to look at the situation trying to help them, not to criticize them, and then ultimately, to get them to know that whether this solution is comfortable for them or uncomfortable for them. Ultimately, it's to leave them a direction of, uh, of growth and development improvement in their life. So and I think the term that was used, you go in love, uh, do it in a way to really care about the individual that you're working with, and that could be tricky. Sometimes when you have 70 kids and 10 coaches under you. the other port was purposeful with the plans that you layout. There is an end game that we're working toward even if we're If we aren't going to physically be there for the end of that game. There is a bigger picture and everybody needs to buy into that bigger picture. If all my coaches think the only reason we're there is to win championships and I have not communicated that properly, we developed an acronym with thoroughbreds, So B.R.E.D.S. was belief, respect, effort, determination, sacrifice. They were all based on a book called Five Marks of a Man, which is a faith-based book that talks about the difference between a boy and a man. And it really goes right in line with the three-dimensional coaching. The other take away, too, is that X's and O's is the first dimension of three-dimensional coaching, building a relationship is the second dimension, but the third dimension is the whole person what it is that there what they're going to become and how they're going to achieve the successes. And how about turning their successes in their life. And I try to get the coaches to really buy into the idea that we're here, and if we build into these individuals the best that we can, all the other wins, the first and second dimensional take care of themselves. We need to be looking at the third dimension. Um, you know, there's your spiritual growth and not everybody on my staff is necessarily hardline Christians. We have when we bow our heads and we say a prayer at the end of the game, then everybody still around supporting the idea. So I guess that that was two of my takeaways. But there's a lot more into it. There's a lot of small pieces that make their way into what we do.

Nate                 
That's good, thanks for sharing! A couple of them were going in love. It kind of touches on two things for the 3 D coaching. Love is the most effective motivator in the world, knowing that you're loved and cared for and that you'll run through a wall for somebody who you truly believe, loves and cares about you more so than just fear and intimidation. That can get some short term results. But when you're coming from a place of love, ultimately, even though love could look differently, too, sometimes it not being coddled all the time. It could be some tough love too, but they have to know, first and foremost that you love them. And that's that core parts of motivation, but also with that said with teamwork or conflict either coach to parent, coach to player. If you go with the purpose of restoring the relationship because you love them, as opposed to, "I'm super ticked off and I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind." Two very different approaches. Yeah, and could get a lot of different results. Those were two really good ones to be pulling from. And I know you've also used the spotlight drill at different times, sometimes even in the classroom as well. I dug into that a little bit. Yeah, that's good. In speaking of the five marks of the man, I can't have this conversation without chat a little bit about man camp. We've had a couple of pretty interesting ones that we had. We almost left because there was a massive storm. It's it's man camp through Crossroads Church. There's about, I don't know, 1500 guys on this massive campground and it's tent camping and this massive storm blows through. And we've thought it was really wise to set up camp at the bottom of the hill, where all this water would be rushing way said this arm. Yeah, it was good. It was good times.  

Coach Funke                 
That's right.Yeah, well, walking in, if you remember. We walked in and we had the one young guy who almost has a heat stroke on the way in because it was 70 and really humid. And he had carried on luggage was a, uh, like we're going to an airport. We walked in for a mile and 1/2 through. I didn't even realize there was a rain forest in Ohio. And so that day, we're walking in. I guess it wasn't this week. A year ago this week,

Nate                 
it's that's about right. Yeah.

Coach Funke                 
Yeah, it was. It was about a year ago this weekend. It was very similar to today. Like today was warm and humid were calm, anticipating it was gonna be a little bit of rain the next day. But that's not that big of a deal. Yeah, during the afternoon, it was in the fifties, on the second day, and like it's a little bit cooler. And then all of a sudden, a switch flipped 30-40 mile an hour winds. The massive tent gets picked up and lay down repeatedly. The temperature drops. We wake up the next morning after being so the whole time. And there were ice crystals forming every time water would move. It was it was intense. Yet you and I have been through it in this last one. We knew it was just gonna be cold. That was fine. If you know it's gonna be cool and you can deal with it with wet and the coal, that was, uh that definitely was a test of the manliness of man. 

Coach Funke                 
But that man camp is one of my favorite things to do because it allows you to just let down your guard and pursue maybe some difficult circumstances that you've been ignoring in your life. You know, I talked about earlier, struggled with confidence for a long time in my life. The last one that we went to that was that was a major thing. Like, I never felt like I was good enough and you were the leader of that group. But we had so many other people around us also, it was something I left with and realizing that God had all the trials and tribulations and all the things, even, even still, I have a great life. 5 wonderful kids have a beautiful life that just treats me wonderfully. And we haven't always been on the same page. But we started seeking a relationship with God together about three or four years ago in man camp was a major major part of that, just letting me get right in my heart. And when I left the man camp in November, I realized that all the struggles I've had with my children with my wife, uh, with just different parts of my life they were all preparing me to be a better servant to God. When, uh, you went when I realized that and realized these were gifts, they weren't punishments. Then you know my happiness and true, But even more than that, like I felt like I was really going toward my purpose much better than I had been in any of the time of my life. So, yeah, man camp is really good. It's could be a little uncomfortable feeling when you first think about it. It's just that it's just an amazing thing you imagine happens there in your faith. the storm, 

Nate
And the fact that we almost left. But the other person was always sleeping. We were rolling over there where that night it was 20 degrees. Also, our tent had been flooded and that was it was a fun deal. It's vital that we still had a lot of really cool experiences around a campfire. Just there's something about being around just a circle of other people that are willing to just open up and share their hearts. And that's something that as men we typically don't do super well. But when you do get a glimpse of that, it is pretty powerful. you're not alone. You always leave having grown in some things and just having a ton of fun along the way. I know we both hopped in the arm wrestling competitions and that sort of thing and having fun there. But, uh, yeah, just giving a quick plug for Man camp, we fed a lot of good times. Not all of it was torture like we were talking about with the storm, 

Steve
But that man camp is one my favorite things to do because it allows you to just let down your guard and pursue maybe some difficult circumstances that you've been ignoring in your life. You know, I talked about earlier, struggled with confidence for a long time in my life. The last one that we went to that was that was a major thing. Like, I never felt like I was good enough and you were the leader of that group. But we had so many other people around us also, it was something I left with and realizing that God had all the trials and tribulations and all the things, even, even still, I have a great life. 55 wonderful kids have a beautiful life that just treats me wonderfully. And we haven't always been on the same page. But we started seeking a relationship with God together about three or four years ago in man camp was a major, major part of that, just letting me get right in my heart. And when I left the man camp in November, I realized that all the struggles, all the struggles I've had with my children with my wife, uh, with just different parts of my life they were all preparing me to be a better servant to God. When, uh, you went when I realized that and realized this gets, they weren't punishments. Then you know my happiness and true, But even more than that, like I felt like I was really going toward my purpose much better than I had been in any of the time of my life. So, yeah, man camp is really good. It's could be a little uncomfortable feeling when you first think about your long term. It's just that it's just an amazing thing you imagine happens there. I should've seen Magic faith a big battle. 

Nate
It is there and the fact that we almost left. But the other person was always sleeping. We were rolling over there where that night it was 20 degrees. Also, our tent had been flooded, and that was it was a fun deal. It's vital that we still had a lot of really cool experiences around a campfire. Just there's something about being around just a circle of other people that are willing to just open up and share their hearts. And that's something that as men we typically don't do super well. But when you do get a glimpse of that, it is pretty powerful. you're not alone. You always leave having grown in some things and just having a ton of fun along the way. I know we both hopped in the arm wrestling competitions and that sort of thing and having fun there. But, uh, yeah, just had to give a quick plug for Man camp, we had a lot of good times. Not all of it was torture like we were talking about with the storm. 
              
Steve: Right on... 

Nate
just a couple more questions before we kind of wrap up. What would so just imagine any money ready? Marty, have one of these on your staff. But what would be one or two things you would tell a young coach just starting out. Maybe it just comes back in the town after playing college ball or something like that. So they just got the first maybe assistant coaching spot. What would be one of two things would tell them like, Gosh, I wish I would have known that at the beginning.

Coach Funke                 
The basics. You always have to start fine. The 1,2, or 3 things that the most that you think or the most important things for your athletes to know. And that is gonna be the foundation of your teaching and plan on that being your entire year. Uh, but more important than that, get to know your players pay attention when they're getting out. Are and coming down. Uh, so what kind of relationship they're coming out off and going back into that practice is over. Don't get so caught up with the sport itself that you forget the child that's in front of you, that really, really needs you. They need your guidance. They need you, uh they need you. They don't need some persona and be true to who you are. I have so many coaches that come in and they want to be the second coming of Coach Monk. Well, there's only one of me. I even had my brother coast with me. He was also coach monkeys. In that instance, there was more than one ghost monkey butt he coached the true to who he was and I coached through lying in, uh, people will pick up if you're trying to be something that you're not and also understand that you're there for those kids. You're not trying to exercise demons from your background when you played sports yourself. I tell my players, and every year, for some reason it gets one year further out of said. I've lost my last game and I won my last King 20 years ago. I'm trying to help you. That's what I'm here for work. So when you hear the things I'm saying, understand them, I'm trying to be, is positive and directing you, and the best course is possible. But for young coaches, a lot of times they want to come in, and their goal is to win every game. Every single player is gonna be the best player, and you know those air very and noble aspirations. But last time I checked every single game that was played, 50% of people who play lost. I mean, I'm not a mathematician. I am a social studies teacher, but I think that's accurate. Yeah, half the teams lose, so at some point, that's going to strike him. If you don't build the foundation of values that you can really buy into and believe in, you're going to get very frustrated and then instead of being an asset to the people you're with, you become a liability keep it simple and just build on values that you can really relate to.

Nate                 
Yeah, that's good. Another way I've heard it said You're kind of describing it, but it's always remembering there's a heart beneath every jersey that is not just the number in a slot you're filling, but I gather there's a heart there that's being molded one way or the other, the influences there. It's kind of up to us to kind of fight for our kids. And all of that means, you know, to not just coddle them or perpetuate entitlement or anything like that. Like there's a kind of full package there. But just to remember that there are a very impressionable heart and a mind underneath that helmet. That's really good.

Coach Funke                 
I try. I try to thank the kids every day after practice. I said, Thank you for being in here. You could be someplace else right now, and you voluntarily decided that this is what you want to do. So I thank you for that, and I'm trying to be really honest, and yeah, every day. I'm not. I'm not exactly what I want to be every day sometimes. But I do tell the kids I promise in two things, Number one. If I'm here, you're gonna get the best that I possibly have. And that's all I ask from you. I don't expect you to be perfect. I just expect you to give me all the effort that you could give me. You might not like me sometimes, and I might not like you sometimes. But I'm always gonna love you. So I promise. In those two things, it's kind of sad sometimes. Sometimes I'm the first person. Tell them to just go in your life. And, uh, I think that's another thing I would tell a coach like Don't be afraid to tell kids that you care about and that you love like you don't have to have every moment doesn't have to be a hard exterior. Everybody thinks they want the Vince Lombardi. But what people don't know about Vince Lombardi is he was an extraordinarily faithful person, and those players that play for him knew that he loved them and he cared about. And, uh, you know, that's sometimes those are the things that get lost but I try to make sure our players know that like they're in a place where people do care about

Nate                 
they're in a safe place to relationally and everything. Ah, that's a great nugget about Vince Lombardi. I had no idea. I mean, shoot The Super Bowl trophy is named after a minute. Now he was that he was a faithful guy that had that approach to you're always gonna have this picture of me. Just this, you know, being mean, tough guy. You got results for sure.

Coach Funke                 
Well, he was very biblical and a lot of things that he talked about. Um, you know, there's different parts description to basically say you honor God by giving the best that you have. You honor God by following the path that has been laid out and then giving your best regardless of what the outcome is. And that was essentially the entire philosophy that Vince Lombardi ad was that we're going to attack this and we're gonna keep it simple. But we're going to do it more reliably and with the best effort, every time we're gonna do it more often than everybody else. And that's how we're gonna win. And ah, you know, ultimately, that's what sports provide. Young people are an idea of consistency, and that leads to success. Maybe not wins, but your long term life's success.

Nate                 
That's good. Like Final One, you've done a lot of different things in recent years. to grow personally in your faith. I know you, you know, linking up with crossroads and serving their lead a group of man camp. And have you even talked with me about even trying some uncomfortable things? Like I'm praying with your kids or doing the occasional Maybe story with them, things like that. But you also recently finished reading through the entire Bible. It is that an incredible, incredible feat. So obviously, we don't have time to dig into the entire story of God. But shoot, man, you made it through the whole Bible, got what was that like and wasn't whether what you expected on there were parts of it. What was it?

Coach Funke                 
The book of numbers in Leviticus threw me for a loop. But I will tell you that I'm not exactly sure I know that there is Ah, what one of the measurements, their talents, and there are all kinds of measurements I didn't understand, but no, I made a commitment. Basically, I wanted to know God more. Well, I like a set of growth, is a Catholic, And, uh, that was there such a comfort in the pageantry and the day to day of being a Catholic. If you go through the Sep. Seven sacraments and you're gonna achieve ultimately the relationship you want God. And you know, I really bought into all that stuff and I really value that foundation their hands with faith. But I never really felt like a new me, and I didn't know God, and I think the part that might be being part of it. You're 12 kids in the family and just having that. And I knew that I just wanted to know more. I didn't understand the context of certain things. So I, uh I started with the New Testament and got through Manta, Mark, Luke and John and then all the letters of Paul. For the first time in my entire Christian life. I learned who Paul actually was, you know, to me, he was just somebody ever. I always talk about Paul, and I was like, Why did Metropolitan 1 12 cycles? Well, there was a reason for that. And I learned about basically he was the one who foundation we went around and all these believers. He just fostered the growth that they had in their understanding. Jesus. And in turn, you help people like myself learn more about how much God really loves us. And then I went from there and I read the Old Testament and the Old Testament's fascinating because I started realizing what the Scripture was that prophesized Jesus come in the way that Jesus was gonna come in the way that he was basically going to serve. It struck me. There's such a vast amount of, of things that happened, Uh, God basically turned away from turn away from the Hebrews for a while, destroyed the homeland and told him like, Look, I don't want to be mad at you anymore. I don't want to be disrespected by you. I want to be loved by you and I want to love you. And that's when he brought Jesus. That's when he brought his son, and I didn't understand that process prior to that. So, uh, 700. And I guess my bible has 766 pages or something like that. Um, you know, I just digest as much of it as I could. Good. And after I would read I pray on it and it's got to kind of open my mind in my heart to what I read in tow. Learn. But it's interesting to Me how God basically didn't get his message across initially s. So he sent his son to reinforce the idea that I love you. I want you to honor and respect me. But as long as you repent to me and you believe in me, you know I will give you. This Grace is a gift that is available to you. But if you decline to do those things. If you decline to, uh, basically say that my son is the savior. Then this is gonna be closed off to you. But here's your opportunity. And it was It's pretty neat is pretty neat from a selfish standpoint. Hey, I read the Bible. How many of you have ever read it cover to cover? But after I was done reading it, it wasn't like I didn't get this surge of relation. I want to start reading the New Testament again. It started some more stuff kind of came to me because I had a context and it was really neat. It's definitely one of the achievements in my life that I would put up there with having kids, being married, being part of championship teams, and reading the Bible. I mean it. Help me understand what foundation of Christ is established in my life.

Nate                 
That's yeah, that's really good. That's gonna serve you for years to come. And, yeah, there are always layers to it. So I've read the same thing Passages after multiple times and just get a whole different perspective, different years or seasons of life, and it will be cool. I'll see a note that I put in years ago at the right time. It's just kind of amazing. This is digging in and seeing and what happens? Well, as we kind of wrap up for you personally, I just want to take this opportunity just thank you for all the time that you've you've trusted with me and your willingness to continue to just to receive it and grow. And you've taught me so much through the conversations that we've had but just, you know, inviting a staff person and not fully knowing what you're getting into. But, you know, offering up your planning time, week in and week out and believe in the value of it has been a great encouragement to me. I'm a better man, husband, father for it. Ah, and have gotten a better perspective from what it looks like. To wear that coach's hat. So just thank you for who you are. Appreciate our friendship and just really, really proud of where you're at and excited for where you're going.

Coach Funke                 
Thank you. I appreciate your friendship is really just one thing I value more than I could ever express tonight. I do appreciate your time and, uh, you know for whoever listens to this. If you are in a position to get the Fellowship of Christian athletes within the school and sports community that you're involved with a really highly encouraging to do it, it's you don't Nobody has to be forced fed way. Have an open invitation with ours at Twenhofel, and we have our people that are reliable. But it's just the consistency of making and available inviting people to go to love and the glory of Christ. And that's really what this is all about. That's what God calls us to do. So I'm glad that I know you. And I'm glad that we have this friendship.

Nate                 
Good stuff. All right, well, we both got some kids we gotta take care of, and it's almost better. We're gonna let you go, and we'll see you next time. All right?  

Coach Funke                 
Thanks Nate. See ya!     

Nate                 
Well, there you have it, guys. Our interview with Coach Steve Funke. I really appreciated his heart, his wisdom, the motivator of love, the building that trust that bringing your effort 100% every day did about Vince Lombardi gash and just the steps that he's taking his kind of reflection on. Read the entire Bible. It took him some time, as it would all of us, But I just so inspired by his passion for the game of football, for his students, his athletes, and his family moving forward If you want to make sure you don't miss any of the new episodes that are coming out hit, subscribe on the After you're currently listening to. That way you'll get a notification for episodes coming down in the future. And I gotta tell you, I'm really excited about some of the ones coming up here in just the coming weeks. Also, you can go to nkyfca.org/podcas to see all of our previous episodes and join our coaches' email. That's where we share helpful content and announcements about events and podcasts just like this. I would also love to hear from you if you have a topic or a guest that you would love to see on the future show. Well, hey, until next time keep growing, keep learning and keep changing lives on your team and in your home
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