The Reason for Christmas: Finding Your Purpose Beyond the Game

By Brock Sawyer | Vision Sporting Goods

The scoreboard will eventually go dark. The crowd will file out. The final whistle will blow on the last game of your career. Whether you're a first-year student athlete just beginning your journey, a veteran coach building a program, or an athletic director shaping the future of competition, this truth remains constant: the game itself is only part of the story.

As we approach Christmas, we're reminded of a profound truth that transcends sport, achievement, and worldly success. The reason for Christmas—the arrival of hope, redemption, and purpose wrapped in humanity and humility—offers us something far greater than any championship banner. It points us toward the question every person in athletics must eventually answer: What is my purpose beyond the game?

The Temporary Nature of Competition

We pour everything into the games we play and coach. Early morning workouts. Film sessions that stretch into evening. The ache of defeat and the euphoria of victory. These moments are real, valuable, and formative. But they're also temporary.

Consider the greatest athletes in history. Their records fall. Their jerseys fade. Their highlight reels become nostalgia. This isn't pessimism—it's reality. And it's actually good news, because it means your true worth isn't found in your stats, your winning percentage, or your conference standing.

The reason for Christmas tells us that our deepest value was established long before we ever stepped onto a court, field, or track. We are loved not for what we achieve, but for who we are.

Purpose That Outlasts the Scoreboard

For Student Athletes: You are not your performance. On your best day, when everything clicks and you're operating at peak level, you are loved. On your worst day, when you're injured, struggling, or sitting the bench, you are equally loved. Christmas reminds us that God entered our brokenness not because we had it all together, but precisely because we didn't.

Your purpose extends beyond your athletic identity. The discipline you're learning, the teamwork you're developing, the resilience you're building—these are tools for a life of service and impact that will continue long after your playing days end. Who are you becoming through sport? How are you growing in character, compassion, and courage?

For Coaches: You're not just developing athletes—you're shaping humans. Every practice plan, every halftime talk, every moment you choose encouragement over criticism is an investment in someone's future. The wins and losses will blur together in memory, but the young person you believed in when they didn't believe in themselves? They'll carry that forever.

Your purpose is to steward the influence you've been given. Christmas embodies servant leadership—the greatest making himself least, power clothing itself in vulnerability. When you coach with this posture, you create an environment where young people don't just get better at their sport; they discover who they're meant to become.

For Athletic Directors: You carry the weight of programs, budgets, and competing pressures. But your deeper purpose is to create cultures where everyone—from All-Americans to practice players—can discover that they matter beyond their contribution to a win column.

The metrics you're measured by—attendance, championships, revenue—are real. But the true measure of your leadership will be seen in the lives changed, the characters formed, and the young people who learn that their worth isn't performance-based.

The Christmas Example: Greatness Redefined

The Christmas story turns our understanding of greatness upside down. The King of Kings entered the world in a stable, not a palace. The Savior came as a servant. The eternal took on all the limitations of time and flesh.

This matters for everyone in athletics because we're constantly bombarded with a different definition of greatness: more wins, more recognition, more power, more prestige. Christmas says real greatness looks like humility, sacrifice, and love.

What if we measured success not just by championships, but by how many young people learned to lift others up? What if we valued not just talent, but character? What if we built programs where the walk-on mattered as much as the starter, where compassion was coached as intensely as technique?

Finding Your 'Why' This Season

As you gather with family, take a break from training, or use this season to reset, ask yourself some deeper questions:

• Why am I really doing this? Is it for the applause, or something deeper?

• Who am I becoming through athletics? Am I growing in ways that matter beyond the arena?

• How am I using my platform, influence, or position to serve others?

• What will remain when the games are over?

The reason for Christmas is ultimately about purpose: God had a purpose in sending His son. Jesus had a purpose in coming. And you have a purpose that extends far beyond your athletic career.

Purpose Beyond the Game

Our mission—Purpose Beyond the Game—isn't just a tagline. It's an invitation to see your athletic journey as preparation for something larger. The leadership you're developing, the resilience you're building, the teamwork you're practicing—these are all tools for a life of meaning.

Christmas reminds us that:

• Your value isn't determined by your last performance

• Your worth isn't found in winning

• Your purpose is bigger than your sport

• Your story matters beyond the scoreboard

This season, as you celebrate with loved ones and reflect on the year behind and ahead, remember: you were created for more than athletic achievement. You were created for purpose, meaning, and impact that will outlast any trophy.

The games will end. But who you become through the games? That legacy lasts forever.

A Challenge for This Week

Before we return to competition, take time to:

1. Reflect on what truly matters to you beyond wins and losses

2. Thank someone who has invested in you as a person, not just as an athlete

3. Encourage a teammate, player, or colleague who might be struggling to find their worth beyond performance

4. Consider how you can use your platform in athletics to serve others and point them toward purpose

The reason for Christmas is hope, redemption, and unconditional love. May you experience that truth deeply this season—and may it transform how you approach every practice, game, and moment in 2025.

You are loved. You have purpose. And it goes far beyond the game.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Vision Sporting Goods. May you find rest, renewal, and a fresh vision for the purpose you're pursuing both on the field and beyond it.