Coaches Inspire Athletes with Jesuit Values

I love failure,” says Marquette University High School’s varsity golf head coach, Brad Niswonger. “I sat down during the parent meeting . . . the first thing out of my mouth was ‘I can’t wait until we lose, because that’s when the real learning begins.’”

Niswonger has coached golf at the Milwaukee high school since 2011, and his team has won Wisconsin’s state team golf championship three out of the past five years. During his tenure as coach, the team has placed in the top five on eight occasions. One could argue that Niswonger knows victory more than he knows failure.

But the concept of failure is interwoven with Jesuit identity. As St. Ignatius of Loyola relished the splendors of his privileged upbringing, it’s evident that success without failure breeds arrogance. After sustaining an injury at the battle of Pamplona, Ignatius was humbled enough to pursue his vocation. The pressure of adversity created the diamond of success.

“You only learn from failure; very few things are learned from success,” says Niswonger. “This is what we’re all trying to do: teach kids in sports how to put themselves under pressure. If you fail, it doesn’t mean you lose, it means you learn.”

Taking into account a global pandemic and academic, social, and emotional pressures, student-athletes are challenged in countless ways. But if the player is challenged, the coach is as well.

For Matthew Lewis, head football coach at University of Detroit Jesuit High School, one of his biggest challenges as a coach is helping his players overcome distractions. “Our kids are pulled in so many directions,” he says.

Despite the commitment that any football team demands, Lewis makes a point to remind his team to enjoy the sport; as he says, “This is fun. This is an opportunity to be with 50 of your best buddies. Have fun while we’re doing this.”

Niswonger notes similar challenges, saying, “It’s so easy to go to the negative . . . Your mind is a terrible thing.” He explains, “The challenge for a coach is to fight the easy path to negative responses and actually provide a positive thing that they can use and build themselves up with.”

Coaches at Jesuit institutions have a duty to inspire identity and confidence in young men and women, especially in the face of adversity. They do not work for accolades; they work for the betterment of the student-athletes.

Audra Kielbowicz, who coaches varsity girls’ lacrosse at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, explains, “Now more than ever, it’s nice to be able to take these girls and give them a safe place to be who they are and not only grow as players but grow as people.”

Thankfully, these coaches are equipped with unique institutional values to aid students as they navigate adversity.

Kielbowicz says, “It’s the sense of community. You feel a lot of love for the school . . . and I think a lot of that speaks to it being a Jesuit school and the fact that the school teaches these kids about faith, whatever [their] faith may be.”