NOTE: A version of this story first appeared in Concordia University's summer 2024 edition of the Broadcaster magazine. The entire publication can be found online HERE.
Beneath the surface of the red championship banners won by Concordia Bulldogs teams are groups of athletes who had to overcome something. Self-doubt. Identity crisis. Injuries. Poor performance. Academic stressors. Relationship problems. Tragic circumstances. Now more than ever, it’s become acceptable to peal back the layers and talk about these issues, all of which are battles individuals fight outside the spotlight of their athletic competitions. These struggles are normal.
What is abnormal is the way Concordia University, Nebraska is uniquely constructed to help student-athletes navigate the rollercoaster of both positive and negative life events. There’s responding to adversity, and there’s also handling success.
In jubilation or despair, perspective is needed. In the aftermath of leading the Bulldog Women’s Basketball team to a national championship in March of 2019, Head Coach Drew Olson told a crowd gathered inside Friedrich Arena, “There’s a song that kept ringing in my head throughout the day. It says, ‘I don’t want to leave a legacy. I don’t care if they remember me. Only Jesus.’ It’s through Him that we were able to accomplish this. It’s through Him that we have all of these gifts.”
In other words, an identity in Christ is stronger and more meaningful than an identity as solely a successful athlete or coach. As each Bulldog squad looks ahead to new seasons for 2024-25, the process of tearing down and building up both team and individual identities is underway. What does the winning mindset of a Concordia Bulldog look like? Ideally, the team environment fosters fiercely competitive and intensely motivated but also kind, compassionate and empathetic Christians.
Make no mistake about it – Concordia is proud of its winning teams and the fact that the Bulldogs earned the 2023-24 GPAC All-Sports Championship Trophy. It takes further examination to understand what yields that achievement. Fifteen Concordia teams placed fourth or better in the GPAC this past season while all using slightly different processes within the same framework that guides the entire university. Athletic talent is obviously a plus, but championships won’t be the result without a sense of togetherness and purpose. There’s a greater understanding now that mental and spiritual health combined with positive thinking are competitive advantages.
Husband and wife duo Ben and Angie Boldt have taken Concordia Volleyball to new heights while purposefully embracing mental health and the power of sport psychology. The program has enlisted Performance Psychiatrist Dr. Larry Widman to speak to the team roughly four times per year.
Says Angie, “If we have a physical injury in our body, we go to the athletic trainer and we get it worked on. Our mind and our mental health can also get injured. Maybe we’ve had a bad game – our mental health can go down. Maybe it’s other things happening in life where mental health is struggling. Doc’s whole point is that we train our bodies physically, we can train our minds too. I started coaching in the early 2000s, and almost 20 years later, I think there is definitely this different approach compared to the crass yelling you used to see. There’s a more positive approach in general. Coaches have had to adapt to that because of the different generations that have come through.”
As Ben Boldt likes to say, “Players don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.” For coaches like Boldt, caring on a personal level is a higher priority than worrying about an individual’s hitting percentage. The culture the program has built is one of the reasons why it is enjoying unprecedented success and rose to No. 1 in the NAIA national poll in 2023. Inside the huddle, the Boldts strive to strike a balance between having a fierce ‘mamba mentality’ within competition while maintaining a kind-hearted positive atmosphere in which everyone has a role.
The Boldts want to make sure their players are never afraid of the moment. Successful athletes and coaches may seek championships and accolades, but it’s often their obsession with the process that yields such results. It’s a healthy energy directed towards a shared goal that drives teams like Concordia Volleyball forward.
The whole atmosphere has become so cherished that players like Bree Burtwistle and Camryn Opfer opted in on a ‘COVID year’ in 2023. The fruits of their labor came in the form of a shared GPAC regular season title. Said Opfer immediately after that accomplishment became a reality, “I just love playing with this team. I think the fight and the will to win on this team is unmatched. I’m just so proud for the coaches especially because I’ve been with them for five years now and they’ve wanted this so bad. Obviously so have we, so I’m just happy to do it for my teammates and my coaches.”
One point that Dr. Widmann has made clear is that it’s normal for highly competitive athletes to endure periods of mental struggle. Concordia pole vault national champion Zach Zohner can talk first-hand about his own strife on the way to the mountaintop. First, the Battle Creek, Neb., native was kicked down by injuries and then the resulting fear of reaggravation. He had to face those fears before he could become a national champion.
Said Zohner following his 2024 NAIA indoor pole vault national title, “It’s taken the last three years putting things in order, one at a time. It’s been me and Coach (Jason) Berry going back and forth realizing we can’t worry about something later in the vault before I’ve got something on the runway worked out. I have to keep my head screwed on straight. Your body can be ready but sometimes your mind isn’t. I just have to thank God for everything. He’s led me through it all and helped me through the obstacles.”
For athletes who have seemingly sunk their entire lives to date into perfecting their crafts, they can be overcome by despair when injuries or poor performances occur. A member of the 2021 NAIA World Series qualifying Concordia Baseball team, pitcher Nathan Buckallew admitted that he had too closely tied his happiness and his identity to what transpired on the field. Buckallew felt himself slip into a negative state of mind as he battled injuries and other off-field circumstances.
Buckallew’s success in 2021 and 2022 felt more rewarding once he began to properly prioritize what mattered most in his life. A conversation with Head Coach Ryan Dupic helped push Buckallew in the right direction. Said Buckallew then, “It was pretty transformational going through that. I realized that I don’t have to earn or achieve anything. I know that Jesus is going to love me the way that I am. That was foundational in a change in my attitude and approach. That was a big reason why I felt like I had success last year. I felt different mentally. I really didn’t feel pressure anymore. I was going to control my process, try my best and the outcomes were going to take care of themselves. It was pretty freeing knowing that I don’t have to achieve my way to anything. That’s why it was really emotional during those times.”
The case of former teammate Joey Grabanski was a different one. To be frank, Grabanski really never struggled for any extended stretches during his standout Concordia career. His ability to compartmentalize and focus on the task at hand may have been an overlooked aspect in his pursuit of the all-time NAIA home run record. During April 2024, Grabanski enjoyed perhaps the most productive month of his baseball life while attention on the home run record picked up – and as he was about to become a father for the first time.
After breaking the NAIA home run record (88 career homers by season’s end), Grabanski stated simply, “Honestly, in the moment I wasn’t thinking about anything. I was just sticking to my approach and doing whatever I could to help the team in whatever way possible.”
On the hardwood, the Bulldog Women’s Basketball program has long been respected nationally for its winning ways. That didn’t happen solely because of Head Coach Drew Olson’s acumen when it comes to X’s and O’s. The players respond to Olson as a leader who excels greatly in team building and fostering relationships. The program has tenets of communication, humility, resilience, selflessness and trust.
According to Olson, the stressors that college athletes face are no different today than they were in 2006 when he first took on the head coaching role at his alma mater. Those main stressors, as he pointed out, remain academics, relationships and home sickness (with the latter one showing up mostly in freshmen). Olson has devised different ways to help alleviate stress. Examples are activities like ‘hunger games,’ karaoke nights and team devotions. Every week during the school year, each player will talk to at least one of the program’s three coaches in a one-on-one manner.
If someone is dealing with a tough situation, Olson and his staff want to be there to help in any way they can. Olson stresses that playing time and affection for one another are two separate things. Said Olson, “Our love for them as individuals is always there. It has nothing to do with playing time or someone’s role on the team. Some people mistakenly think those go hand in hand. Just because someone is playing more minutes doesn’t mean that I like that person better. It comes down to what’s best for the team and what gives us the best chance to win. It’s about the team first, but we do want what’s best for them.”
Whether subtly, unintentionally or purposefully, the critical aspect of mental and spiritual health is constantly being managed from an individual and team perspective. The resources available to Concordia student-athletes extend beyond their own teams and includes professors, counselors, staff and the campus community.
Positive mental and psychological health is a competitive advantage, and the successful teams of today have homed in on this key element of individual athlete and team building. The winning mindset of a Concordia Bulldog is rooted in Christian faith, fearlessness in competition, relentless drive and an ability to take wins and losses in stride while understanding the larger picture.
“Our culture is very positive,” Angie Boldt said. “But we as coaches also want to make sure we’re fierce. We can’t get soft while we have that positivity. We have to make sure we have this true balance of high standards, high accountability and fierce competitors with love and care. That’s what Ben and I try to balance all the time. One of the things that makes Concordia special is that we are this Christian university. Everyone in our department is rooted in love and care already. Now it’s up to us as coaches to develop what our championship behaviors look like.”
Said Olson of his program, “We’re up front about who we are and what Concordia is all about in the recruiting process. I think that’s a huge draw for a lot of players. I hope that our players know that we value them more than as basketball players and that their identities are in Christ. It’s not just whether you can make buckets.”