Beyond the Game

By Zoe Ross
June 6, 2022

Beyond the Game

Squeaking, screeching sneakers echo in the gymnasium as feet shuffle hurriedly across the wood floor. Hands try to block a pass, sneak in, and grab the ball. The black-striped orange ball is everything, booming alongside the sneaker shrieks. The royal blue jerseys of JBU’s women’s basketball team fly across the court with strategy and purpose. Off to the side stands their leader – Coach Jeff Soderquist ’93.

Since the second grade, Soderquist knew teaching was part of his calling, and in high school, it became clear sports would be part of that calling in some capacity. He graduated from JBU intending to get a job teaching business at a high school along with a coaching position. However, God opened different doors, allowing him to work at JBU right away. Flash forward 25 years, and Soderquist, the winningest coach in JBU women’s basketball program history, has taken the team to the NAIA national tournament five times and officiated three of his players’ weddings.

God slowly revealed to Soderquist his true calling through this journey, a calling that was beyond the game. When he took the position as head coach for women’s basketball, Soderquist figured it was a good way to build credibility to later coach men’s basketball. He saw the assignment as a stepping stone, not somewhere he intended to stay. However, once he started, Soderquist reevaluated his purpose and plans.

“One of the things I had to figure out was why I got into coaching? Was it just about the wins and losses or about impacting lives? And about year six, I realized it’s not just about winning and losing,” he said.

Soderquist admits to being a competitive person, but if coaching had only been about winning and losing, he said he probably would have left — losing is hard. But even more significant than winning games is watching people grow.

“I don’t think there’s a bigger four-year maturity span than an 18-to-22-year-old, and I get to be a part of that every day,” he said. “Even professors can’t say that they’re with [their students] every day. You’ve left mom and dad but you’re not in the real world, you’re in this transition. And so that’s where God has really … changed me. That it’s about impacting lives, right there.”

The transitional college years can be an incredibly vulnerable place, full of trials, broken hearts, and often physical and emotional exhaustion. Student-athletes add the challenge of their team commitments to an already heavy load.

“I think what a lot of people on campus don’t know is being a student-athlete is hard,” Soderquist said. “You sacrifice a lot of other time you have. Learning how to balance that, all the stuff we put on them in the basketball program and keeping up with their academics, all those things.”

He witnesses his players’ struggles, accomplishments, and growth through many ups and downs. Soderquist has the unique ability to gently impact them with his instruction, insight, and fatherly care.

Maddie Altman, a graduate student basketball player, is grateful for her relationship with Coach Soderquist, a key mentor in her life.

“My time here at JBU would not be the same without Coach Soderquist,” she said. “He has impacted my life both on and off the court by caring not only about my basketball performance but also my development as a person and, even more so, my walk with Christ.”

Soderquist has three key lessons he shares with his players: selflessness, perseverance, and discipline. He defines discipline as “doing what has to be done, when it has to be done, to the best of your ability, every time.”

“I try to preach this is not just about basketball. You can do this in every aspect of your life. I think it can lead to being very successful,” Soderquist explained.

Soderquist believes through discipline and perseverance, one can go far in life, but it isn’t a godly life without selflessness.

“I think anything that has to do with a team where you put the team above yourself — I think that’s biblical,” he said. “In Rick Warren’s book ‘The Purpose Driven Life,’ the first sentence says ‘It’s not about you,’ and that’s really team sports. It’s not about you; it’s about the team succeeding.”

“Another thing I never thought I’d do is officiate three of my players’ weddings,” Soderquist said with a bright smile. “I remember Chelsea was the first one. She asked me, and I was like, ‘Uh … well, Chelsea, I don’t know.’ I found out I could become ordained. It’s a little easier today than it was in the past. It kind of started to snowball. Then Brooke asked me, then Ashley. That was quite an honor to do that. I don’t take that lightly.”

Soderquist said he is right where God needs him to be, impacting his players through one of the most complex transitions in their life. College is full of struggles and growth, but Soderquist says it “teaches you that you can’t rely on yourself but rely on God.”

“I’ve had chances to go back to the men’s side, but as I’ve gotten deeper into it, I feel like this has been my calling,” Soderquist said.

The young women Soderquist has recruited to JBU in the last 25 years have been forever impacted by their coach. In between the shooting drills, sprinting exercises, scrimmages, and competitions, they are growing their faith, discipline, and perseverance thanks to God’s calling in Soderquist’s life.

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