Article written by Kyle Kempt

[AirWalke]

Really good article. Thanks for sharing. Sad to say it but I’m sure there will be some hate for his beliefs incoming.

Assumptions like these are the result of the "Tim Tebow" effect. High profile college athlete who comes in and excels from day one, gains a lot of media attention as a result, and subsequently earns a lot of public ire - and then others assume that he's being singled out for his religion. It's not a phenomenon that's reserved for religious celebrities. If Tim Tebow were not a devoutly religious man, the public would find some other aspect of his character to tear apart.

 

[MNCYWX]

Can you imagine who has been overlooked through the years? No doubt some talent as slipped through fingers in the same manner that Kempt struggled with through most of his career.

 

[StClone]

.

I firmly believe that it isn't an accident that so many high profile athletes (and especially QBs) have a strong Christian faith.

No but you can turn this into study of the psychological effect of belief.

 

[Cycsk]

No but you can turn this into study of the psychological effect of belief.

Please repeat after me. "We believe in Coach Campbell." "We believe in The Process." "We believe in Players, Formations, and Plays."

 

[Ficklone02]

"I couldn't hear anything from the crowd, but I sensed the energy in our team. I think we all did. We didn't say anything but we all knew it. Something was happening."

This was my favorite part.

 

[SpokaneCY]

I don't want to turn this into a theological discussion (although given the theme of the article, kind of hard not to at least at some level) but I disagree with your statement here.

I firmly believe that it isn't an accident that so many high profile athletes (and especially QBs) have a strong Christian faith. (see most recent Super Bowl MVP for recent high profile example)

If you are a Christian and thus your faith teaches you that you are not completely in control and that if you put your faith in Jesus (and you truly believe this), it takes a huge burden off your mind. You essentially relinquish a portion of that immense pressure that you would otherwise take on all yourself, and you let it go (or maybe better yet, you hand it over).

I don't think you have to be a Believer to understand how this could help an athlete perform better.

To maybe turn this back to put a spin on it that agrees with your comment, it is a lot easier to believe in yourself when you don't feel like it is solely you, without assistance, that is making great things happen.

<edit> No need to stop at the Super Bowl QB...how about the NCAA QB champ too:

As an atheist, I don't care where you get your strength. The player performing is doing it with their natural talent, a belief in themselves, belief in their teammates, belief in their coaching staff, their families, their gods, etc... I would doubt being a hard-wired christian gives you any athletic advantages but I would read any true studies on the topic.

At the end of the day, whatever gets you through the night its alright, its alright.

 

[StClone]

As an atheist, .

There is a lot to unpack when finding the source(s) of success. For an Atheist we can not claim success is due to belief in a higher power, other than our own, coaches', "luck," skill, prep, or teammates. (If non-believers are successful, who or what could they attribute success to?)

But, as capitalcityguy points out that part of belief is letting the stress of the game situation roll off us into the hands of a Higher Power. In this state we may well assume a more focused consciousness where time slows and acuity increases.

 

[capitalcityguy]

As an atheist, I don't care where you get your strength. The player performing is doing it with their natural talent, a belief in themselves, belief in their teammates, belief in their coaching staff, their families, their gods, etc... I would doubt being a hard-wired christian gives you any athletic advantages but I would read any true studies on the topic.

At the end of the day, whatever gets you through the night its alright, its alright.

There are all kinds of people with athletic abilities that don't achieve greatest. My point is to look at what is between your ears/in our heads that separates high performing athletes from the rest of us. From there you figure out what that "it" is and where does it come from.

Don't take me wrong. There are plenty of examples of high performers that don't claim to be Christians. I'm just suggesting there is something to look at when you consider the unique, highly specialized skills (and related stress) it takes to be a QB and consider how many in that role also seem to have a strong faith component to their makeup.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

How about we enjoy the fact that we have a QB with strong faith & morals who wrote a wonderful story about his journey to our team, and quit quibbling over his beliefs?

 

[CyberJJJ]

[QUOTE="HFCS, post: 6259076, member: 10686"

I can relate to Kempt's life moving around, in one town a local coach will think you're a good athlete who should see the field on a travel soccer or baseball team, in another town a coach sees a bench warmer.

His OU game will probably be among the most famous game performances in Cyclone sports history up there with Jack Trice.[/QUOTE]

Marv Seiler and the Nebraska game is likely a better comparison, but I get your point.

 

[CyberJJJ]

Can't help but cheer for a guy with a story like that.

Between Kyle and David Montgomery, College Gameday will have plenty of good stories to choose from when they come to Ames this season

“...an, oh, by the way, did I ever tell you who Nerlens used to practice against?”

 

[cyrocksmypants]

As an atheist, I don't care where you get your strength. The player performing is doing it with their natural talent, a belief in themselves, belief in their teammates, belief in their coaching staff, their families, their gods, etc... I would doubt being a hard-wired christian gives you any athletic advantages but I would read any true studies on the topic.

At the end of the day, whatever gets you through the night its alright, its alright.

Blessed be Lennon’s name.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

“...an, oh, by the way, did I ever tell you who Nerlens used to practice against?”

Don't keep us in suspense!!

 

[SpokaneCY]

There is a lot to unpack when finding the source(s) of success. For an Atheist we can not claim success is due to belief in a higher power, other than our own, coaches', "luck," skill, prep, or teammates. (If non-believers are successful, who or what could they attribute success to?)

But, as capitalcityguy points out that part of belief is letting the stress of the game situation roll off us into the hands of a Higher Power. In this state we may well assume a more focused consciousness where time slows and acuity increases.

Like "trust the process". You train, you prepare, you do your reps - then when the bullets fly you give in to that training and simply trust the process.

As i think I said earlier - don't care about someone else's faith and where they get their strength. I greatly admire all people who "walk their talk" and KK fits squarely into that box.

 

[CyHans]

Almost got a lump in my throat reading this. Makes me like the guy even more. Even if he doesn't have a dream season like last year I'll always be thankful he was our guy. Thanks for sharing this article!

 

[Ficklone02]

I enjoyed reading the article written by Lane Kiffin too.

 

[SCarolinaCy]

Can't help but cheer for a guy with a story like that.

Between Kyle and David Montgomery, College Gameday will have plenty of good stories to choose from when they come to Ames this season

Oklahoma game?

 

[Cycsk]

In the podcast with the guys from Akron, he said that his parents now live near Chase Allen's parents in Missouri. We need to give a big stadium cheer for them on Senior Day because they paid out-of-state tuition to keep Kempt on the team as a walk-on.

 

[RotatingColumn]

There is a lot to unpack when finding the source(s) of success. For an Atheist we can not claim success is due to belief in a higher power, other than our own, coaches', "luck," skill, prep, or teammates. (If non-believers are successful, who or what could they attribute success to?)

But, as capitalcityguy points out that part of belief is letting the stress of the game situation roll off us into the hands of a Higher Power. In this state we may well assume a more focused consciousness where time slows and acuity increases.

Yep.

Also a lot of atheists (not you) are confused when they see someone giving praise. “Are you suggesting God has a favorite team and He made that player catch the game winning TD?” No, what He actually did was give that player a source for strength, focus, and courage to become better.

For example… would you say David Montgomery plays fearless?
Psalm 27:1 can be seen on his wrist tape.

Does God make the other players miss tackles? No. But He does give David the courage to run through a face mask on his way to straight trucking Josey Jewell’s stupid hock head into the turf. So that’s cool.

 

[intrepid27]

Interesting comment about Jacob Park. "We were 2-2 heading into the Oklahoma game when it became apparent our starting quarterback wasn't going to be a part of the program the rest of that season."