Nonprofits
Clemson football coach found his Christian faith on the field
Clemson University football coach Dabo Swinney has advice for high school athletes: chase your dreams and dream big.
“You never know. But I do know this: you can’t just dream big,” he said. “You have to take some action and do the work. Get knocked down, get back up and keep going. Sooner or later you’ll find your sweet spot.”
There are a lot of lessons learned from competing, he added.
“Championships are won when the stands are empty,” Swinney said. “Champions are made when nobody is watching.”
Swinney was the guest speaker at a Georgetown County Fellowship of Christian Athletes fundraiser at All Saints Church this week.
On Feb. 6, 1983, a 16-year-old Swinney was “saved” by the FCA.
“I got really involved in figuring my faith out,” he said.
Getting involved with FCA led him to accept Christ and get baptized, Swinney added.
“Really that’s been the foundation of my life,” he said.
One of the things he likes about FCA is that it meets student-athletes where they are: in school.
“I always tell people, ‘I didn’t get saved at church. The FCA came to me,’” Swinney said. “A lot of these athletes are searching for something beyond the field and I think the FCA can give an athlete peace while they’re competing and give them something to maybe make sense out of certain things.”
Swinney and his wife, Kathleen, spent the first part of the evening at a dinner for more than 100 sponsors and friends of FCA.
“I try to give back,” he said. “I try to do a few of these a year to help the FCA.”
Swinney chatted with each person as he posed for pictures with them. He and Kathleen also hosted a Q&A during the dinner.
Afterward Swinney spent about an hour talking about his faith and his experience with FCA to a large crowd inside the church’s sanctuary. Many people were wearing Clemson jerseys or T-shirts, or purple and orange clothing.
“I’m really not here to rep the paw, I’m here to rep the cross,” Swinney said. “That’s what I’m here to do tonight.”
Swinney told the young people in the audience to stay away from things and people that will keep them from becoming what God wants them to be.
“What are reading? What are you listening to? Who are you hanging with?” he said.
Honor God with the way you live your life: how you talk, how you dress, who your friends are, he added.
Swinney also warned them about the dangers of social media.
“What’s on your social media?” he asked. “If I went on it now would y’all be happy with what I’m seeing?”
Swinney tells his players to stick to the three G’s: God, Google and grandma.
If they wouldn’t show off a social media post in church or to their grandmother, or they don’t want to see it show up on Google, then they shouldn’t post it.
“Y’all are growing up in a world right now where, you’re going to try to get a job when you’re 30 and they’re going to ask you about what you posted when you were 17,” Swinney said.
