This story appears in FCA Magazine’s July/August 2014 issue. Subscribe today!
More. It’s a word that might not look like much on the surface, but if you follow aquatic lore and dive right in, what’s underneath can cause ripples of wave-like proportions.
Christen Shefchunas is very familiar with going beneath the waterline. The former Division I athlete and coach turned WNBA chaplain and FCA volunteer grew up in Franklin, Pa. At age 11, she began swimming because her best friend did and quickly found she liked the water.
“I absolutely loved it,” Shefchunas said. “It was my whole world, but coming from a small town I had very limited training.”
Shefchunas was a four-time All-American swimmer at the University of Tennessee
She was recruited by several local universities, but a desire for something bigger and bolder sprouted inside her. As Shefchunas put it, she knew that surrounding herself with other elite athletes would help her become elite, too, so she walked on at the University of Tennessee. No ordinary walk-on, Shefchunas became a four-time All-American and captain of the team her junior and senior years.
After college, Shefchunas took a short break before heading back to the pool as a club team swim coach in Pennsylvania. That led to assistant coaching gigs at both Michigan State and Southern Methodist University, where she helped cultivate top programs before accepting the head coach position at the University of Miami. Her swimmers amassed numerous All-America honors and conference championships, as Shefchunas found her niche with 18-22 year olds, taking interest in their hearts along with their backstrokes.
“I’m just drawn to them because it’s a developing time in life,” Shefchunas said. “You come in as a freshman and you think you have all this time, and suddenly you’re a senior. When I first got out of college, that’s probably the most regretful time of my life. I started hanging out with the wrong people and going down the wrong road. Learning from those experiences, my passion became preparing them for life after college and making wise decisions.”
Initially, Shefchunas struggled with the role she thought a head coach should play. As an assistant, she focused on building the relationship aspect with the team, but traditional coaching books advised to leave the love with assistants and simply focus on swimming.
“I’m embarrassed to say it took me four years to realize it wasn’t working,” she said. “I put some Christian mentors around me the summer before my fifth season. I had zero confidence left and was ready to quit. They started asking me about my gifts and talents, and I started to figure out I wasn’t using any of them because I was trying to be what I thought a head coach should be instead of just being who God created me to be.”
Shefchunas shifted gears to a new mentality, and her swimmers flourished.
“We had 10 times the success my last three years than we did my first four,” she said, “and I truly believe it was because I had the courage to be who He created and use the gifts He gave me.”
Little did she realize God would continue to cultivate her gifts in new and unexpected ways.
A few years ago, Shefchunas had the opportunity to guest speak at a WNBA chapel. After the service, a young woman from the visiting team approached her in tears, relating to Shefchunas’ message and seeking guidance. They began talking on the phone once a week, which evolved into a mentoring friendship. Additional WNBA players reached out for direction, and Shefchunas realized the potential before her.
“I thought, ‘You know what? I can do this for all women. It’s not just about swimming,’” she said. “That was a big wake-up call.”
"My goal is always to create an environment where you're going to be built up and see how amazing you really are."
Shefchunas plunged into healing hurting hearts. Honesty and transparency worked volumes in allowing young women to feel comfortable dropping their defenses and getting into the personal matters that plagued them.
“I’m a very open book about my life,” she said, “and I think that’s why so many of the girls were willing to open up to me, because I was willing to open up to them.”
With her athletic and coaching background, Shefchunas knew the pressure to compete and perform inundates the athletic world.
“Women are in constant competition with each other, and instead of losing gracefully we’ll rip you to pieces and pull you down,” she said. “My goal is always to create an environment where you’re going to be built up and see how amazing you really are.”
The more she exposed her heart, the more her relationship with God began to bask in new light.
“I have a past that’s not cute; it’s not pretty at all,” she said. “I had a relationship with God, but I also felt He was disappointed in me. In the last two years I’ve really faced my unworthiness. I’ve faced my past head on and broken free from it, and this is probably the first time in my life I’m really feeling the true love of God. I don’t feel like a disappointment anymore. And that has changed everything in my life.”
Shefchunas felt the prod of God long before she ever imagined what lay ahead. Deep down, she always knew there was more for her. And there was. One year ago, she made a life-changing commitment that took her from Miami to Atlanta, out of the coaching world and into a position as chaplain of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.
Mark Parker, Director of the Atlanta FCA Collegiate Team, caught wind of the woman taking the world of female hearts by storm and knew Shefchunas could inspire his students.
“She understands how collegiate athletes struggle with confidence, whether they’re All-Americans or struggling to make the team,” said Parker. “That really is the core, the hook, of what she talks about—ultimately that confidence in knowing where you are in Christ.”
Parker plugged Shefchunas into schools and colleges around the metro Atlanta area to speak with female athletes, and doors continued to prop open for her message.
For almost a decade Jenny McDowell, 18-year volleyball head coach at Emory University, had been praying for FCA to arrive on campus. Shefchunas and the subsequent appearance of FCA Huddles at Emory and other small colleges was an answer to those prayers.
Shefchunas speaking to female athletes at the University of Arkansas
“She is able to empower with this uncanny ability of being able to talk with them and share her story,” McDowell said. “What I love from a personal standpoint is that you look at her and she’s just a strong woman, yet she’s so transparent and honest, and she’s able to reflect everything back to Christ.”
Parker invited Shefchunas to speak with female athletes on campuses he oversees, and invitation which she eagerly accepted. Soon enough, Shefchunas spearheaded a coaches' Bible study that now meets every other Wednesday, where female coaches share in their joys and struggles of working with players. McDowell, a member of the study, saw the immediate impact of Shefchunas’ leadership.
“When I have the opportunity to sit down with her, she just inspires me,” McDowell said. “She has an ability to bring Scripture into every single circumstance and bring everything back as Christ-centered, even when we’re talking about coaching and athletes. It has been a true blessing in my life to get to know her.”
Emily Dodd, a chaplain with the Atlanta Collegiate Team, was eager to learn how to better serve the coaches at her universities, and Shefchunas’ study supplied her with honest and open interaction.
“It’s great for me to see how their lives are, the struggles they deal with and how they can come together and talk about everything and have that be a safe place,” said Dodd. “And I can know how I can encourage them and help them on a personal level.”
"I know He's going to take me where He wants me."
Since walking into her new life in ministry, Shefchunas has launched a website (www.coachchristen.com) and is working on a book about confidence for women.
“I’ve sat down with some of the best in the world, and I’ve yet to meet a woman who isn’t afraid,” she said. “My passion is for them to understand the greatness within them, that God has created a phenomenal woman and they were given gifts and talents from God; if they’re too afraid to use them, then this world is missing out on something.”
Coach Christen may be the moniker for her website, but the meaning behind it holds deeper value. Shefchunas’ real name is Christen, but people have called her Christie for her entire life. The choice to go with the former for her website was driven by what she feels like God created her to be.
“I’m not very proud of Christie,” she said, “but I am very proud of Christen because she has been walking God’s path. I’m amazed in my past that He stuck with me, because any chance I got I turned my back on Him. To see what He’s done in my life now and where He’s taking me, I’ve never been so dependent on God than right now.”
Parker added, “This is someone who is a coach, but has found a different way to coach now. The concept of coaching transcends beyond athletics.”
More. Shefchunas knows life’s longest laps are still ahead of her, but she’s ready.
“I honestly don’t know what this is all going to look like,” she said, “but at the same time I have perfect peace about it and I know He’s going to take me where He wants me.”
She breathes it in as if inhaling air between strokes. There is always more.
Photos courtesy of Ashley Collins Bencoa, HurricaneSports.com and University of Tennessee Athletics
--This article appears in the July/August 2014 issue of FCA Magazine. To view the issue in its entirety digitally, click here: http://bit.ly/fcamagvol56issue4
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