March Madness and the Pursuit of Excellence

Elite athletes pour their heart and soul into the pursuit of excellence.  What can we learn from them as we try to reach the most fundamental goal in our lives?

A University of North Carolina player shoots despite being closely guarded by a University of Virginia defender. Photo by Tom Faletti, 26 Feb. 2026.

My wife and I recently had the opportunity to see a former student of hers, now a freshman at the University of North Carolina, play in a college basketball game at the University of Virginia.

This young lady was a star player in high school and also worked hard in her academics, .  She is now seeing a lot of playing time at UNC even though she is a freshman.  In the game we saw, she played almost half of the game and scored 9 points with three 3-pointers, and her team won.  The UNC women’s team has played well this year – well enough to make it into the “March Madness” NCAA championship tournament.

Elite athletes who reach the top tiers of their sports – whether it is basketball, football, volleyball, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, or any other sport – have extraordinary discipline and focus, in addition to talent.  They spend an extraordinary amount of time in the public eye, as people watch their every move and evaluate them in minute detail based on the large array of performance benchmarks we call “statistics.”

Many of us don’t have one, singular focus that dominates so much of their lives, nor do we face such clear and public benchmarks evaluating our performance.

But we can still ask whether we are living up to our primary goal, which is to be all we are meant to be.  We can learn a lot from these athletes as we consider that question.

A single-minded focus on excellence

How do elite athletes do it?

• They identify their primary goal and what it means to be excellent in that goal.

• They identify their sub-goals clearly: the steps needed to reach their primary goal.

• They pour themselves, heart and soul, into achieving those goals.

• They listen to coaches and wise mentors, who help them keep improving.

• They devote themselves to countless hours of strenuous effort, honing their skills through discipline and constant repetition.

• And, of course, they practice, practice, practice.

Consistency is not 57 baskets out of 100

When I was a child, my father installed a basketball hoop in our backyard.  In junior high school, there was a time when I used to go out and shoot 100 free throws every day.  Unfortunately, I never could make more than 57 shots out of 100.  And that was with no pressure, let alone in a game.  I eventually realized that I didn’t have the talent or consistency to go far in basketball.

But even if I had had the talent, would I also have had the consistency and the drive for excellence?  How many days in a row would I have attempted 100 free throws, along with all the other skills and conditioning that make a talented athlete successful?

Elite athletes need enormous discipline in order to reach a high level of consistency.  Take a look at this video: Steph Curry hit 105 3-pointers in a row.  Notice how Steph Curry’s feet do the same thing every time.  Notice how he knows when a shot is less than perfect, even when it still goes in.  That consistency and that sixth sense do not happen by accident; they are the result of hours and hours of practice, week after week, for years.  In fact, this video was shot after practice, when other players thought they were done.

Do you pursue excellence in trying to be your best self?

There is a fundamental goal worth pursuing that is deeper than winning a championship, building a business, winning an election, etc.  It’s a question of who you are, what kind of person you are as you pursue your other goals.

Throughout history, philosophers, religious leaders, and other wise people have told us that this is the most important excellence to pursue.

I would like to explore what it means for a Christian to pursue excellence.  If you are not a Christian, you might try to reframe the question in terms of how you define excellence for yourself as a person.  For example, many people today try to follow the ancient Greek philosophers’ pursuit of areté, which means virtue or excellence or being the best person you can be.

A UNC player launches a 3-point shot in a game against UVA. Photo by Tom Faletti, 26 Feb. 2026.

What does the pursuit of excellence look like for Christians?

Most Christians have vocational and personal goals, but our highest and deepest goal is to be the person God has called us to be.  Here are some of the ways God describes excellence for an individual as a person:

• “So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us.” (Eph. 5:1-2a, NABRE)  Paul makes this same point in other ways:

• “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1, NABRE)

• “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5, NRSV)

In other words, in everything you are involved in, as you approach any other goal you may have, do what God would do, love as Christ loves, think the way Jesus thinks.  If you think that to reach excellence you need to do something that contradicts this, it’s time to think again with the mind of Christ.

• “Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others.” (Col. 3:23, NABRE)  Why?  “You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col. 3:24, ESV)

Paul’s point here is that in everything you do, you’re really serving God.  Jesus is the measure of whether you have achieved excellence or not.  The Lord is the one who decides whether the methods you are using are appropriate to the goal.  Christ is the one who establishes the benchmarks for evaluating your performance, not other people.  Jesus is your ultimate coach, referee, audience, and boss.

It’s not always clear that Christians understand this calling.

Some seem focused primarily on not going to hell.  That’s like telling an athlete that their goal is to not get kicked off the team.  It’s a very low bar, a baseline for participation.  It doesn’t describe the positive goal God has invited us to reach for: to become like him.

Some Christians settle for the vague goal of going to heaven.  But what kind of person does God want us to be when we get there?  Is it enough, as some churches seem to teach, that all you have to do to go to heaven is to profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  If so, what is the motivation to pursue excellence?  Is it really enough to say the right words and then slack in practice, do the bare minimum, be a benchwarmer?  God has far more in mind for us.

The Bible tells us clearly that the goal for a Christian is to be like Christ.  We are meant to be as excellent in our pursuit of being like God as an elite athlete is in pursuing a championship.  Let’s not settle for riding the bench.

How can we pursue excellence the way an elite athlete does?

While we continue to work at our other vocational and personal goals, we need to maintain our focus on our most fundamental goal, which is to be like God, to love like Christ, to think the way Jesus thinks.

We can take a lesson from the elite players we see in the NCAA championships.  Above, I identified 6 things they do in their pursuit of excellence.  Here is one way we can apply what we see in them:

How can you be like God?

• Make a clear commitment to the goal of becoming like God, loving like Christ loves, thinking the way Jesus thinks.

• Identify the components or sub-goals that support that goal: prayer, Bible study, worship, service, community, meeting the needs of the least among us, sharing the good news we have received, loving others as we love ourselves, forgiving as Christ has forgiven us, etc.

• Put your heart and soul – and time – into it.

• Look for guidance from the Bible, pastors, fellow church members, Christian writers, spiritual giants of the past, etc.

• Receive power from the Holy Spirit to maintain discipline and focus.

• And practice, practice, practice.

Shooting free throws in the backyard, I realized I didn’t have the consistency to be excellent at basketball.  But I can still seek excellence in becoming like God.

Serving God doesn’t come with a win-loss record or a clear set of statistics.  But the athletes who face those numbers every day still have a lot to show us about what it means to pursue excellence.  What can you learn from them?