Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Kramer Soderberg via phone call on May 14th, 2025. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
Growing up as the son of a college basketball coach, how have the lessons you learned from the court shaped your Catholic faith journey and your approach to spiritual “coaching”?
That’s a great question! I have been around the game of basketball my whole life. My dad was a college coach when I was born. Growing up in my early life I was the typical cradle Catholic. But after college I found myself learning more about the faith.
I realized that the stuff I learned on the court could be applied to my faith life. That I should approach my faith life with excellence like I did on the court. Another aspect that made me revert to the faith was the concept that if I wanted to achieve my goals in sports that it was really hard. Only later when I was reinvestigating the faith that I realized it was hard. The Catholic Church challenges you. It wouldn’t make sense if this journey was easy. Christ is challenging us to holiness and greatness. This is the same mentality that any great athlete pursues.
I love the word “strive”. It’s very connected to the title of my book: Fill Your Cup. My dad brought out three different sized cups to represent different types of athletes. And his message was that success was filling your cup (that you were given). True success in God’s eyes is to realize your potential and strive to fulfill your vocation and potential. It is so freeing to not worry about what anyone else is doing. That’s true success and sounds like the virtue of magnanimity.
Your dual identity as both a basketball coach and Catholic evangelizer is unique. How do you find these two callings complement each other, and what strategies from coaching translate most effectively to spiritual guidance?
I think my faith and vocation as a coach go hand and hand. Your Catholic faith should be intertwined with your life. It is simple for me to connect the two. When your faith is the most important part of your life it’s this mindset to not limit it to Sunday. To pray unceasingly. There’s certainly challenges: to a referee that’s annoying you or when players aren’t playing to their potential. But my faith helps me in these situations.
When I became a head coach, I thought I would get a lot more time to work on my Xs and Os and the gamplans. But what I learned was that I also focused on helping my players get in the right mindset and the idea of motivating my players for greatness was really the main role as a coach. The biggest crossover from being a college coach and my ministry is helping motivate and inspire people to that greatness, that sainthood and that desire to pursue it.
As a former player who excelled at both high school and college levels, how does your competitive background influence the way you approach challenges in your faith life and family leadership?
I think competitiveness is a great attribute. Like all good things, it can be skewed in the wrong direction. Competitiveness is so important in the athletic field and life in general. It comes back to this idea of pursuing greatness. It is not necessarily competitiveness against someone else, it is more so being the best I can be and challenging myself to the limits. That competitive fire as a player has never died as a coach. But when I realized that being Catholic is hard, the competitiveness translated to the spiritual life to drive me.
I have used the term crossover often, I don’t think I have paid attention to it.
Many Catholics struggle with bringing their faith into public spaces. As someone who moves between the athletic and faith worlds, what advice would you give to those looking to authentically integrate their Catholic identity into their professional lives?
I think that’s challenging. Most of us separate the two. On Sundays I go to Mass and on Mondays I go to work. During my reversion, I had a fascination with Jesus the person. I was thinking how he could be at peace all the time. What made him different? I grasped this idea that Jesus was always aware and connected with God’s Presence. This point hit home when I wrote this book. Constant awareness of God’s presence in your life is transformational. When I started to practice this, my life started to all become one (coaching, family life, and life).
So my suggestion is to be constantly aware of God’s presence. Three triggers helped me to be reminded of God’s presence:
- Nature
- Other people
- Struggles, annoyances
These triggers helped to remind myself to practice being aware of God’s Presence. When you practice you form habits. And when you have habits you will start to blend Sunday into Monday.
About four or five years ago I hung a Rosary on my hip and I grabbed my Rosary to help center myself and remind me of God’s Will during stressful moments during a game.
With the intense schedule of basketball season and raising five children, how do you maintain spiritual disciplines and prayer life during particularly busy seasons?
It’s challenging for sure. I have always been a routine based guy. I think most athletes are similar. I have about five to six simple morning prayers. I read the Gospel each day. Anytime I am driving to and from work I pray the Rosary and I try to go to Mass throughout the week (4-5 times).
During the season, I find it easier to be more focused on the Lord. My habits during the stressful times I have the habit of running to the Lord. It’s interesting that in the off season I find it tougher to stick to my routine and be aggressive in my prayer life.
As a basketball enthusiast myself: If you could compare your Catholic faith journey to any current NBA player’s career trajectory or playing style, who would it be and why?
I’d probably say Kobe Bryant. Early on in my faith life I had a lot of youthfulness and excitement. About halfway through that downfall (during Kobe’s career) I had a type of low-point before my reversion. After that low-point it seemed that Kobe grew as a father and basketball player. It is at the low point that we are the most aware of God.
About Kramer:
First time author, Kramer Soderberg, is a devoted husband to his wife, Andrea, and father to his five children with a sixth on the way due in September 2025. Son of long time college basketball coach, Brad Soderberg, Kramer grew up in Saint Charles, Missouri where he excelled on the basketball court at both the high school and college levels. He is the head coach at Millikin for the past four years.
Outside of coaching, Kramer devotes much of his free time to growing in his Catholic faith and spreading his love of Jesus to others through speaking opportunities and personal interactions throughout his community.