Chris Peters has always had the heart and passion for sports, and has always wanted to coach and lead by example. He started coaching when his daughter was about five years old and later received an opportunity to coach at Bell Shoals. “I decided to take the next step to coach at Bell Shoals Baptist Academy, varsity flag football and varsity basketball as an assistant coach, and I’ve been coaching ever since,” said Peters.
Since 2012, he has coached cross country, varsity volleyball, JV and varsity boys’ basketball and varsity and JV flag football at Bell Shoals. He has also been an assistant coach for the Bloomingdale High School girls’ flag football team for the last four seasons. “Coaching has allowed me an opportunity to teach young kids about fundamentals, sportsmanship, etiquette, and also teach life lessons while coaching in a godly atmosphere,” Peters said.
Peters has been around sports his whole life, and he has always had a passion for it. He played soccer and basketball growing up. He played football in high school and had to stop playing due to an epilepsy diagnosis at the age of 17. Later on at the age of 23, he tried to play again for a semi-pro team in Fort Meyers and wanted to leave it all in God’s hands. With the support of his wife, he tried again knowing that he could have permanent damage if he took the wrong hit. He says that his biggest inspiration was his mother.
Peters and his wife, Christy, both work at Bell Shoals and their son, Ian, currently goes there. Their daughter, Alli, who is currently a senior at Bloomingdale High School, also used to attend the school. Christy has been teaching at the school since 2002, and Peters started working there in 2015 as head of security. His biggest priority is making sure that every kid and staff member that goes to the school is safe. He tries to learn the first names of all 400 plus students that attend, and they all refer to him as Coach Peters.
Coach Peters likes taking quotes from great coaches and using them as motivation for his students and himself. One of his favorite quotes is from the famous former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. “We need to be more concerned with our character than our reputation because your character is what you are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
According to Peters, his son Ian, 10, plays every sport that he can and Peters also coaches him in flag football. His daughter Alli, 17, has played golf for Bloomingdale all four years. Peters enjoys coaching his kids and his other hobbies include fishing and golfing. He and Alli often spend father-daughter time on the golf course.
Peters likes to keep things in perspective for his players. “When I’m coaching and the players are playing, we have to make it about God and not about ourselves,” he said. “He has given the players and I the talent to play and coach the sports that we love. This isn’t my team, this is his team. I tell my players that when you are a team, you’re more than just a team, you’re a family.”
