The Surrendered Christian Athlete

About the Author

As a youth, Brant Tolsma competed in basketball, cross-country, track and field, gymnastics, physical fitness competitions, springboard diving, and judo. As an adult, he continued to train and compete when he could in road races, triathlons, and track and field events. He twice won his age group at the Master's National Decathlon Championship and twice won the World Double-Decathlon Championship, setting five age 50, 55, and 60 world records in the double-decathlon. The double-decathlon is a twenty-event, two-day competition involving every track and field event.

Dr. Tolsma coached for forty-four years, serving the last thirty-four as the head track coach at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. During that span, the Liberty teams he coached won 116 conference championships. His athletes earned 61 All-America honors and six national championships despite having no track facility when he arrived at Liberty in 1986.

He and his wife, Nancy, have six children and twenty grandchildren. Educated first as an engineer at Newark College of Engineering (B.S. -'71) and the University of Michigan (M.S. -'73), Brant completed his studies in the Biomechanics of Sport at Indiana University (Ph.D. - '79). Though he loves to compete and win, the passion of his heart is to bring honor to his Savior, Jesus Christ, and to teach others to do that as well. He knows the only trophies that retain their value are those laid up in heaven.