This article appears in the Fall 2025 issue of the FCA Donor Publication. The FCA publication is a gift from our FCA staff to all donors giving $50 or more annually. For more information about giving, visit here.
Reinaldo Victorino has a cheerful smile and joyful spirit that is dedicated to sharing the life-changing transformation of Jesus Christ. His mom’s faithful church attendance stuck with him as a child, and after living for himself during his teenage years, he returned to church and gave his life to Christ at age 22. Following his baseball playing career and time spent working in the hospitality industry, Victorino turned to coaching. He has spent the last six years leading the Minis of Altos de Chavon, an under-12 team in the Dominican Republic. When Victorino connected with FCA Dominican Leader Willy Martinez, he soaked up the training and was transformed by FCA’s coaching discipleship. Now he lives to lead his athletes into deeper development on and off the field. He puts not only his faith into action, but also what his own coaches taught him.
What has God been teaching you about coaching?
That baseball isn’t the most important thing in life. In the beginning, my focus was teaching kids how to play baseball and that's it. A big key learning that has been through FCA’s 3Dimensional Coaching® program. Baseball is big in Dominican culture, and everyone wants to play at the professional level. I began to think, “What happens if they don’t get to play professionally?” What happens to their lives then?
Learning the influence a coach has in a kid's life and how that can make an impact for the eternal when you bring Jesus to them, I see coaching as a platform to teach athletes that there are more valuable things in life than sport.
How has FCA played a part in your coaching development?
Seeing the way FCA runs Huddles and what it looks like beyond baseball has helped me learn to put into practice teaching other coaches in their own faith, so that in their faith, they overflow to the kids. What FCA has taught me aligns with what I’m taught at church about basic Christian life principles. There hasn’t been a separation from my walk with Christ and coaching. It has enhanced my ability to carry out the call of Christ, to make more disciples.
Onboarding as a volunteer has opened my eyes to how big of a need it is to address the spiritual needs of coaches and athletes we serve and bring the perspective into baseball that it’s not the be-all, end-all.
What Scripture has helped you in challenging times?
Philippians 4:13: “I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” Because I can. Also, Psalm 23:6: “Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.”
What have you learned that you’d like to share with other coaches?
The importance of having a God-first mindset. Like dedicating practice time to God and letting Him show up through an openness of having that mentality in all that they do. If you start with God first and spend time in the Word and start living it out, personal transformation starts to show, and you can see how God can really impact your life and how that impacts others around you. There is a lifelong impact and it’s absolutely worth the effort you put in.
What other encouragement do you have for coaches?
My biggest desire is that coaches would have their lives impacted in a similar way that FCA impacted me, and that Christ can transform their own lives. If their lives are transformed, the way that they impact those around them will also be transformative. My life is a real example because before, I wasn’t necessarily impacting people around me, but now I am living out of the transformation. One of the best things coaches can do is have their lives transformed by Christ.
-FCA-
Photos courtesy of Reynaldo Victorino