Alumni Spotlight: Luke Ebbesmeyer

I attended The First Academy from Kindergarten through Senior Year (Class of 2013). I loved every second of it and was positively impacted by so many phenomenal people. Teachers that I had in Lower School like Mrs. Lamp, Mrs. Savage, Mrs. Combs, Mrs. Stokes, Ms. Bacon, and many others all exemplified Christ in the way they taught and cared for their students. The teachers and coaches I had in Middle School & High School all prepared me for life after TFA. Dr. Toenges, Dr. Holter, Mr. Kavanaugh, Mr. Kowars, and Ms. de la Fe all had a way of teaching, making learning fun, and giving me the tools to be successful in the real world.

Coaches like Lance Millsaps, Coach Mayberry, Coach Harvey, and Coach Oliver pushed me to be a better athlete and more importantly taught me how to be a man of faith. I have the pleasure of currently working for Leroy Kinard, a man I have tremendous respect for. He is a strong, God-fearing man, and has lived out Joshua 1:9 in a way I strive to achieve every day. TFA is a unique place because it’s one of the only places in the world you can insert yourself and be genuinely cared for and loved by every single person you come into contact with. I’ll never take my time at TFA for granted because it’s the place that shaped me into the man I am today.

After my time at TFA, I attended and graduated from UCF in 2017 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology. I was blessed with an opportunity to walk on and play football at UCF. I played for one of the greatest coaches and men I know in Scott Frost. Coach Frost and his staff are the reason I am pursuing a career in coaching. They encouraged us to buy into a vision that was challenging, but so worth it. Before Coach Frost, UCF Football was pretty much unheard of around the country. But with total buy-in from players, coaches, trainers, and many others we were able to put UCF on the map. I think I am most proud of the fact that UCF is in a better place now, then when I first arrived. The sky is the limit for UCF!

My journey post-graduation has had a lot of ups and downs, and a ton of learning and growing along the way. The one thing I remind myself daily is that the Lord’s plan for our life is so much bigger and better than anything we could have imagined. He’s in control and loves us unconditionally. We have a saying in TFA Football, it goes, “God is good all the time, all the time God is good.” When you think about it it’s actually a really difficult concept to apply to your life.  There are so many times in life where you sit there and ask yourself, “is this really your plan for me God?” and you know what? It is His plan, and it is good, regardless of our circumstances. Whenever I’m having a rough day I remember that they just found a black hole somewhere in our universe that is 6.5 BILLION times larger than our sun. And our God spoke that into being. I think He has things under control…

As I mentioned before I am blessed to have the opportunity to work for Coach Kinard and coach under him. I am the Special Teams Coordinator, Defensive Line Coach, and Tight Ends\Wide Receivers coach. I love showing up to work every day to work with these players. I was taught a long time ago that football isn’t always about winning and losing. What matters is the relationships you have with people and the impact you make on your players. I don’t know how long I will be at TFA, I am hoping to find a collegiate coaching job in the near future, but with whatever time I have here, I hope I can have half the impact my coaches & teachers had on me when I was a student here. I’d love to bring a state championship to TFA one day, it’s been a dream of mine for a long time. But, my real prayer for TFA Football is that we lead young men to Christ. I want to have kids baptized every year, I want us to love and serve people well. I want our players to leave here with a foundation that will help them to be great husbands, fathers, and Christ-like leaders in our society. That, to me, is bigger than any championship.

To wrap all this up, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who works so hard to ensure a great experience for any student who walks the halls of TFA. Your love and passion for people don’t go unnoticed, it’s the reason we alumni come back to visit and see our teachers and coaches. All I know is that no matter where life may take me I know I will always be able to call TFA home.