Big Man on Campus

In August 1991, ten Dam crossed the Atlantic, and for the next two years, he played at three different high schools in Wisconsin, Indiana and Connecticut, graduating as the salutatorian at Milford Academy (Conn.) in 1993 and earning a full ride to play at Purdue University. When ten Dam stepped on campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, he became the first foreign basketball player for the Boilermakers—and a large one at that. As a freshman, he stood 7 feet, 2 inches and weighed 285 pounds.  

But the mid-’90s Boilermakers were loaded. Coached by future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Gene Keady, the program won three straight Big Ten Conference championships from 1994 to 1996. Purdue’s headliner at the time was Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, who became the No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick in 1994 and a two-time NBA All-Star. Ten Dam also played alongside future NBA players Brad Miller (two-time All-Star), Brian Cardinal and Cuonzo Martin, as well as Porter Roberts, the 1996 Big Ten defensive player of the year. All that meant limited minutes for the big Dutch import. Ten Dam only played 62 minutes in 32 games over three seasons (1995-97). 

After graduating, he played professionally for teams in Belgium and the Netherlands, becoming a two-time all-star in his home country and also earning a spot on the Dutch national team. But in 2000, he ruptured his appendix during his team’s win in the Dutch national championship and suffered a few subsequent health challenges, which ended his playing career. 

Coaching was a natural next step. After earning his certification, he became a head coach in the Dutch Women’s Basketball League before transitioning several years later to a youth development role within the Dutch Basketball Federation. 

“My height is God’s gift to me,” he said. “That’s my talent. I was never the best basketball player, but it brought me all over the world, and [helped me] put the ball through the hoop. If I would’ve been 6-5, I would’ve never been in America. I would’ve never been all over Europe. I just would’ve been an average Joe. So God gave me my size and my everything, and you learn how to use the positive things and you learn how to control the negative things.” 

Ah, yes … the negative things in life. Ten Dam was about to get a crash-course in that subject. 

Literally. 

James, ten Dam wrote, I need to work with you. I don’t know how God is calling me. He told me I had to stop my current job. I’m quitting. How can I serve? I don’t know how; I don’t know what. I’m not a priest, but I have to do this. 

Kitchen referred ten Dam to Mark Hull, the Director of International Development for the 3D Institute and a Coaches Ministry Strategist for FCA. Hull invited ten Dam to a 3D training event in Düsseldorf, Germany, in January 2024.  

“He just devoured—and I mean devoured—everything 3Dimensional,” Kitchen said. 

The first time Kitchen and ten Dam met in person, ten Dam shared his dream “to have my own little half-court gym where I can work out with these kids, give them my life principles, and teach them what to do and what not to do,” he recalled. 

Kitchen smiled. “Mat, with your vision and the context,” he said, “you’re going to get a lot more.” 

Indeed, he has. Ten Dam, who came on staff with FCA in 2025, is now looking at a future with seemingly limitless opportunities to impact his country for Christ. He currently leads and supports activities at De Kooi (The Cage), a privately owned 75,000-square-foot athletic facility in the small town of Bemmel. The sprawling complex features three basketball courts, four courts for padel (a mixture of pickleball and squash), an athletic skills performance lab, a weight room big enough for an entire football team to train at once, a restaurant and more. 

Through ten Dam’s leadership, De Kooi is being used as a hub for athletic leadership development with a clear biblical worldview. He runs 3D Coaching-based activities that integrate holistic athlete development, character formation and faith, while also inviting coaches whose teams use the facility into learning environments and leadership conversations that integrate sport and discipleship. Thanks to a remodeling at De Kooi to support athletes of differing abilities, he’s already launched an All Ability sports ministry that includes wheelchair basketball and other adaptive sports.  

Some of his other goals at De Kooi include a social reintegration program for former prison inmates, youth basketball and holistic fitness for senior citizens. He also wants to make De Kooi’s weight room accessible to the blind and visually impaired by adding Braille placards to all the equipment.  

Additionally, he plans to run 3D Coaching classes and develop various national programs, and coaches whose teams use the facility will be invited to 3D Coaching classes and a Bible study each week, which ten Dam will lead. Because the facility is privately owned, ten Dam can host basketball camps that offer a clear Gospel presentation. 

But De Kooi, ten Dam will tell you, is only the first step in a wider, God-sized vision for FCA in the Netherlands. 

“It’s not about winning on the scoreboard,” said ten Dam, who remains personally involved in discipling coaches. “It’s about winning in life.” 

Over time, ten Dam hopes to open five FCA Sports home courts, strategically placed throughout the Netherlands. Each home court facility would serve its local region while partnering closely with churches, clubs and communities, creating hubs where coaches and athletes could be trained and sent out to make an impact far beyond a single facility. 

“I’ve done sports ministry for 18 years on the West Coast and in the U.S. and then in Europe,” Kitchen said, “and it’s the greatest single potential of impactful sports ministry that I’ve ever been around.” 

There’s also the challenge of finding the right ministry model. What works in the U.S. doesn’t necessarily work in Europe, where sports ministry happens more at the club, camp and clinic levels than in schools. 

“Our motto with North Europe is, ‘Find a way to find a way,’” Kitchen said, “because we are very much in the pioneering stage of FCA here in Europe, and we have systems that work in the States that just don’t correspond here.” 

But one thing that’s universal is people’s desire to belong, be accepted and be heard. Ten Dam wants to know about a player’s struggles in school, or the grandparent who just passed away, or the difficult situation at home. He wants every coach and athlete whom he encounters to grow as a competitor, mature as a person and feel the love of Christ. 

“When you reach the heart of the player, everything else will follow,” he said. “And then the score on the scoreboard doesn’t matter, because that will follow too.” 

The challenge ahead is big. But so is ten Dam’s heart. He’s a big guy with big goals, and he serves an infinitely bigger God whose love for the people of the Netherlands—and beyond—can’t be measured. 

“It’s a beautiful journey so far,” ten Dam said. “And we’re just getting started.”