Eyes on the Prize
For these Catholic student-athletes, faith and sport are inseparable
By Adam C. Warner / Pictures by Denmark Photography
Outfielder Colum Dever digs in at home plate, intensely studying the opposing pitcher. The ballplayer’s eyes are focused squarely on his opponent while his heart thumps faster and faster.
This situation has been familiar to him for many years now; the anticipation of stepping into the batter’s box, ready to stand in against the high octane delivery from the pitcher.
Dever has learned to focus. Just moments before he is ready to face his opponent, he isn’t thinking about next Tuesday’s physics exam or some party Friday night. Instead, Dever recites to himself one of his favorite prayers, the Hail Mary, a prayer that will give him guidance, strength and courage for the task he is attempting to complete.
For Dever, it’s not just the pressure situation that drives him to pray before batting; it’s his strong Catholic faith and close relationship with God that induces him to seek the Lord’s direction at this moment.
Dever is like many young student-athletes across North Carolina whose faith and spiritual relationship with God are not only an important part of their lives, but are absolutely integral to their athletic endeavors.
A visit with several Catholic students and adults involved with athletics in the Raleigh/Durham area makes it clear just how significant spirituality is in the lives of many of today’s young athletes.
“Prayer is just so important to me personally, in and outside of sports,” says Dever, a senior Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. “On the baseball field, it’s so pertinent to what you are doing out there – trying to use the talents that you have been given as a way to give glory to God through your own personal performance, asking for his intercession, his help and protection on the field.”
Listening to Dever, it becomoes clear that he has a sense of purpose, on and off of the baseball field. He exudes confidence in himself and his God. The young man’s eyes light up as he speaks about his trust in the Lord.
“I love baseball for what it is,” he says. “It’s also a great way to give back what God has given you and put forth your energy for him.”
And in times of strife, teenage athletes may ask, “Why do I put myself through the agony?” or “Where is God in all of this?” While sport can bring out the best in us, it can also be confusing and downright painful. As a number of young Catholic athletes attest, however, that’s exactly why a strong dedication to their faith becomes so important. In fact, it’s their faith that has taught them life-long lessons, helping to answer questions that go far beyond three-pointers and touchdowns. As these Catholic student-athletes have discovered, having a complete spiritual connection with the Lord gives them understanding when it comes to the peaks and valleys of sport.
Julianne Smith, an All-American swimmer at Cardinal Gibbons High, trains tirelessly to become the best in her sport. Most of her days are consumed with staring at the black-line at the base of the pool, taking breath after breath, stroke after stroke, immersed in the tedium that is a large part of competitive swimming. But even after countless hours of physical exertion, she will force herself to keep pushing, to come back the next day and attack the tasks that lie ahead.
She will have her good days and her bad days, times of triumph and frustration. But despite the feelings that may arise at any given moment, Smith has come to realize that, because of her faith, there is always something and someone to call on. That gives her purpose in every one of her quests.
“I could not do my sport without having a sound spiritual life,” says Smith, a senior who competes in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events and backstroke. “Swimming without God is monotonous, frustrating, and meaningless. But swimming with him, it gives it meaning and makes it enjoyable. I don’t think I could enjoy it without understanding why I am doing it and that God is behind me.”
Fr. Joe Vetter, who is serving his ninth year as the Director of Catholic Campus Ministry at Duke University, believes that athletes like Dever and Smith have a unique relationship with God and their faith. Vetter, who has worked with many college athletes, sees that they are especially drawn to their faith, and for a precise reason.
“Athletes are disciplined and religion has a certain element of discipline to it, and I think that they value that,” says Vetter. “That’s one of the things that draw them to religious faith. They are also goal-oriented, and religion is goal-oriented. Religion is not just about what is going on today, it’s about what life is about and what your future is about.”
Tara Enzweiler and John Obare, former student-athletes at Gibbons, also see a strong faith and participation in sports as similarly central to living a wholesome life.
“You need both commitment and discipline in sport and faith,” says Enzweiler, a former Gibbons volleyball player and valedictorian of her senior class who is now attending the University of Notre Dame. “Neither of them is easy. With them, there are ups and downs, times when you kind of turn away. But you have to find a way to force yourself to go back and work even harder towards it and stay devoted and not turn away.”
Obare, who is a freshman at North Carolina State, says, “If you do not have a spiritual body, there is going to be a big hole in your life. You have to choose it and go all the way.”
Franciscan Fr. Dan Kenna, team chaplain for the NC State Men’s Basketball team the last nine years, has worked closely with a number of local student-athletes, serving as a spiritual director and Christian presence in their lives. Kenna has seen it all in his tenure at State – heartbreak, anguish, greatness, and amazing individual excellence. He has been a witness to all that sport can give.
A great number of athletes have a deep connection to their faith, Kenna has noticed, while at the same time they are engaged in an ongoing search for meaning, understanding and a deeper life with God.
“I truly believe that one of the most precious, deepest dimensions of each person is their life of spirit,” says Kenna, who also serves as President of Cardinal Gibbons. “I think that athletes touch that when they are at their best, when they have to dig down to their deepest resource. I believe that there is a sense of spirit within that helps focus and motivate, and helps student-athletes be the people God has created them to be.”
That focus and motivation are what Julianne Smith seeks as she waits anxiously for the familiar sound of the referee’s whistle, and the start of another grueling race. Poised on the starting block at the pool’s edge, Smith searches for a sign, a comforting thought, any kind of inspiration. When she remembers God and the gifts she has been blessed to share with the world, a smile lights up her face.
“My faith has been a huge inspiration and strength for me in hard times,” Smith attests, “and you just have to know that with prayer and a good relationship with God, you are headed in the right direction. I know for one that I couldn’t do my sport without it.”
Like Dever, Enzweiler, Obare, and the countless other student-athletes, she is one with God and she knows it.
Adam C. Warner, a graduate of Ithaca College, writes for the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pennsylvania. You can reach him at warner.adam@gmail.com.