Sports and Spiritual Growth

            Sports are civilized war, fighting with rules, combat turned competition. The comparison is surprisingly common: sports are cultural opportunities for organized violence. I think it fair to admit that there is some truth to this statement. Yes, sports are for play, recreation, and fun. But they are also an outlet for our desires for competition, conquest, and the experience of victory. And though I agree that Americans have fostered an overly competitive attitude, a “winning is the only thing” approach to sports, I’m not at all convinced that organizing aggression and competitive natures into play is such a bad thing.  Sports can have purposes other than play.

It’s Not Just a Game

            Kids need to be kids, and play is something they should enjoy. We’ve all heard (and probably seen) stories of parents and coaches shoving victory and competition down their kids’ throats. “Select” leagues, and Olympic and professional training programs make sports into professions for kids before they even have a chance to simply enjoy themselves. On the other hand, well meaning parents and educators try to claim sports ought to be for play only, and we shouldn’t make them out to be anything more.

            Between the extremes is the idea that at a certain age—I suggest the high school years—young athletes are ready to benefit psychologically and spiritually from the sports they play. Organized recreational leagues are valuable for play, but many young athletes choose to play for elite leagues or their own high schools. Some aspire to professional play, more to playing in college on scholarships, most to representing that very important teen community, their high school. In such organized sports situations, where kids are motivated to apply discipline to their play, and where they come under the authority and instruction of coaches, young athletes can benefit from physical discipline and controlled hardship, from team spirit—being apart of something larger than themselves, and especially from the opportunity to make choices in crisis.

Iron Sharpens Iron

            Thanks to Dr. Spock and other well meaning but bad psychologists, ours is a culture that increasingly emphasizes positive reinforcement and individual esteem, ignoring the value of learning through suffering and self denial. High school generally provides the first opportunity for young people to voluntarily subject themselves to physical discipline, hardship, and pain. Organized sports may be the first place many kids discover the benefits of hard work. There are those who find it in academics and church service, but many will not know the value, the character building, the growth that accompanies hard, disciplined work except by experiencing it through the buffeting of the body (to paraphrase Paul in I Corinthians 9:27 [ASV]) which accompanies well coached, organized sports.

            Another thing young people learn in organized sports is to abandon their self-preoccupation and focus on others. That is, they learn to care less about themselves and more about the whole team. I encourage my college players to abandon the selfishness of so called “fairness” from the start. It isn’t “fair” that everyone works hard but only the best players get to play. For the good of the team, better players need to see their skills as a stewardship, a gift of God meant to be used to the best of those players’ abilities.  They owe it to the players on the bench to do their best or get off the field. Conversely, players on the bench owe it to their teammates on the field to do more than just sit, hoping for a chance to play. They must see their membership on the team as a stewardship as well. I’m not only interested in players who don’t whine about not getting to play; I want players who use their bench time to watch, analyze, and learn from the game. And I want them to pray for their partners on the field and encourage them from the sidelines. My best players are always those who surrender their individual pleasures to the pleasures of the team.

            Most especially, I believe in the importance of growth through crisis. I’m a Survivor junky (the first and still most popular reality TV show). I confess it. Fellow addicts will frequently watch the “day after” interviews when someone who was kicked off the show the night before talks about his or her experiences. Frequently, contestants will justify their bad behavior by saying, “In normal life, I’m not that kind of person. But we’re dirty, tired, and hungry out there and all you see is our worst side. I’m not normally like that.” But I want to say to them that who a person is in crisis is who he really is, at least as much as, if not more than, who he is when life is easy. It is not ease and comfort that prepare us to act with goodness and integrity in life. It is hardship and struggle. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,” says Proverbs 27:17. In sports, how players conduct themselves under physical strain and in the heat of a competitive contest is a good measure of their spiritual maturity (or lack of it). Facing loss, being knocked down by an opponent but not retaliating, playing aggressively while refusing to cheat, controlling one’s temper and speech—all of these practices conducted in the heated forge of competition help sharpen our spiritual iron.

Coaching Moral and Spiritual Standards

            Coaches who put Christ first in their programs can do a great deal of good for their players. Players who know their coach’s priorities will raise themselves to his level. This is not true only for Christian players at Bible colleges or private Christian schools. Christian coaches can have a huge influence on their teams at secular universities and public schools and in little league play. Children and young adults rise to the level of the expectations placed upon them. If I tell my players they will control their language on the field, they will do so (and if they fail to do so they face the consequences—which seldom require repeating). My players understand that they will not retaliate if attacked, they will not respond negatively to opponents when they do falter, and they will forgive others.  One of the highlights of my experience coaching college soccer occurred at the 2003 NCCAA II national tournament when my boys were voted the most sportsmanlike team of the tournament by the referees’ association.  Even at our most competitive level of play, my team acted with Christian integrity because I asked them to. Coaches in any situation can foster excellent behavior and self-control in their players.

            Coaches at Christian institutions can do more: I rely on my captains to be pro-active in spiritual leadership during a season. They gather the team for prayer before practice; I pray with the team after practice. The captains establish accountability partnerships for all players on the team, host weekly devotions, fellowship with and talk to all players about soccer, academics, and their spirituality. We have devotions and prayer before every game in the locker room. We pray again before the game begins and again when the starters step out onto the field. When a player from either team  is injured during a game, we pray for him immediately. And our bench continues to pray throughout a game. Win or lose at game’s end, we invite our opponents to pray with us at the center of the field, even if we are the visiting team. We return to the bench at the end of the game to pray again. We encourage the players to pursue sports ministry opportunities throughout the year. These are just a few of the strategies coaches can put into practice to foster spiritual growth in their players, helping them now to become more effective ministers in the future.

            And here’s the beauty of this process of spiritual development: as far as the players are concerned, it is still a game.  They are out to play, and they still enjoy the game as they did when they were young.  Through high school and college play, though, they sharpen themselves into better men and women of God without focusing on the fact that they’re doing it.  Soccer (as with all organized sports) isn’t just a game; it’s some of the most serious play young people can ever experience.