Educators must consider how students get from the point of learning to a point of internalizing and understanding what is taught. Anne Stricherz, from St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, says that this is a mindset of moving from “prescription to description.”

Anne believes that the athletic arena is a unique area where students can internalize their teachings and where educators can introduce “color commentary” into the learning equation. While a head coach might be most concerned with the X’s and O’s of individual plays, for example, perhaps others on an athletic staff can focus on other areas of player development, such as leadership formation and team-building.

In fitting with the mission of the Institute, then, we might ask: How is God present in what we do? What can we learn from competition? How does what we do on the court, field, or rink speak to something larger than the competition itself? Where can we find God in sports?

Stricherz points out that people are most likely to listen to witnesses rather than teachers, and sports provide a valuable context for this kind of experiential learning. We must, then, consider how we can reach out and touch others through our actions.

See Anne Stricherz’s full discussion on sports and spirituality from our 2014 Soul of Youth Sport Symposium below.