Playing sports, living virtue

A Nolan Catholic High School volleyball player at a game. (courtesy photo/Alex Mechalske)

Sports can serve as both a training ground and a platform for Catholic athletes to live out their faith, cultivate virtues, and develop important character traits such as hard work, discipline, perseverance, and teamwork. Such qualities are valuable not only in athletic competition, but in a lifelong pursuit of holiness, healthy relationships, and moral excellence.

Coach Alex Mechalske, head women’s soccer coach at Nolan Catholic High School, believes sports provide an excellent opportunity for young disciples to practice and grow in their faith. “Sports can teach you how to suffer, how to lead with humility, and how to love,” she said. “When it all comes together, it prepares them for life.”

Shannon Irwin, athletic director for the Diocese of Fort Worth, observed that some female athletes may misguidedly tie their self-worth to physical appearance, game performance, or comparisons with others. “This is what all coaches and sports mentors should strive to break,” she said. “We do this by leaning on the Word and leaning on each other.”

Irwin added that helping athletes understand the source of their abilities, athletic or otherwise, can help shift negative self-perception. “When we recognize that our natural talents and our interests are gifts from God, we can use them to glorify Him and showcase His divine masterful creation,” she said. “As St. Catherine of Siena said, ‘Be who God created you to be, and you will set the world on fire!’”

Facing fear

“Christ is the center of all we do, so it’s natural to have Him be a part of sports,” said Mary-Ann Cannon, sports coordinator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School in Keller. 

At the middle school level, athletes are taught to lean on their faith for strength and confidence. 

One of the biggest lessons she has shared with female athletes is how to handle stress before a competition and use it to build virtue within themselves. “I tell them to clear their mind and invite Christ in. When you are scared to death, there’s no better time to ask Him to be with you,” she said. “I remind them that what’s so wonderful is He’s already there.”

Fierce Lady Vikings

For girls and women in sports, secular society often creates a disconnect between their God-given athletic abilities and their God-given femininity. To help bridge that gap, a new initiative was launched at Nolan Catholic High School to help female athletes understand — first and foremost — they are daughters of God whose identity is in Christ, not their athletic prowess.

This spring, all Nolan Catholic Lady Vikings were invited to attend FIERCE Night on campus, an event that is part of the FIERCE Athlete national campaign to encourage young women to blend sports with their Catholic identity. The movement strives to help female athletes see their strength through the lens of virtue and Scripture.

Nearly five dozen athletes, representing a variety of sports including tennis, soccer, cheer, softball, and swimming, attended the kickoff, and several events are planned for the next school year.

Assistant Soccer Coach Lauren Sajewich and Mechalske are leading this movement at Nolan because they are passionate about forming faithful, confident young women who understand their dignity and mission in Christ in addition to being strong athletes. Their vision is to build a supportive community to freely live out their faith with integrity, excellence, resilience, and courage — on and off the field or court.

“You’re all competitors. You’re all teammates. You’re all growing in leadership roles. But before all that, remember that you’re all daughters of God,” Mechalske said. “Remember that your worth doesn’t come from the stats or anything that you do through your sport. It’s all rooted in His purpose for you.”

Mechalske emphasized that being a FIERCE woman means embracing, celebrating, and reclaiming their feminine identity and living out who God made them to be, not what cultural norms insist they become. 

“We are strong female athletes. We lift each other up and we are a culture that says it’s possible to be both competitive and compassionate, intense and encouraging, driven and deeply faithful,” she said.

The first FIERCE Night included a discussion panel with remarks from Erin Yenney, an American international professional soccer player and co-founder of a semi-professional indoor women’s soccer team, and Mary Del Olmo, a competitive equestrian and the first consecrated virgin from the diocese. 

Coming from a family of brothers and competing in a male-dominated sport, Del Olmo shared that she had to discover and accept what true femininity was. “I learned to embrace my feminine qualities, like being receptive, open, and compassionate, and understand that was enough,” she said. “We can still be strong and nurturing, competitive and loving.”

Strength and leadership

Mechalske recently learned that one of her Nolan soccer players led a confirmation class and shared her testimony with other young Catholics. 

“I never knew she had that in her, but it reminded me how sports can build confidence and strength within these young women,” she said. “Competing, growing in leadership, learning perseverance, all of that carries into their faith lives. It pushes them to step into roles and moments they may have once thought they weren’t capable of.” 

Sports and spirituality can intersect in a beautiful and meaningful way. By honoring their feminine dignity, female athletes learn to use their attributes and talents to glorify Jesus in their sport and in their daily lives.