U.S. national team defender Stephanie Cox organized team bible studies during the 2011 World Cup, just one of many ways faith is integrated into women's soccer. (Photo Credit: Patricia Giobetti / http://www.printroom.com/pro/psgiobetti)
Sky Blue FC defender Kendall Fletcher has spent the last three off-seasons in Australia’s Westfield W-League. For at least two more months she is a Melbourne Victory player, but even being in another hemisphere does not keep Fletcher from the most important part of her life: Her faith.
“It’s the most important thing in my life,” Fletcher said of her spirituality. “My faith has shaped my soccer career. It goes that way around; not the other way around.”
Australia is where Fletcher discovered Hillsong, a Christian church that originated in Sydney and now has chapels in London, Paris, Kiev, Cape Town, Stokholm, Moscow, New York City and Konstanz, a southern German city that borders Switzerland.
Fletcher said that during the season about eight Sky Blue FC players – one-third of the team – would travel to the New York City Hillsong chapel each Sunday from across New Jersey just to come together in faith.
The numbers are consistent across the league, according to Fellowship of Christian Athletes representative Adrienne Saxon. She says about 8-10 players per team partake in weekly Bible studies. Saxon, who is a soccer ministries representative in Atlanta, said players’ faiths brings teammates and opponents together for a common purpose.
“The believers that I know in the league are pretty well connected with each other,” Saxon said. “That’s pretty cool because they have fellowship amongst each other even if they are on different teams.”
It brings out a different level of competition amongst the players, too.
“I have had the best time playing soccer this year and it is just the most amazing time,” Western New York Flash midfielder Brittany Bock said. “When players play with that kind of faith, they just bring a different level to their game.”
U.S. national team defender Stephanie Cox recognizes the camaraderie of having strong bonds through faith. She was one of the leaders in organizing scripture readings and discussions amongst many of the 21 U.S. players who participated in the 2011 World Cup.
Cox described the environment as “open, casual [and] non-threatening,” which was encouraging to the team’s younger players. She played only 61 minutes in the 2011 World Cup after starting every game at the 2007 World Cup but leaned on her faith to stay positive and help her teammates.
Cox is unsure of whether or not faith is more prevalent in women’s soccer than in men’s soccer, but she has seen first-hand that MLS has more resources. She played with the Los Angeles Sol in 2009, whose locker rooms were down the hall from the Los Angeles Galaxy and CD Chivas USA.
MLS teams each have their own chaplains to guide them in exploring their faith. Director of FCA Soccer Ministries Jorge Vallejo said one of the organization’s goals for 2012 is to bring some of the MLS structure over to WPS.
“The resources are there,” he said. “It’s a matter of having the structure.”
Mission trips are also an option for those players in the WPS off-season. In October 2010 Fletcher joined Manya Makoski, McCall Zerboni and Nikki Krysik on a trip to Honduras to serve others through soccer.
Players and other trip participants helped establish a new women’s soccer league in Honduras, bringing uniforms and conducting clinics.
Ella Masar participated on a similar trip in February and now retired Sky Blue FC goalkeeper Jenni Branam joined FCA on a trip back to Honduras in September.
Zerboni was very open about how life-changing last year’s trip was for her.
“My heart was brought to God by those people and by that experience,” she said. “It just really lit a fire for me and opened my eyes to show how I should be living. I feel that I was already doing a lot of things but I was able to put tangibility on that – an understanding that these are all gifts from God.”
Christians are fairly prominent in most sports. This isn’t surprising. What would be interesting to me is to see if Christian women’s soccer players are better at accommodating non-Christian athletes than their male major American sport counterparts. That is, how alienated does (say) Yael Averbuch feel in the locker room?
From what I gather it’s a pretty open environment. Some of the players hesitate from even labeling anything beyond ‘faith.’ But yes, that would be interesting. In poking around a bit, I haven’t yet found much on the topic you’re proposing, but I am interested to know the answers. While I think you are right that this may not necessarily be surprising, I don’t believe it is very often talked about, at least in the media.
What would be interesting to me would be to know why all the USWNT matches are on TV, but not the USWNT matches.
Fans love USWNT! Respect the team and the fans, put the USWNT games on TV!
Who is responsible for this inequality?
Thank you.
I can’t think of a USWNT game on US soil in the last couple years that wasn’t broadcast. They’ve been good with it. Saturday’s game will be streamed online: see here.
Jeff – hats off to you on writing about this. Last week an article about the Messiah women and now this – way to go. This is a very sensitive subject and one that many are uncomfortable with – but I think it needs to be more openly discussed. I know there are MLS teams that have Chaplains – a friend of mine is the Chaplain in Philly and I tried to integrate him at Sky Blue FC – but many times that is a coaches decision. To quote the Messiah men’s soccer mantra – “As Iron Sharpens Iron, So One Man Sharpens Another” – proverbs 27:17 – it’s something we could all live by!!!!
Jeff – Good read! I remember you mentioning that you were working on this awhile ago and I was really excited to read it. It’s definitely something that doesn’t seem to be talked about much. I enjoyed reading it.
Jeff – Keep these articles coming. Not only does the culture section of Equalizer bring a fuller picture of life in women’s soccer, but it helps me step up my game and motivate me to do more. Great article on a sensitive topic. I’ve noticed that the WPS women as well as those on the USWNT are more vocal about their faith than in other sports. They aim to inspire young women. Their openness about their belief surely does.
Great article. I am so impressed with women’s soccer for wearing their faith on their sleeve. I know other professional sports have bible studies and some athletes are open about their faith, but it seems the women are more comfortable than men as a whole in demonstrating it… or maybe that’s just my perception. Is it more acceptable in women’s athletics to openly proclaim the importance of faith in shaping who they are as a person and athlete?