sports April 7, 2003 Issue

Courage in sports

By Kim Shippey Senior Writer

Courage and endurance have long been an integral part of sports. This is just one of the reasons why I've found that so many athletes draw on spiritual resources to enchance their training and performance.

Terry Hinton, who played as a professional for many years with the English first-division soccer club Arsenal, tells me he's encouraged to see how many top players in virtually every sport are publicly acknowledging their dependence on God. They are speaking openly about their gratitude for the abilities God has given them—even, Hinton adds, on those less auspicious occasions when the scoreboard tells them they have scored fewer goals or points than their opponents.

As a reporter, I have observed among God-fearing athletes that real courage in sports is not just summoning up enough nerve to dive from the high board or plunge down an icy mountain. It's about subordinating their personal ambition to God's plan for them—which always has a gold-medal quality about it. The courage that is part of God's nature —and, by reflection, part of theirs, too—helps them resist the temptation to circumvent the rules, cheat or hurt opponents, or take illegal drugs. They become more concerned with refining character than with driving ruthlessly toward celebrity status.