Cedarville Magazine, Summer 2017

A college athlete’s focus can easily be consumed by common themes: playing time, starting or subbing, wins and losses, varsity or JV. But for the 2016–17 Cedarville University women’s volleyball team, the consuming focus has been this humble but profound thought: “Who are we that we get to be a part of this?” The team first asked the question after the 2014 season, when head coach Doug Walters challenged his team toward a higher calling. “I wanted it to be student-athlete led and driven, because that would create buy-in,” Walters explained. After their sophomore season, he charged rising captains Abby Shelton ’17 and Rachel Krikke ’17, along with teammates Angela Becker ’17 and Kristin Cardwell ’17, with this task: figure out how the team can best represent Christ — on the road, in class, in chapel, or wherever they might be. MORE THAN A TEAM The core change came in the way players began to view their team as a whole. “We wanted to be a family that was on mission together,” explained Shelton. “That meant acting like a family, not just a team. That meant holding each other accountable, having those tough conversations, and not letting people gossip or complain about workouts.” Most families, however, do not live life in front of cheering fans. During the fall 2016 season, the Lady Jackets played in front of crowds of several hundred to thousands, a rare experience in NCAA Division II and even at some Division I matches. And that doesn’t even account for the many who livestreamed their contests. HIGHER CALL BY STEPHEN PORT ’13 10 | Cedarville Magazine