Cedars, Spring 2021

Spring 2021 21 By Abigail Hintz C allie Murphy grew up going to church. She also grew up playing volleyball. And those were two separate things. No matter what. Until they weren’t. Murphy grew up in a competitive family. They were obsessed with athletics, and though they considered themselves to be a Christian home, athletics always came first. It was OK to miss church as long as it was for sports. This created an interesting family dynamic with a clear distinction between faith and volleyball. When it came time for Murphy to go to college, she went to the University of West Alabama to play varsity volleyball. Having grown up inMichigan, this was a big transition. “I was completely on my own, and just kind of thrown into a whirlwind of the college life,” Murphy said. “It was really difficult.” On top of the 13-hour distance from home, Murphy was feeling the weight of the dichotomy she had grown up in. Living it out on her own was proving to be a challenge. “I wasn’t sure how being a Christian and being a college athlete was supposed to look,” she said. So Murphy did not let them overlap. When she was with her volleyball friends, she was one person. When she was with people and friends from her church, she was another. She didn’t know who she was in Christ and therefore fought a daily battle during her first year of college trying to figure out who she was at all. It wasn’t until her sophomore year that it became clear. Faith and volleyball converged when Murphy sat alone on the floor of the gym, having just been injured at a collegiate volleyball tournament in Indiana. Her team had just been defeated by some team from Ohio called Cedarville. The team’s performance on the court was not lost on Murphy, but neither was their character off the court. She didn’t know Cedarville was a Christian school, but she could tell there was something different about them. Then they took that character a step further. “Hey Callie, I saw you’re hurt. Can we help you to the training room? Can we pray for you?” The words struck Murphy. The girl from Cedarville who Murphy was paired with for post-game prayer was Abby (Shelton) Michalski. For Michalski, this was nothing new or spectacular. “It was something that, as an athlete, I had done so often that it became routine,” said Michalski. Michalski said to Murphy, “Hey, if you need anything, we’re here for you. We love you and you’re a sister in Christ.” “I was like, ‘You’ve never met me,’” Murphy said. Her injury was severe enough that her parents took her to the doctor after the game. When Murphy got in the car, she said something that shocked her family. “I’m going to work there someday. Or I’m going to transfer. I don’t know which.” Her mom laughed out loud. She expected her daughter to be distraught. After all, she had just suffered a potentially season-ending ankle injury. She asked Murphy what she meant by that. CU Volleyball Brings Murphy Full Circle Murphy first saw the integration of sports and faith while playing against Cedarville’s volleyball team. Now, she’s returned as the program’s assistant coach. Photo by Jacob Brethauer Callie Murphy has found her place as the assistant varsity volleball coach at Cedarville. “Hey Callie, I saw you’re hurt. Can we help you to the training room? Can we pray for you?”