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