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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

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Cedarville Magazine