Wednesday, May 9, 2007

The Old Stomping Grounds

It's that time of year again when the sports teams at the Catholic High Schools are finishing up their seasons with an end of the year Mass, and a rah-rah speech by the seniors to the underclassmen. I was invited to help with the Volleyball team at Elder today to do just that (ok, well, the senior speeches are after the final blessing, so not techically at Mass.) It is always interesting to me to listen to what they tell their disciples: 'take it serious and have fun at the same time' seems to be a dominant theme. However, they also talk about the need to play as a team, that each player improve his skills so that the whole team becomes better. That was certainly a point I brought up during the homily.

The volleyball team has had an important lesson in that this year, much beyond my meager preaching skills. The expected head coach was Sean Tierney, whose blog is on the right, he of the new heart (well, at least new to him.)

The depth of his spirituality and understanding of God working in the midst of pain and confusion are always refreshing to me. We could certainly use more men (and women) like him teaching in our Catholic schools.

To finish off the evening, all three teams: frosh, JV and varsity brought home victories against Fairfield, who really seemed overmatched. Good luck in the tourney, fellas! GO PANTHERS!

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