How student sports ministries are adapting this fall

Rabbi Ellie Bachman speaks at a graduation ceremony in College Park, Md. Photo courtesy of Bachman.

Rabbi Ellie Bachman is used to working with students and operating a Kosher food stand at the  University of Maryland basketball games inside the packed Infinity Center in College Park, Md.

For more than three decades, Clint Purvis has led chapel services, passed out prayer cards and paced the sidelines during football games as the team chaplain for the Florida State University Seminoles.

And Jeff Hunt, Maryland Coordinator for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, is used to shuttling between 20 “huddles” to encourage high school athletes and coaches in various sports.

But this fall, things are different. Their parking lots are empty of people tailgating and grilling in their school colors. The sound of marching bands has been replaced with silence and the locker rooms, once filled with players dressed and focused on coaches and sermons of hope, are now empty.

This fall every aspect of high school and college life comes through a computer screen and those charged with ministering to college and high school students have traded Bibles, buildings and ball fields for laptop pulpits in the name of social distancing.

But this does not mean that all efforts and faith work has ceased. 

Rabbi Bachman loves to tell his students a story about how when you cut an apple side ways you can see the star of David inside. He said it shows that ”we are all special inside.” Photo courtesy of Bachman.

During Yom Kippur, on Sept. 27 this year, Bachman said he and students part of his campus ministry prepared meals for students in self-quarantine who couldn’t leave their rooms.

“Practically, we have been passing out chicken soup and food for those in isolation 

every weekend through packages,” said Bachman, who is director of the Chabat House near the campus of the University of Maryland. “During the high holy days we made 70 holiday dinners because holy day food brings people back to their faith and creates memories.”

Bachman said on Yom Kippur he blew the shofar around campus and students opened windows and stood outside their in their front yards to listen.

“We blew shofar in 28 locations and there were hundreds of students,” Bachman said. “It is hard for them. We want to be there to tell them don’t be in despair. We are trying to find different ways to connect and let them know that they are special.” 

Down in Tallahassee, Purvis has not changed his routine as the team chaplain at FSU since he joined the Seminoles during Bobby Bowden’s coaching era in the 1980’s.

Every week Purvis will lead a Friday devotional, a Saturday morning Bible study after breakfast, and pace the sidelines dressed just like one of the coaches to offer quick prayers and encouragement to the FSU players.

But these are challenging times for the Seminoles, after losing their home opener to Georgia Tech, 16-to-13, it was announced that FSU Head Coach Mike Norvel would miss the game against Miami because he had tested positive for COVID-19. Under the guidance of the interim head coach, the Seminoles lost to Miami 52-10 on Saturday. Players and coaches get tested three times a week.

“We are finding out our strong our faith is,” Purvis said in a brief interview. “I’m hoping through the COVID crisis there will be a revival.”

In addition to encouraging players because of the coronavirus pandemic, Purvis is also encouraging players who have voiced concerns over racial justice and unrest.

“When I look at the Black Lives Matter [movement], my heart breaks,” Purvis said. “I have a friend. He said he has a 16-year-old son but even though he has a permit to carry he said I am afraid because they might find a gun in my car and I will be killed.”

In terms of social unrest and protest around the country, Purvis said, “I don’t think that the government has the answer. The only answer is from the Lord.”

Last year the Fellowship of Christian Athletes celebrated their 65th year anniversary and according Jeff Hunt, who oversees the ministry’s operations in two Maryland counties, wants to recruit people to get involved in high school programs across Maryland. Still, in the wake of the coronavirus, it has not been easy. 

“We are going smaller to go bigger,” Hunt said. “We have 20 huddles across the area, but the challenge is that the young people are on Zoom all day, and we have to find a way to have a deeper level of discipleship. We have a book called The Core, and it is an eight-step program for huddle leaders.” 

While Northwestern High School’s head football coach and his players haven’t been affiliated with FCA for many years, he invites speakers regularly. Last week, former player Larry Tolson spoke to the players about “having a Plan B” for their lives in case football doesn’t work out for their career.

During the Northwestern football season, the members of the University Park Church of Christ hold a weekly breakfast for the Wildcats prepared by Elder David Spradlin, his wife Faye and other women of the church. Then elder David Dillard leaves the breakfast and collects his equipment to be the team photographer.

Football and sports are on hold this fall at Northwestern and other Maryland schools but coaches are still keeping up with their players and hoping for the future since Gov. Larry Hogan said sports could resume Oct. 24. Each jurisdiction has the final word about resuming their athletics programs and currently nothing has been announced. 

So for now, church leaders watch and pray. 

“I know that kids enjoy a meal and have a private time with themselves,” Dillard said. “During the practice, they are with the coaches. The breakfast was time they enjoyed being together as teammates.”

While Tolson said he enjoyed playing high school and college football, he said, “I will never forget the  breakfasts.”

Senior contributor Hamil Harris is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park and has been a lecturer at Morgan State University. Harris is minister at the Glenarden Church of Christ and a police chaplain. A longtime reporter at The Washington Post, Harris was on the team of Post reporters that published the series “Being a Black Man.” He also was the reporter on the video project that accompanied the series that won two Emmy Awards, the Casey Medal and the Peabody Award. In addition to writing for ReligionUnplugged, Harris contributes to outlets such as The Washington Post, USA Today, The Christian Chronicle and the Washington Informer.