Even though I cannot use sporting “chance” as a header for a column, I still learn a lot from sports—always have.

Growing up playing competitive sports taught me many lessons that I would not have learned otherwise, and these have helped in ministry. Fellow Pastor Carl Robbins even suggests that a man is not qualified to be a pastor until he has gone across the middle on striped turf, been blindsided in the ribs by a helmet, jammed to the dust (with your breath knocked out), and learned to pop back. While that illustration is fungible (basketball has similar hammers), his point is that to make it in the ministry or in sports, one has to accept setbacks, defeats, and bone-crushing incursions. Indeed, athletics assisted in teaching me how to stick with hard endeavors, train consistently, win gracefully, encourage others, and recover after defeat. As a way of commending athletics as a pedagogue, I raise three queries below.

Should Competitive Sports be Shunned?

First, should true Christians become sport-pacifists, regarding elite competition as devoid of value?

As a pastor, I think there is a rich interaction between our Reformed theology and competitive athletics. After all, if some look for the Lordship of Christ over personal finances, ethics, the environment, economics, law, art, and philosophy, why would we exclude competitive sport from such matrix?

I agree that a few sports might be hard to shoehorn into a worldview: maybe, among others, boxing (although the apostle speaks of buffeting his own body and not beating the air, perhaps referring to shadow boxing), break-dancing (featured in this year’s Olympics), and anything synchronized in a pool. The major events of the recent Olympiad, however, may be part of classical pedagogy—classical education, at least, with its creation of the gymnasium, once considered sport and competition important.

It is well known that the ancient Corinthian and Olympian games were viewed as the final exams for physical excellence. Millennia before our coddled existence and virtual imaginaries, the training of one’s body, measured by athletic competition, was seen as valuable.

This summer, many a family found itself drawn into some part of Paris’ successful Olympiad. For a Christian, how could we not be inspired by believer Cole Hocker’s come-from-behind victory in the mile, Brody Malone’s strong faith (even during fails), and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s graceful conquest in all her races, each fueled by their obvious Christian faith? And was it not nice for children to watch hardened athletes tear up at the national anthems instead of boycotting a patriotic hymn? Spectators were able to watch patriotism (the good kind), team-spirit, respect, along with the rewards of hard work and also some waning of participation trophies in this year’s Paris Olympics.

Why, even the French could not help but express a little contagious joy, leading one writer to assess that there was almost a little Southeastern Conference fandom at the Paris Olympics. Indeed, instead of a listless “whatever” to the Olympics, maybe a resounding cheer is in order as a token of humble appreciation.

Sport as a Window into History and Culture?

As a quadrennial fix, the Olympics also provide a window into emerging history, creating shared family memories. Here are some of mine:

• 1964 Jim Ryun (eventually a Kansas congressman for a decade) had run the first sub-4 minute mile as an American high schooler but did not win the gold. Still, the mile run (before it became the 1500-meter race) was a beautiful test of strength, endurance, speed, and heart. Are those not lessons that parents hope to instill?
• 1968 Jon Carlos and Tommie Lee Smith (with their heads bowed and black gloves thrust high on the medal stand) used their platforms to argue for black power. Their victories, however, were not limited by skin color.
• 1972 Munich: The shocking Islamist terror attack on Jewish athletes. This was the first time this youth learned anything about terrorism as the tool for a religion.
• 1976 As a sign of our times, Bruce Jenner inspired many with his performances to win the Montreal Decathlon.¹
• 1980 Who can forget the American hockey upset of the dominant Russians, foreshadowing the crumble of that once unstoppable Union?
• 1984 Carl Lewis trained and trained, and strained and strained, to hone his skills to dominate Olympic sprints in Los Angeles.
• 1996 In the Atlanta Olympics, Michael Johnson’s golden shoes could not be slowed down in his quarter mile excellencies.
• The names of Usain Bolt, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Olga Korbut, and so many others taught us much, not to mention Jesse Owens, winning under Hitler’s nose (1936), and Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scot” Sabbatarian (1924). And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell of all the others.

It occurred to me this year: I have had a seat to watch world history for several generations through the lens of sport. Sport has previewed social and political changes in areas from race to religion to gender. ² It has taught, it has inspired, and it has also modeled vices not to emulate.

Olympic Sports: An Opportunity for Discipleship

Second, do we miss opportunities for discipleship if we ignore the realm of sports? Imagine suggesting that Christians ignore art, music, literature, cinema, education, or law as some do athletics. Generations now have been taught in homes using televised examples. I grew up watching Olympics when there were only three channels on most TVs, and those had to be manually dialed. Yes, back before any fitness apps, steps were required. But when we had our own kids—as dad continued to view these Olympic games and others—our little ones tagged along, and I do not think we were alone. We gradually realized that these were opportunities for teaching character, virtue, and duty. The words of Deuteronomy 6 about teaching our children when we rise and go to sleep, as when we walk along the way, began to lead us as parents to watch the Olympics with our own children. Guess what: now we do that with our grands, and they were recently seen cheering for Fredrick Richard, Simone Biles, Leon Marchand, and the bespectacled pommel horse Superman, Clark Kent.

The opening ceremony debacle could not be excused—and frankly, most Olympic openings have long been far too artsy for average families—but the competitions were excellent. These Olympics were a victory of the track over the fashion runway. Moreover, training our next generations to congratulate winners (rather than to whine about results or begrudge honor to victors) is part of teaching respect—a civic virtue that should not find Christians in last place.

First Place is not Egalitarian

Third, do we wish to perpetuate the idea that all participants are winners, or is it not time to retire that stale litany?

Defeatism and mediocrity, in fact, are not golden. Sports, to be sure, can be a golden idol.  But our culture needs to be catechized all over again in the basics of competition. Training and discipline are not despised by Scripture but have a proper place. We must teach our kids the rules, how to compete, how to improve, how to lose, and how to view others and victory.

Katie Ledecky and a younger American swimmer, crying and singing through the national anthem is a teaching moment for parents. How nice that there was no impulse to protest. These athletes realized they were representing a country. Their training and sacrifice paid off.

And are not most of the memorable moments tied to a come-from-behind win or a victory by one who was not favored? Yes, it was cool to see tiny St. Lucia win its first medal ever and to watch a runner chase down the field in a middle-distance race. Inspiring, yes. Maybe we need to get over the recent phobia of victory. As someone once put it, “Only one wins the prize” (1 Cor 9:24).

Also instructive for a culture that loves over-commenting (and for those who can never seem to move beyond their own disappointment, resorting to endless social media posting and nagging, instead), guess what: when the finish line is crossed—even if in a photo-finish—or when the aquatic wall is touched, there is but one gold medalist. And the better athletes congratulate victory rather than whine narcissistically about non-privilege.

Care to compare the hours of sacrifice to the odds of winning a medal? With 339 separate events in this summer’s Olympic, awarding three medals each, divided by 10,500 total athletes, this means that among the most elite athletes in the world, less than 10% win medals, with only 3.3% winning gold.³ Is that due to privilege? Does that hurt some athletes’ self-image? Do we all—even couch spectators—deserve medals? Or can we not use this moment to grow up, admire the grueling hard work, the natural giftedness of some over others, and respect the winners? Is there no place in our Christian worldview to celebrate excellence in sport as in art, even if not from our own nation or tribe?

Fighting the good fight, finishing the race, keeping the faith, after all, are conjoined similes.

Now, thankfully, onward, as it is almost football season. Future essays may just settle whether college football should be viewed in a Kuyperian fashion or through the lens of Two Kingdoms.

Notes

1. Frank Deford, “Heading for the 11th Event,” Sports Illustrated: Vault, August 9, 1976.
2. For an instance of how the 2016 Olympics intersected with confessional reformed theology, see Tim Challies, “The Rio Olympics and Calvin’s Mission,” Tim Challies, August 9, 2016.
3. Logan Reardon, “Paris Olympics by the numbers: Participating country stats and facts,” NBC Los Angeles, July 12, 2024; David Snuggs, “How many athletes are in the Olympics? Inside the 2024 total compared to past years,” The Sporting News, July 26, 2024.

©David Hall. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• David Hall

  

  Reverend David W. Hall is married to Ann, and they are parents of three grown children and grandparents of eight grandchildren. He has served as the Senior Pastor of Midway Presbyterian Church (PCA) since 2003. Previously, he served as Pastor of the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (1984–2003) and as Associate Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Rome, Georgia (1980–1984). He was ordained to pastoral ministry in 1980. He was educated at Covenant Theological Seminary and is the editor and author of several volumes.

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