The Role of Sports in Classical Education

"Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever; and take care of your soul as if you were going to die tomorrow."

Attributed to Augustine, this quote captures the theology of a man who saw the body as Divine gift rising at the Resurrection. Human beings are composites of body and soul fashioned by our Creator. Thus, any sound view of biblical stewardship necessitates cherishing and maintaining both in the manner of Augustine’s alleged saying. God’s gifts deserve our care.

Classical education envelopes the whole child. This means the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being are objects of the Christian classical pedagogy cultivating students for the rigors of a world demanding a complete fitness from the Church militant in service to the neighbor

The origins of sports are in the classical Greek gymnasium, the place of training and athletics in a Greek culture recognizing the symbiosis of body and mind. This was indispensable not only for soldiers training for combat, but citizens needing strong bodies and keen minds for the intellectual endeavors of any healthy society.

The deification of sports accompanied with the insatiable thirst for money and all the attendant problems in our society is an obvious issue any faithful pastor bemoans when the baseball diamond takes precedence on Sunday mornings. Lord, have mercy. Still, sports have a place in classical education when they become tools for developing physical competence and mental acuity. “Life lessons” really can be learned on the field in conjunction with wise academics and spiritual formation (one doesn’t have to come at the expense of the other). Having just finished a successful track season at GLS, I saw firsthand the fruits of youth learning to transcend comfort zones, suffer burning lungs, endure exhaustion, and taste the merits of breaking records and receiving medals. Students learn in these endeavors that hard work is necessary but pays off, endurance matters, suffering precedes glory, and defeat brings humility that exposes arrogance.

We’re doing more sports than ever in my time at Grace, which began in 2018. We’re also sending more students to the PSIA State competition than ever before, and this may not be coincidental. What was once an anomaly is now an expectation. Iowa test scores remain strong even while expanding horizons to include a High School that has steadily grown. Recognizing these fruits merits thanksgiving to God, awareness of what’s working, and room for improvement. Now isn’t the time to sit on our laurels.

Sports and academics must exist in a healthy balance benefiting the child emmeshed in the wisdom of God throughout the school day—such is the goal in classical education that’s inherently holistic. Bodies decay quicker than minds, as everyone experiences. The godly father serves his family well past the gridiron days, but lessons learned in cleats persist in the mind way beyond the first-down marker. On the Last Day the flesh rises and the Church lives. Christ exits the tomb with flesh and blood restored to life, a life in which we share, nourishing these bodies sure to join Jesus at the Resurrection.

May God grants us the wisdom to use these gifts because that’s what the body, mind, and soul are—gifts of God deserving our attention as we learn to serve, forgive, and find forgiveness ourselves in the One Who breathes life into His people, the Church Who lives because of the One Who exits the tomb on Easter morning.

-Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz