Monday, January 23, 2006

Joe Ehrmann, Part II

by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College

Thanks to Bob T of Maryland for your comments re: Joe Ehrmann’s work in Maryland (see more about Joe at: Jeffry Marx’ book on Joe Ehrmann, “Seaon Of Life” ).  We are working hard here at Calvin not only to discuss these issues, but to begin sharing the insights we gain from our discussions with the wider community.  As for Joe Ehrmann’s visit here, his comments, his book, and his work with high school boys in Maryland, I don’t in any way fault his approach or his motive.  Others have also shared with me this week his very godly approach with his student-athletes.  That’s one thing that did not really come through very strongly in his message to our audience in the Fine Arts Center (which was PACKED!).  He hammered away at the need for love to be the guiding force behind the relationships that cemented players together as teammates, but did not expound on his basis for that love, other than that’s what boys are missing in today’s world.

As for needing many more Joes, and Marv Zuidemas and Kevin Vandestreeks, I can only say, “AMEN!”  We have so many wonderful examples of the sacrifice, service, and selfless work of these coaches and the countless lives they have impacted.  My deepest desire is for all of us in this vocation to begin taking a vocal stand on the issues of sport and culture that confront us today:  sport specialization at younger and younger ages; non-traditional seasons…

Sunday practices and competitions; over-involved parents;  the ongoing need for racial reconciliation and dealing honestly with our racism (and gender “ism”) in sport;  the myth that athletics brings educational opportunity;  the pathological egocentrism of professional athletes and the exponential explosion of various media to cover every jot and tittle of their exploits;  the obscene salaries connected to professional sport;  the increased incidence of erratic, sometimes drunken, nearly always unacceptable fan behavior;  the tendency for athletes to spend so much time in their sport that both civic and church engagement is endangered;  the propensity for sport to become an institutional and financially draining franchise;  the need for coaching to be a full time position so that teaching takes a backseat to winning and the coach has little other affiliation with the school;  the tendency for athletes to increasingly isolate themselves in/at athletic housing, training tables, and athlete-only Bible studies, thereby failing to contribute to the campus community as STUDENT- leaders. 

As Christians, we must at least TRY to confront some of this madness seeping its insipid way into the minds and hearts of our athletes, their parents, and a school’s fan base.  To think we can start with coaches teaching love seems naïve, but I have to hope it’s not – that it’s not naïve to hope that athletes treat each other and their coaches with love and respect;  that it’s not naïve to hope that athletes take care of their bodies in ways that honor God;  that it’s not naïve to hope that athletes play these games for the sheer love of play:  that they bring their best selves into a contest, that they play “fair”, that they find joy in both the performance and the movement, that they thrill to the notion that they are part of something bigger, something better that transcends time., and that the lessons of losing are just as, if not more important than those of winning.

And so, here at Calvin, we are pondering ways in which modern day sport has affected much of what God meant for good when it comes to play, and how we, as the coaches, teachers, parents and mentors of the next generations can, indeed, serve these kids in ways that are truly transformational.  We need it in the expensive private schools of Baltimore, in the financially-strapped inner city schools of Grand Rapids, Michigan and the Yucatan in Mexico (see the Calvin Mexico Coaching Interim course: Coaching in Mexico ), in the public schools, the Christian schools- everywhere sport is an integral part of a student’s school experience.  The field is ripe.  Who are the harvesters if not us?

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