It was once said, “Why do we even care about sports in our Parish...they have nothing to do with our Parish ideals.”

If the Catholic experience can be summarized as men and women living their lives for others, then we believe that sports are an integral part of the ministry of our Parish. Coaches, parents and administrators have a unique and significant influence on “others” - in this case “others” being our Catholic student athletes. The interaction of coaches, parents and children in the Catholic sports experience should be a positive influence in the way our children feel about themselves. When you improve the way you feel about yourself this is an everlasting gift.

Pope Paul VI said: “Our athletics should go hand in hand with our youth ministry. We are trying to achieve a sense of quiet confidence and humility that is rooted in discipline and perseverance. Christian maturity comes from a process of inner growth. Athletic maturity envelops a process of inner growth. Sports well understood and practiced contributes to the development of the whole person because it demands generous effort, careful self control, mastery of self and respect for others, complete commitment and team spirit.”

Exceptions to the norm necessitate such things as codes of conduct for students, coaches and parents. We would prefer to focus on the positive - a combination of Catholicism and sportsmanship. Our immediate goals are to teach our student athletes to have fun at sports; play hard and fair; respect coaches, officials and parents; and to win with humility and to lose with grace. Our longer term objective is not to win but to create significance.

Our entire Boosters program must operate at all levels with common courtesy, patience, pride and respect. Our coaches, parents and administrators should act as educators and transmitters of Catholic values. The job is to intermingle sportsmanship and Catholicism so that our children come away with a heightened sense of themselves as people who can strive for great things.

We embrace the following characteristics of the Catholic sportsman:

• Be polite
• Be positive
• Be a person for others
• Control emotions and temper
• Forgive and forget
• Respect all property
• Have pride in ones self and school
• Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself
• Promote happiness for others
• Be responsible for your actions
• Be aware of others weaknesses
• Promote friendship
• Encourage others to do their best
• Remember, participation is a privilege

As sports men and women of Catholic faith, we want to operate our sports programs with the highest integrity. Our efforts are whole, not one dimensional. Our programs are honorable, not just honest. Our programs reflect its members – people of Christ “with convictions, with boldness to try, compassion to comfort, patience to wait, persistence to endure and poise to give in.”