Student athletes at San José State come from all over the world, possessing a variety of cultural backgrounds, ideologies and religions. When it comes to practicing for a competition or preparing for a scrimmage, some athletes incorporate their religious beliefs and practices to better understand themselves and their teammates.
Kinesiology sophomore Lauren Sheppard is a cheerleader for SJSU’s spirit team who practices Buddhism.
“Cheerleading is definitely a mental sport,” Sheppard said. “A lot of it contains a lot of stress and Buddishm really helps with reducing stress.”
Sheppard said, being self aware of mind-body techniques is one of the main focuses of Buddhism as well as meditation and being aware of one’s body.
Fifteen minutes before practice begins, Sheppard said she uses that time to meditate and reflect on how she can improve as an athlete and a teammate.
“One of the biggest moments for a cheerleader is competition,” Sheppard said. “When you're standing and waiting at the back of the mat to go on, the nerves and the stress is extremely high.”
To reduce the competitive nerves, Sheppard said she and her teammates collectively take a deep breath and she follows it up by taking individual deep breaths of her own.
Being her second year on the spirit team, Sheppard said incoming freshmen have asked her for tips on staying calm during intense practice regimes and during competitions.
“They will see me on the mat just standing there breathing,” she said. “Nobody else really does that.”
Sheppard said she ends her day by preparing material offerings for her altar, such as burning incense, which is a religious expression of the Buddhist virtue of giving.
“Being a college student, a lot of us have anxiety and don’t manage it well,” Sheppard said. “And then being a student athlete, my body is exhausted all the time, so those 10 minutes in the morning and night to meditate can really set your day.”
Environmental science senior Malia Luna is a Christian athlete who plays for SJSU’s softball team.
Raised in a Christian-Lutheran household, Luna said she grew up praying before meals, going to church and having a relationship with God.
As an athlete for over 15 years, she began to incorporate and emphasize religion more upon entering college-level softball.
“I started being more open with sharing the word of God with people and really finding myself in a deeper relationship with God,” Luna said.
Luna said she was able to find solace with her faith in her teammates during her first year at SJSU, after moving away from home and losing the ability to confide in her family on a regular basis.
She said she also attends Monday dinners at the Called Up house where she sits down with fellow student athletes who are learning to glorify God through their sport.
Called Up, previously known as Fellowship of Christian Athletes SJSU, is an organization at SJSU dedicated to helping student athletes find their relationship with god, according to its Instagram bio.
“Called Up was the big thing for me and how they were relating your relationship with God and the things you were doing can be glorified through your sport,” Luna said. “That’s a talent he gave you.”
She said she gained a deeper understanding of the ways she can glorify God through the organization by communicating her story with others and maturing with her faith.
Luna said starting this semester, the softball team gathers in the locker rooms before practices to say a prayer, inciting trust and encouraging the act of leaning on one another through potentially stressful times.
Ashley Rico, business administration senior and athlete for SJSU’s softball team, said she has been playing the sport for the majority of her life.
“I was born and raised in the Catholic church, and right now, I’m still in the air whether I want to do Christianity or Catholicism,” Rico said. “At the end of the day, I believe in God and follow his word.”
Rico said she practices the word of God by praying each morning and reading the Bible.
She said she was encouraged to visit Called Up’s Monday dinners by a senior athlete last year, and since has been attending meetings and growing closer to God.
Feeling that her teammates keep their faiths and battles to themselves, Rico said she feels her teammates keep their faiths and battles to themselves and being vulnerable with the word of God can help athletes reach breakthroughs.
“I’ve noticed that my teammates keep to themselves and don’t like talking about their faith,” she said. “Because the minute we do, we are judgemental in a way.”
Rico said it has been her goal over the past month to involve her fellow athletes in sharing their testimonies and how they overcame their struggles as a group to make the conversation of religion more approachable.
Luna said her softball coach encourages athletes to be vulnerable with one another to create deeper relationships within the team.
She also said the team prayer is not meant to be sacred, but rather to allow athletes to talk to God and their fellow teammates in a safe space.
“We already had a moment before where a girl was going through something and we were able to pray amongst her as a team, which was something very special to see,” Luna said.
