At every level of athletics, you will often see a player or coach pray before a game or after a big play, which brings upon a question of how much student athletes depend on faith. 

Waynesburg University offers a time and place for athletes, both past and current, as well as coaches to draw closer to God as individuals and teams. 

Senior Josh Denham, President of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), and member of the men’s tennis team said the organization strives is to make connections between faith and athletics. 

“A lot of our goal is focusing on the message and how everything relates through sports and with Christ,” said Denham. 

Denham has been involved with FCA since freshman year when he started attending the meetings. Last year, more leadership opportunities opened up and Denham wanted to get more involved. 

Denham began to work closely with Zack Morgan, adviser of FCA at Waynesburg and assistant men’s and women’s soccer coach. The two are currently working together to grow FCA, a program that was much smaller a few years ago when Morgan joined as a student at Waynesburg. 

“It was a small leadership team at the time and I joined that team here at Waynesburg,” said Morgan. “We created a constitution of how it’s currently being run and at that time there were probably like 10-12 student athletes on the leadership team.” 

Denham said that God has blessed athletes with their talents and skills, and FCA is a way for student athletes to thank him for those blessings. 

“For me, God has given us the ability to be able to compete and use us to compete through him and lead and connect as teammates through what he has done with us,” said Denham. 

Morgan agrees that sharing the glory and praising God for what he has done for athletes is a reason to join FCA. 

“Being able to find what you can give God glory in is an important part of our lives,” said Morgan. “As athletes, God gave us that talent, so by realizing we are playing for Him but not our own, helps us to have a motivation for why we want to get better.” 

Although he played multiple sports in high school, Denham didn’t have an FCA organization., He said Ron Headlee, head coach of the tennis teams encourages the team to pray together. 

“I know one thing we do as a [tennis] team that Coach Headlee has let [happen], is that we always try to have a prayer before we go out and play,” said Denham. “I know that’s a big thing that is a cool aspect.” 

Morgan said that FCA and the pillars of Waynesburg go together well. 

“One of the biggest reasons I think FCA fits at Waynesburg is because one of its core values is service,” said Morgan. “It’s four core values are excellence, service, integrity and teamwork and all of those are something Waynesburg wants for its student athletes, students and community.” 

When Denham graduates this spring, , his memories from Waynesburg will have FCA within them. 

“I ’ve really enjoyed Waynesburg and I think with the Faith it’s allowed me to grow,” said Denham. “I know as a freshman I wasn’t involved in a lot of things, but I’ve been able to grow over the four years. It’s a big help with the university having so many options to grow your faith.” 

Morgan agrees with Denham and said the opportunities to connect with God at Waynesburg are endless. 

“Waynesburg does an awesome job of giving opportunities so what’re you going to take the opportunity to get yourself plugged into,” said Morgan.