Hershey Christian is an interdenominational school committed to excellence in providing students a Christ-centered, well rounded education that equips them to live faithful, God-honoring lives, whatever their vocation or calling.

1Corinthians 9:24-25 - Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. [25] Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Glorifying God and the pursuit to win athletic contests are complimentary concepts.   We also realize that the final score of the contest does not measure the success of the program.  Success is measured by effort, preparation, and dedication to the goals established within the framework of the team and positive or negative experiences that enable us to grow spiritually. 

GOALS:

• Our athletic program will provide opportunities for our students to glorify God on the field or in the gym.
• Our athletic program will by measured by its fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 -  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control.

Fruit of the Spirit in Athletics:

• Love: Care enough to help teammates improve, to help the coach, to show respect for the referees even when judgment calls do not go our way
• Joy: Enjoy playing the game and by not allowing negative things to get us down.
• Peace: Avoid discouragement after losing a contest, but rather be motivated to improve or try harder
• Patience: Improve skills and listen to teammates and coaches as instructed during conditioning, drills, and strategy sessions even when we do not understand it the first time.
• Kindness: Encourage teammates after they make mistakes and avoid negative comments.
• Goodness: Respect our opposing team and congratulate them if they win and encourage them when they lose.
• Faithfulness: Dedicate ourselves to the team by attending required practices, and play hard even if we are way behind in a contest. We should maintain our grades in our academic program to remain eligible to play throughout the season.
• Gentleness: Encourage a disheartened teammate, and help opposing players when they are injured or they hit the ground in the normal flow of the contest.
• Self-control: Aggressive play without losing one's temper, avoiding penalties and mistakes due to emotion.

The Parents Role

Parents play the most important role with their child athlete, even more than the coach and the school.  The parent is the one who interacts with the child after the contest.  Parents should be encouraged to avoid blaming the coach, officials, and mistakes by teammates or even poor sportsmanship exhibited by the opposing team.   (We should foster the fruit of the spirit:  love for opponents, patience with officials, coaches and teammates).  We should be careful to avoid negative comments towards officials or opposing players, coaches, and parents during the contest.  This will help us to model the fruit of the Spirit as spectators observing our players and coaches. After a game, we need to be careful to not frustrate our children by focusing on the negative issues that may or may not have caused the team to lose.  We can point our players to Christ by focusing on the fruit of the spirit which will help them to grow spiritually.  As parents we can also grow along with our children because we all know how upset and protective parents can become during a game. 

Our Response to Contest Officials

God will use the judgment calls of contest officials to develop a mature sense of respect and patience during adversity.  As parents, we are thrown into the arena of an official because we do not always make the right call.  We should expect our children to respect us even when we do not make the correct call.   We can teach submission to authority, patience and love in our homes as they learn how to properly react to contest officials in the heat of the contest

By focusing on the fruit of the spirit we can provide a "Christ-centered, well rounded education that equips them to live faithful, God-honoring lives in athletics or whatever their vocation or calling is" and to "do it to get a crown that will last forever".