Reproduced from The Times with permission September 8, 2007   Self-belief is the goal to play for   Playing sports at a high level, such as in the Fifa Women’s World Cup, challenges minds as well as bodies, says a sports chaplain Mary Vickers It is thought that about 26 million women worldwide play football. Around 300 of them have gathered in China for the Fifa Women’s World Cup, which begins on Monday – and 21 of them are representing England. Although you would not guess it from the media coverage – which is muted at best – women’s football is now the top female sport in this country. In 2005 there were 131,500 girls and women registered and playing the game in more than 9,600 affiliated teams throughout England, and China 2007 will be England’s second appearance at the Fifa Women’s World Cup finals. Playing sport at this level poses as many challenges off the pitch as on it, and that is where the sports chaplain can try to help. “Sports chaplain?” people ask me. They can see a reason for hospital or forces chaplains, for example, but why sports chaplains? “Are you just there for when they get injured?” they ask. The answer is no. Sports chaplains are there for the good times as well as the bad times, for celebration and for commiseration. One reason why many Premier League, Championship and other football clubs, a good number of leading rugby clubs, some county cricket clubs and many gyms and other sports clubs in the UK have chaplains is because they recognise that there is more to good health than just physical fitness. Sports clubs employ a range of specialists to meet the needs of the whole athlete. Whereas many of these are work- or performance-related roles, it could be said that the chaplain is life-related. Chaplaincy is for all, for those of faith and those of none. Although they obviously bring a faith dimension with them, chaplains do not force any sort of religious belief on anybody. Chaplaincy is about the church getting involved with people and communities in creative ways rather than being stuck in what some see as an irrelevant set of buildings or precepts. I firmly believe that the church should be where people are, especially in our mobile and busy society where many people do not get the chance to attend church regularly as a result of their work or family situation; and sportspeople are no exception, whether “at home” in their local club or away competing at an important event. As at any big sporting occasion, the footballers now in China will be focused on what they are there to do, but as human beings there will be other factors at play, too. They will have been away from home for a while to train and acclimatise, so they may be missing friends and family. Life-changing events may also happen at home which need their attention. Some may have financial worries – salaries in the men’s game may be stratospheric but most of the England players in China will have had to take time off work to represent their country. On top of excitement about the tournament, and pride at being selected, there are fears of injury and the pressures of competition – “What if we lose?” each is thinking, “What if something I do or fail to do contributes to that?” All of these worries and more can be shared with a chaplain. Even winners may need chaplains, too, as there can then be problems of identity, especially for players who retire at the end of a tournament – the “who am I when I’m not playing football?” anxiety. Winners may also simply want to share their joy with someone who will listen to them without getting bored. Since I went into sports chaplaincy I have been involved in such issues as these. My first pastoral involvement, at Athens in 2004, was with somebody who had just heard about the death of a grandparent who had raised her. This athlete had spent so long preparing for the Olympic Games – should she stay or should she go home for the funeral? We talked, she made her own decision to stay, and at the exact time of the funeral I led a short service with her where we were. Later, a swimmer who had swum a personal best came to the chapel to talk and to offer thanks. Chaplains are also available to athletes’ families, and I have spent time with one mother worried about whether her daughter might have an eating disorder brought on by training for her sport. I have even been able to offer some support to a sports administrator made redundant by his organisation. I am often asked if I pray for someone to win. The answer is no. I would not be human if I did not sometimes want a particular individual to win, but I never pray for that. There are several reasons for this, just one of which is that praying for someone to win implicitly means praying for someone else not to. If sportspeople ask me, I offer instead to pray that they will give of their very best, for that is all that anybody can ever ask of them. Our society tends to put sportspeople on a pedestal one minute and ignore or criticise their performance the next. Sports chaplains will always treat them as real human beings, as well as helping them to realise their potential as the whole people that God created them to be. The Rev Mary Vickers is chaplaincy co-ordinator for women in sport for the charity Score (scorechaplaincy.org.uk)