As the beginning of the school year has come around, fall sports are in full swing. This year, a new development was installed, permitting prayer captains for our Dons sports teams. So, what does the role of being a prayer captain entail, and how will it benefit our teams? Here’s some insight from Mission & Ministry as well as some prayer captains from various teams. 

Mrs. Bacich, head of Mission and Ministry here at CCHS, was one of the leaders who helped organize prayer captains. “Prayer captains is brand new this year, and we wanted to look at our school theme more seriously, which is Unum: Engage, and we wanted to engage all different parts of campus,” says Mrs Bacich. “We wanted to look at our athletic program, and intertwine our faith in a way that made sense, and we thought that the most organic way to do it would be through the students themselves.”   

          For the question that students at CCHS want to know about: What are the responsibilities of prayer captains? Mrs Bacich shares, “Prayer captains will be meeting with Mr. Gramme and myself, and we will be giving them a monthly overview, and each week will focus on a different virtue, and we ask that the prayer captains spend 5-10 minutes with their team introducing the virtue, talking about it, leading up to discussion and prayer.” 

          Finally, when asked about the importance of prayer captains at a Catholic school, Mrs. Bacich emphasizes, “Sports are such a vibrant part of our community, and involves so much of the student body, that prayer captains at a Catholic school just highlight our faith amongst other things.” Prayer captains were put into place to help guide their team onto a path towards God amidst all the craziness of sports.

          Natalia Velayudhan ‘25, prayer captain of the girls cross country team, explains why she wanted to serve in this role: “I wanted to become a prayer captain for the team because I want to encourage all of our athletes’ own personal relationships with God as we work towards our goals and through this create a stronger sense of unity among the team.” Being at a Catholic school, it is important that we are intertwining our faith into our extracurricular activities.

          Being a prayer captain at CCHS means putting faith at the center of our lives, even during our sports. “My main role is to lead prayer before workouts and meets, organize team Masses, and ultimately to encourage everyone in their faith as we strive to be the best we can in all aspects of life,” says Natalia. “Prayer unites and focuses us. It reminds us that we are ultimately running the race for God and his glory, not our own. I know the team finds encouragement and comfort in being able to pray together, knowing that our strength comes from the Lord. Having prayer captains has refocused our team, and more prayer has improved our mindsets, performance, and team dynamic.”

           Athlete Charlie Corney ‘26 feels that having prayer at competitions as well as just practices can be really beneficial. “On my team, we always say a prayer about being humble, and keeping us safe. I think that this particular prayer does a really great job at helping us, and all athletes, tie faith into our sport, as saying that prayer can benefit our performance.”

          The new development of prayer captains at CCHS is sure to be beneficial, and help student-athletes keep their faith at the center of their lives. Sometimes, it is especially hard for athletes to think of God because they can be too focused on winning or performing well. What we need to remember is that God gave athletes their gift, and having prayer captains to help guide us will help us stay focused on what’s truly important.