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SYP Interview: Integrating Sports and Faith with Dr. John White

Integrating Sports and Faith with Dr. John White

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Dr. Jenae Nelson interviews Dr. John White on the subject of sports and faith integration. They discuss varies topics, such as the balancing winning and maintaining morals, building character in sports, and the positive role of competition. Dr. White provides hope that sports can be effectively used to build character and sustain faith in the lives of youth athletes.

Dr. John B. White is a native of the Midwest and in particular, he is a Hoosier. He raced in the legendary cycling race, "The Little 500" at Indiana University, on Team Cutters, which the film Breaking Away dramatizes.

Playing sports has always been a "school" of sorts for John. The joys of play, challenges of competing well with others, and how to do and celebrate sports unto God are difficult to integrate but they demand serious reflection and practice. Because of such formative experiences, he sensed God's call to sports chaplaincy and ministry. His work included serving and ministering in churches, on various NCAA Division 1, 2 and 3 university campuses, at the Olympic Training Center and in Eastern and Western Europe.

His PhD is from The University of Edinburgh where he studied moral theology with Michael Northcott and his dissertation was on Christianity and Sports- Sport and Christian ethics: Towards a theological ethic for sport. He also completed an M.Div. and an M.A. at T.E.D.S. where he completed his thesis with Kevin Vanhoozer. John’s publications have appeared in Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Implicit Religion, Studies in Christian Ethics, Practical Theology, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Bible and Ethics, and he recently co-edited books with Routledge Press (2016), Cambridge Scholars and Mercer Press (2017). He also has a book under contract with Baker Academic. He is the Principal Investigator and Faculty Director of the newly established Faith and Sport Institute: Running the Race Well at Baylor University, which is funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. He is regularly interviewed on the subject matter of Christianity and sports in prominent news media and periodicals such as CBS, Sports Illustrated, Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

0:00 - Introduction of Dr. John B. White
1:20 - Why character in sports matters
2:00 - Ethics in sports vs. church
4:05 - Importance of virtues in sports
6:03 - Vices to be cautious of in sports
7:35 - Study on moral reasoning of athletes
8:34 - Increasing athlete agency and freedom
10:00 - Importance of coaches in character development
12:05 - Long-term impact of coaches on athletes
13:01 - What’s at stake if we don’t teach character
15:15 - Moral bracketing and game reasoning
17:18 - Separation of morality between sports and life
18:22 - Misconceptions about competition in sports
19:54 - Healthy understanding of competition
22:01 - Helping athletes handle loss and failure
23:28 - Discussion on winning and character development
27:00 - Faith’s role in character formation in sports
30:04 - Balancing winning with moral integrity
33:06 - Dr. White’s personal passion for faith and sports integration
34:10 - Hope for the future of sports

SYP Interview: Jenae Nelson & Transcendent Goals in Sports

September, 2024
In this interview, Dr. Jenae Nelson discusses transcendent indebtedness and goals in sports. She provides several ways in which parents and coaches can help athletes to implement these kind of goals. She also discusses developing character and virtue, in particular how this can be done through sports.

Why do high character teams sometimes lose?

August, 2024
Question: "Championship teams are often associated with character. Their team had character. But has there been any research done with teams that lose a lot but have character? And maybe there’s an assumption that teams that consistently lose don’t have character. Any research there? That could be why lower level teams at Shooters have the hardest time. Almost like a false notion that because you pay your tithing that you’ll get rewarded. I think character in teams is great, but perhaps taken too seriously in sports where talent/work ethic (from people without character) still win the day."

How do I set character centered goals in sports?

August, 2024
Question: "How do you set goals that have impact on the field that don’t revolve around winning. What do those look like? And can they be measured with metrics? Like, I always pick up an opposing team member from off the ground? Or I’m going to do that 3 times this game? It’s hard to measure a goal about character that doesn’t involve winning."
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