Features
Why Sport is Spiritual
Simon Parke
Despite Chariots of Fire and St Paul's exhortation to 'run
the race', it's tempting to see the current Olympic fervour as a
distraction from the serious business of the soul. But sports
psychologist Mark Nesti believes the very opposite
is true.
Working as a chartered sport psychologist with athletes and
Premiership footballers over the past 20 years, I've come to
believe that the sport experience is one of the most profound and
holistic ways in which to encounter personhood. Indeed, for Baron
de Coubertin, the Frenchman responsible for the modern Olympics as
we now know it, 'the first essential characteristic of ancient and
of modern Olympism alike is that of being a religion' - not a new
religion, but the 'religio athletae', whose concern should be with
the moral value of sport.
To understand this fully, we have to look beyond the commercial
hype and fervour of the torch processions, opening ceremonies and
Olympic oath, into the lives of the athletes who sacrifice so much
for the small possibility of victory. I believe that they - and
indeed we - have deeper motivations than a glimpse of a gold medal
- that sport is more about meaning and personal growth than
material rewards and accolades. To do my best and enjoy the
challenge of sport I must hold nothing back of myself, physically,
psychologically and spiritually.
This may sound controversial to those who parcel up the world in
discrete fragments - whether that's Christians with a tendency to
dualism, or the intellectuals who have dominated our universities
for the last 400 years. We've grown used to speaking of sport as
good for the body, or helpful in dealing with stress and anxiety,
and even useful in the formation of sound morals. Sports science is
divided into biomechanics, physiology and psychology. All very
sensible and understandable, but problematic if we forget to put
the pieces back together and consider the whole person.
How, for example, can this approach begin to fathom concepts
like love, suffering, sacrifice and even joy? Surely these can only
really be discussed in any meaningful way when we see the human
person as a synthesis of mind, body and spirit?
WANDERERS' SPIRIT
I worked part time for six years as the first team sport
psychologist at Bolton Wanderers. The then manager, Sam Allardyce,
had one of the largest sports science teams of any club in elite
football in the world. However, I remember him telling me that the
most important quality in the players (and staff) was that of
spirit. It was the spirit of the person he relied upon when the
inevitable tough moments arrived, when games had to be won to avoid
the sack, playing against a more talented opposition, or dealing
with depleted squads.
I asked him what he thought this thing called spirit was - how did
he know if someone had it? He explained it to me as the core of the
person, the quality that allowed there to be a relationship between
our physical and psychological sides, and that it could be seen in
the demeanour and in the eyes of his players.
I was taken aback by his wisdom - it seemed a world away from
the idea of materialist determinism that many have linked to high
level professional sport. At Bolton I also worked closely with the
club chaplain, Phil Mason, a Methodist Minister who was highly
valued by everyone, despite being the only Methodist in the
building. As one of the staff said to me to explain this: 'Phil
looks after their souls and spirit and you attend to their spirit
and psychology, but both of you are caring for people who just
happen to be outrageously overpaid, highly talented and high
profile footballers.'
SHADOW VS FLOW
Of course, sports psychology also has a dark side, manifested most
obviously in the obsession of the fan. It can lead to destructive
behaviour ranging from violence between supporters, death threats
aimed at referees, and even sectarian murder as has occurred at the
'old firm' games between Glasgow Celtic and Rangers. But the flip
side of this fervour is the feeling of fellowship and incredible
euphoria that comes from being associated with something noble and
courageous. You experience it cheering the riders from the road
side in the Tour de France, or standing among thousands on the
terraces singing 'Walk on, with hope in your heart'. I believe that
hope is not about blind desire, but closely related to the
spiritual idea of faith.
In fact the spirituality of sport has been acknowledged by a
small and courageous group of academics over the last 40 years. In
particular Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, a psychology professor at the
University of Chicago, has looked in the worlds of sport, art,
heart surgery and even shepherding in the Alps above Milan in order
to understand what it is that helps us reach our optimal
performance. Central to it all is the experience of what he calls
'flow'.
It's that feeling of being completely at one with whatever
you're doing, and producing a seemingly effortless performance -
and it can be a deeply spiritual moment of serenity, joy and
transcendence. Of course, it can happen when we lose ourselves in
anything from creative writing to hanging out the washing - but
it's a particular feature of sport. The testimonies of performers
in many different sports, across different cultures, and at a range
of levels, lend weight to the idea that we perform at our best in
this holistic mode of being.
PLAY & SACRIFICE
Other writers have pointed out that the idea of flow connects very
closely to the concept of play. According to the Thomist
philosopher Josef Pieper and other personalist philosophers and
psychologists, when we play we are literally in love with what we
are doing. It is this that gives play its hugely important role in
human lives, beyond the skills that may be being learnt or
perfected.
In sport we have a wonderful example of this in the performances
of Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Argentina. He plays as a child
plays, with total commitment to what he is doing, and with a
seeming lack of ego. And he does this in the most high profile,
over-hyped sport on the planet! Playing sport, not doing sport,
turns out to be the way for us to do our very best, and to do it
ethically. Like very young children, we find that play is not
centred on gain, but involves losing ourselves in the process in
order to find ourselves again - to be renewed and refreshed. And
that means all of our selves, and not just one aspect like our
physical side.
Sport can also be an ideal arena to see our spiritual core put
to the test through the suffering and sacrifices it can entail. You
only have to think of the training needed to reach the top and stay
there, or to complete the last four miles of your first marathon,
or to give all you have as a player when you are about to be sold,
to understand the necessity of voluntary suffering in sport.
But play and suffering do not contradict one another. In the
real world, the best football teams, players and athletes are often
those who are both prepared to play as much as they can, and accept
that they will sometimes need to suffer along the way. Play can be
serious - indeed it should be serious or it's not really play.
PLAYING FOR GOD
Perhaps it's no surprise, therefore, to discover that sport and
spirituality often overlap in formal religious belief. In
confidential sessions I have come across a number of players in the
Premiership football clubs I have worked who tell me that their
faith is the most important part of their identity. It is the core
of who they are and gives meaning to their lives - and sometimes it
gives rise to very public moments of spirituality, as in this
year's collapse and seemingly miraculous recovery of Fabrice
Muamba.
So sport and spirituality may not be such uneasy partners after
all, especially where we conceive of sport as a person-centred,
holistic mode of being. As Pope Pius XII has pointed out: 'Sport,
properly directed, develops character, makes a person courageous, a
generous loser, and a gracious victor… Sport is an occupation of
the whole person.'
Sport, irrespective of levels of achievement, requires that we
play - that is, throw ourselves fully in to the task, mind, body,
and soul. The physical health benefits have long been known, and
more recently, sport has been promoted as a way to deal with
various psychological problems. So perhaps it's time for Christians
to be more visible in highlighting how this huge cultural
phenomenon can also assist with our spiritual development. Is the
Church not the defender of the person, the one whose value cannot
be reduced to utilitarian ends?
In the Olympics as elsewhere, when we find an endeavour that can
be defined in terms of freedom, responsibility, sacrifice, joy and
meaning, we can be sure we are on home turf.