Prayer circles after games

[honus14]

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Mt.6:5-6, NIV.

 

[29dad]

Thanks for the responses, and I hope there are more. ...

I must admit that I'm not a fan of it, either.

Having a prayer of a particular religion excludes anyone who is not a follower of that religion. Does a Jewish or Muslim girl really want to say the Lord's Prayer? Or does she want to be faced with the choice of having to say a Christian prayer or awkwardly decline and be left out? Not fair to them, imo. We're a team when we're on the field together.

I realize there is no harm intended, so I'm respectful of the other side on this. And if it's a church team, then it's fully appropriate. Just don't think it's appropriate in other cases.

I agree. I also think the whole prayer circle thing is a bit disingenuous. Athletes drawing attention to themselves, "look at us!" I roll my eyes every time.

 

[99&beyond]

I agree. I also think the whole prayer circle thing is a bit disingenuous. Athletes drawing attention to themselves, "look at us!" I roll my eyes every time.

If our coach wouldn't have told me what the girls were doing, I would have never known. It looks like a pre-game huddle, near the dugout in right/left field

 

[Greenmonsters]

One of my favorite quotes

"Baseball is like church. Many attend. Few Understand." - Leo Durocher

 

[kjmpa]

Context-private multi-denominational pre-k thru 12 school- mid-Atlantic.

Asked DD what they pray for when they invite the other team after game (league is half public half private). She said success for the other teams' remainder of season and safe travels.

They get varied responses - one coach last year who visibly had a bad attitude game said "I'm going-I definitely need this". No coercion - student initiated and student led. No constitutional crisis here.

One other story - took DD to visit my alma mater - a state public university. Was surprised to see the team in a circle appearing to be praying before the game. During the game head coach on 3B smacked his player on the helmet for not stretching a double to a triple. I said to family - now we know why the girls were praying

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

In SoCal, after almost every game both teams show good sportsmanship by going out to the pitching circle, chanting and dancing together doing what I call the "chicken dance". After all, isn't this game suppose to be fun. No prayers needed. Sometimes we take youth sports way too seriously folks.

 

[rowdy]

Our team does pray after every game and invites the team we are playing to join them. It is not something that the coaches or parents suggested but a spontaneous act by the players that has grown into a softball tradition. We have played over a dozen states and the prayer circle is alive and well in all of them.

I think it speaks well of the character of the young ladies who invest their time in the game we all love. I support it all the way.

 

[3sDad]

I don't post much in here, really don't keep up with site much anymore...anything that's posted in here that disagrees with the sites boss posters gets ridiculed...and the management doesn't mind it seems...

But this tweaked me...
We live in the deep South, and yes our team circles on the mound after every game, and we invite the other team to pray with us...Most teams around here do it also so its never an issue...If a team doesn't want to participate that's perfectly Ok...but probably 99% do...My DD is a catcher she and the other teams catcher will make signs in the dirt...its a spontaneous act, we don't make our girls do it...Mine usually makes the fish symbol and they all recite the Lords Prayer....Now with that said...I've seen teams tears and even felt the tensions of the game disappear from the girls faces...Its soothing to them...
We are Christians, its what we do...Yes its the Bible Belt..if you don't like it, don't participate, that's entirely up to you...I may not be as Christian as I should be saying this...but to quote Hank Jr " We say grace and we say ma'am...and if you aint into that we don't give a d(*&"

Everyone Have a Blessed Day Tomorrow.....

 

[Greenmonsters]

Haven't seen one in the tournies we've frequented in the NE and PA, but I don't believe that a voluntary POST-game prayer circle would trouble our team or coaches; however, back in my college days, I didn't appreciate the timing of a salvation offer when I was standing on 2B during a P change at Jerry Falwell's school.

 

[Screwball]

Liberty (Falwell's college) gave us these little religious sheets at a tourney when we asked to use the bathroom on their air-conditioned bus. (I know sounds strange, but our game was outside the complex and no bathrooms.)

When we visited the campus, I won't go into all the attempts at conversion. We thought it funny and kept saying what our religion was (some Methodist, some Catholic, a Lutheran) and that we were already Christian. They still wanted us to convert.

I find the invite to a prayer circle very insulting, being in a neighborhood of multi religions. I keep my religion to myself. Keep yours to yourselves. If we want to do a prayer circle, we can do our own.