By Cheryl Ward
Head of School
Calvary Schools of Holland
As we wrap up our school year, I am walking out what undergirds four important areas of a Calvary education.
#1 – Intentionality in Science
#2 – Intentionality in Music
#3 – Intentionality in Athletics
#4 – Intentionality in Parenting
Read my introduction, part 1, and part 2 on this topic on our blog here.
Middle and high school students participated in three different track meets this past week. I was in a meeting with our administrative team when a text pinged and a team member pounded her hand on the table.
“Yes!” she shouted, interrupting the planning session and gaining a quizzical look from the team. She proudly said, “Z just hit 21 feet on the long jump.” We all celebrated the achievement.
Calvary is in its fourth year of offering track and field at our school. We’re enjoying the focused chaos that meets tend to involve and the different areas where students are learning to set personal goals and grow.
When I spoke with other community members about the meets, people tended to respond in kind.
“One runner got a 4:38 in the mile, and another got a 4:40.”
“I got a PR!” (A PR is a personal record time.)
These answers are significant because they reflect a growth mindset. Our school community members are focusing on growing, improving, and getting the skills and character right. This approach allows a wide range of students to take pride in hard work unto improvement.
Athletics has tremendous value for our school community, particularly because our educational model is based on the whole person — body, mind, and spirit. Athletics is a space where students engage with all three of those aspects, just as they do in music and in science.
Think about what is happening in the body when training for a race, or using the diaphragm to sing, or carefully using a scalpel in dissection. They’re all part of developing a person’s full capacity, and it’s why we value training in athletics as much as we do vocal and scientific training.
And just as we want to get our processes right in class, we also want to get our processes right in co-curricular activities. (We use the phrase co-curricular at Calvary instead of extra-curricular because these activities exist in conjunction with our model of education rather than as an add-on to it.)
Charlotte Mason did not play basketball so it might be easy to discount the application of her philosophy to athletics, but at least one legendary basketball coach, UCLA’s John Wooden, seemed to have caught on to her ideas in his highly successful approach.
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.”
– John Wooden
Wooden’s quote catches the spirit of what we are aiming for at Calvary Schools. Why did our athletic director embrace this oft-quoted phrase for our athletics culture? “If you get the character and the skills right, you’ll win as often as you ought to.”
For the simple reason that it is true. It is on method. And it works.
Which is not to say that one can’t win with a different approach. A legendary tennis player named John McEnroe was famous for winning — and for losing his temper, throwing racquets, and yelling at referees. He won a lot, but at what cost?
In that case, one can make winning the goal — and succeed in doing so — and still have lost.
Calvary’s athletics approach is an extension of our whole philosophy: that our students are persons — whole persons — made in the image of God and therefore valuable, no matter their performance. It also reflects our philosophy that education is about relationships, atmosphere, discipline, and life.
We take that seriously, in how we hire coaches, how we train athletes, what types of sports we engage with, and most importantly, what we are trying to teach through athletics.
Which is why winning, though important, is really just an outcome of larger goals.
Consider our cross country team. When a student is motivated to work hard, push through difficult moments when they want to quit, work on individual growth, support team members, and take joy in the work itself, the natural outcome is excellence.
We see this attitude in volleyball, basketball, track and field, golf, and micro sports. Students are growing in their skills each year, and learning how to win well and lose well — both of which are very important in life.
Some people quote “excellence” as a goal. But what does excellence mean? Our cross country team took second place at the state finals for the second year in a row. It’s a fantastic achievement, and we’re so proud of it! And we did it in a healthy way for everyone on the team.
I would present that how we achieved it is what makes us excellent, not the trophy itself. How the entire team and each of the runners achieved it, is what makes them excellent.
And while our athletes’ achievements will outlast their time as Calvary students, it is the quality and intentionality of our athletics program that will last for each participant in how they grew because of it.
Our approach to athletics is a part of the holistically valuable education that children receive at Calvary.
Cheryl Ward is the Head of School & Executive Director at Calvary Schools of Holland. She has served the Calvary community since 2015, stepping into her current role in 2021. Cheryl’s passion is transforming educational settings through the underlying philosophy, relationships, structures, and processes that support them. She has a bachelor’s degree in education and a second degree in Biblical studies, as well as a master’s of education degree. She has been an advocate for Charlotte Mason education, and an Ambleside affiliate, since 2009.