This year, fall and winter sports athletes at Jesuit High School Sacramento may have noticed something different about how they start their seasons: an introductory mass.

For the first time in Jesuit’s history, the Marauder cross country, water polo, and football teams all gathered in the Phelan Chapel of the North American Martyrs to celebrate mass together. In October, winter sports athletes did the same, and so will spring sports athletes later this semester.

These masses are just one part of greater changes coming to Jesuit’s athletics programs. Jesuit won two State Championships last year. Despite these massive successes on the field and court,  coaches and faculty felt that the school could do more to help its student-athletes grow and develop as young men, not just as players. Director of Athletics Mr. Hank Weinberger helped begin that discussion.

“Mr. Weinberger saw that we could do so much more with our student athletes, and the formation of that young man [after] 3:00 on a school day,” said Administrative Assistant to Athletics Ms. Robin Cummings. “The development of that young man into a full person – not just winning or losing games – but the whole picture that that student athlete gets in the classrooms with his teachers, on retreats, on Kairos, through the theology classes, we wanted to add that to the field.” 

One of the ways Jesuit will accomplish this goal is through the creation of Ignatian Formation Groups for all coaches. Behind the scenes, veteran Jesuit coaches are leading small groups with newer coaches to define and discuss what Jesuit athletics stands for, what its purpose is, and why they’re here.

“Even our off-campus coaches that aren’t educators by trade, through being a coach to Jesuit High School, they become an educator; they become part of what we do,” said Mr. Weinberger. “Everything we do at the school is an instrument of the mission. In athletics, it’s an instrument of the mission, just like band is, just like choir is, just like English classes [are]. They’re all an instrument of the mission of Jesuit High School.”

Of Jesuit’s 105 coaches, only 16 work here full-time, so only a small percentage of Jesuit athletics staff has access to a daily experience of the Ignatian principles that lie at the core of the school’s mission.

“We have coaches that need tools, and the verbiage, and the ‘Why?’ of what we’re doing,” Ms. Cummings said. “Who is Saint Ignatius? What is the Society of Jesus? What do we stand for? It isn’t about catching a long bomb and winning a touchdown. It’s a whole lot more. It’s what that guy has, and we’re trying to give our coaching staff the tools to be that leader.”

For now, Jesuit’s veteran coaches will lead these groups. The hope is that this program will grow as newer coaches learn from these small groups and eventually lead their own.

“In future years, some of our coaches who went through the program this year will then become leaders also,” Mr. Weinberger said. “That will allow us to touch all of our coaches over the next few years so that every one of them can go through a similar formation program to define a deeper meaning of what it takes to be a coach at Jesuit.”

With that system in place, Jesuit hopes its student-athletes will also be in a better place to embrace and understand their school’s culture and purpose.

“I know there’s so much pressure that the [athletes] put themselves under for succeeding and not making mistakes, but there’s a bigger picture of us as human beings spiritually that we can get out of it,” Ms. Cummings said. “Everybody gets to a point where you throw your last ball, you catch your last catch, and [then] you go somewhere beyond that; to take the foundation of what all the student-athletes learn here is critical in the faith formation of all of us to be loving and caring.”