Gabby Otto
Episode 109
1 MAR 2021
She played college basketball at Rice University, where her team won the Women’s Basketball Invitational Championship four years ago this month. One year later they made it to the second round of the NIT before losing to New Mexico. Growing up, in addition to basketball, she had also played soccer and boys baseball, and she ran track and field. Faith-wise she shares testimony regarding dealing with major sports injuries, plus, a powerful and emotional story from within her immediate family.
Notable guest quotes:
“Even though I didn’t go to any Catholic schools growing up, Mass was still really important in my family. Every single Sunday we were at church in the morning or we’d go to the 5:30 Life Teen kids Mass. And then just growing up and playing sports, a lot of times you have tournament games Sunday afternoon. And no matter what, we were finding a church in the local area that the tournament was hosted in and going to Mass pretty much no matter what so that we were able to receive the Eucharist.”
“Mass was kind of the center point of our family, somewhere that, when you have four kids schedules are always crazy, but it was the one place that we could kind of always be together and worship together.”
“That was definitely a really tough time that kind of tests your faith ’cause it’s a goal you’ve been working for, literally, almost your whole life.”
“I look back and it’s a blessing that I didn’t tear my ACL or blow my knee out playing basketball ’cause I think just mentally that would’ve been a whole ‘nother obstacle to overcome. So, looking back, in retrospect you can always see the blessing.”
“I had to rely on my faith a lot of the time just to kind of just even get me through that season.”
“I think anytime you go through something hard like that you kind of lean into the friendships around you and you surround yourself with people that are going to uplift you and point you to the cross.”
“In my time at Rice (University) I became very active in… Fellowship of Christian Athletes and that was probably the single most influential thing in my faith walk in college.”
“If you talk about watching a parent love their child, it was just one of those things that you look back and you’re like, ‘That is what love is.’ And ultimately, that’s what Christ did for us.”
