Anne Stricherz
Episode 76
13 JULY 2020
The varsity girls golf coach at St. Francis High School in the San Jose, California, area, where she is also the Assistant Athletic Director for Mission and Engagement. She previously was the junior varsity girls golf coach at St. Ignatius Prep in San Francisco. In her college days she attended the University of Notre Dame, where she competed in rowing for four years. She is also the author of a book called, “Pray and Practice with Purpose: A Playbook for the Spiritual Development of Athletes,” and she has completed three marathons.
Notable guest quotes:
“We’re very intentional about sports as a way to form young people.”
“I teach a theology course called Sports and Spirituality… That is my favorite part of my day, even more than coaching, is the sharing of the Word – prayer and the lives of athletes and saints – with young people.”
“One of my uncles is a high school basketball referee. So, I have great respect for those folks who serve sport in that way.”
“(my) grandfather competed against Eric Liddell, the subject of the movie Chariots of Fire.”
“Golf became, not only I would say maybe a necessity, but a reality, and I see that as a sign of God’s mercy to me.”
“There are real virtues to being an assistant coach. Anybody… if they want to help out and work with young people through athletics, be an assistant coach.”
“As an assistant coach [cross country] I had my thing, and that was developing this, kind of, community of faith with the athletes. So yes, I ran with them… and then I thought, ‘We can pray together, we can serve together, there are things that we can do.”
“In those conversations I would find out about these fantastic ways that coaches were including their faith with their sport. And I just kind of started to collect them, collect the examples.”
“I think coaches need to pray for their athletes! … Maybe coaches, as a staff, want to pray together.”
“I think sometimes the Spirit calls us to another place where there might be more growth.”
“Two times a day during our walk we would walk in silence, for 45 minutes. So, I would pray the rosary.”
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