Some high schools are notorious for their athletic programs. From Friday night football games under the chilly autumn lights, to intense indoor basketball games in heated gyms around the holidays, these are both sports-oriented highlights from our high school years. Maybe you were a student who often found yourself crowding the bleachers dressed in your school colors. Or maybe you were a student who neither attended the games, nor really cared, yet heard the recap of the previous night’s game while you ate lunch in the cafeteria. Whatever your high school sports affiliation status might have been, I have to ask you: what will your affiliation with college sports look like?

Everyone has their “thing,” whether this thing is theater, music, sports, arts, technology, reading, etc. And for some people, sports are ranked last on their list of “things-I-like-to-do-when-I’m-bored.” But for others, competing in sports may come as naturally as breathing.

One thing I love about attending Cairn is our sports identity. On many teams, we have both categories of students participating: students who live and breathe sports, and students who may not be natural athletes, yet work with fervor to be a part of a collegiate sports team. Both kinds of students are together on the court and field competing and working as a team, as one unit.

And if you take a minute to think about this combination, you have to ask yourself: isn’t this union of people, of differences, truly amazing?

Sure, the sports programs here at Cairn have their ups and downs, injuries, losses, successes, and victories, but fostering school spirit around the inner core of Cairn sports is a worthy pursuit.

As a Christian university, Cairn’s core, its focus, is centered around uniting people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, interests, and continents under Christ’s forgiveness and the gift of new life; Through athletics, Cairn undoubtedly accomplishes this mission.

Having been a three-year athlete on Cairn’s basketball team, I was able to see women from various families, states, and backgrounds, with wildly different personalities and experiences, come together in the locker room, pray as a unit, and set foot on the court with one goal in mind: not only to win but to glorify Christ through our union of differences and execution of godly attitudes and behavior.

So maybe your thing isn’t sports, isn’t crowing the bleachers, and isn’t watching live stream from your dorm room. But as a student of a Christian university, one of your “things” should be to support fellow brothers and sisters in the pursuit of activities that strive to bring glory and honor to Jesus—shouldn’t it?

At Cairn, we have students who participate on our sports teams as accomplished athletes, and we have students who are curious to play at a collegiate level, even when sports may not come as naturally to them. We have students who process each game differently, who function in different positions, and who strive to reach one goal: profess and maintain a witness for Christ through the medium of sports.

We have a student body who can come together to cheer for the sports team with the understanding that these sports teams are one in Christ, no matter how different the individuals may appear to be.

As Highlanders, we have the opportunity to cultivate school spirit, the opportunity to support each other on and off the field, and the opportunity find unity in our differences through both athletic play and athletic cheering. I commend you, reader, to support Cairn athletics.

So whether your “thing” is sports or not, how will you make a difference at Cairn, and in the lives of others, with your sports spirit?