UW athletes and coaches took center stage in Kane Hall last night for a panel discussion.

The topic, however, was not this year's triumphs, a hot new recruit or hopes for glory next season. Instead, UW football coach Tyrone Willingham, UW basketball coach Lorenzo Romar and six student-athletes from the football, basketball and track teams assembled to discuss something more personal: religion.

The panel was lead by James Wellman, assistant professor of Western religions. The panel is the third and the last of a series of lectures and events organized by the department. Earlier this quarter, there was a lecture on the Super Bowl as a site of religious pilgrimage for Americans and another on the spiritual significance of baseball in American culture.

The panel was less academic and more a chance for coaches and athletes to share personal experiences of religion and sports, two things that in American culture are often intertwined, Wellman said.

"When we bring God into the equation, it tends to make things more important, and it adds drama to life," Wellman said. "Sports is a drama. We live vicariously through our own sports heroes, and like religious rituals, games are a kind of ritual that brings great joy into peoples' lives. ... So I guess it's not surprising that sports and religion in America overlap."

The role of spirituality at a public university, the practice of prayer at sporting events and the possibilities for religious minorities feeling left out were several of the fairly controversial topics broached by the panel. The athletes and coaches spoke candidly about their personal opinions, as well as their individual affiliations.

One theme consistent to all the athletes was the role of faith in their own personal motivation.

"I was injured for a year and a half," said Brooke Anderson, a sophomore on the track team, said. "Without my faith in God, I would have given up and walked away from the sport. It's because of my faith that I can persevere and focus on being a team-player."

Sophomore basketball player Jon Brockman said that his high profile allows him to be a role model in keeping with his own Christian faith.

"It's an excellent position to be an example for God," he said. "It's a great platform to reach out to others from."

Zachary Gussin, a freshman on the track team, talked about being a religious minority.

"For a long time, it was shunned for Jews to be athletes, and there are many stereotypes that go along with that," he said. "We all know the stereotype of the pneumatic New York Jew who's allergic to everything. So I'm interested in breaking down stereotypes."

Many student-athletes agreed that religion provided them with a center, a sense of perspective outside of the pressure of the game or the glitz of media attention.

"Having faith is a very good, humbling experience," said junior and football linebacker Dan Howell. "The best way to be confident is to know it's not all about you."

Howell's coach, Willingham, who comes from a strong Christian background, agreed.

"Having belief allows you not to worry about the outcome, and it allows you to just go out and be the best," Willingham said.

Romar also said that faith can offer some perspective in the heat of the game.

"It allows me not to get stressed out in the hard times and not have my head blown up in the good times," he said.

Almost all athletes seemed to agree that religion was not a divider among teammates of different denominations or faiths, mostly because sports tend to unite people around their common goal.

"Sports allow us to break down the barriers of religion," Anderson said.

The coaches agreed.

"When you're a team, you're a family," he said. "You're accepting of each other. It's not just religion — you can have different political beliefs, different ways you were raised. Our guys talk about all that stuff. ... To put it bluntly, if someone can hoop, I don't care what religion they are."

Reach reporter Siv Prince at news@thedaily.washington.edu.