How religion influences some UW athletes

Washington quarterback Jake Locker isn’t normally one to make his religious beliefs public. Amid the fans donning “Locker 3:16” shirts, the “savior” of the Husky football program humbly dons his own verse in a tattoo above his heart: Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

“I try to remind myself of that as much as possible, that anything is possible when you have Him on your side,” Locker said.

Sports and faith can be a touchy combination for even the most religious of athletes.

But religion is common in sports and occurs during end-zone prayers, touchdown celebratory fingers to the sky and the post-game team prayer.

Safety Nate Williams lives the connection between sports and religion every day.

“Before practice, I always say a prayer asking for the Lord to keep everyone safe and healthy throughout practice,” he said. “Some might not take it as seriously, but I always take it as the time to ask for the Lord to bless our team. And it has a good impact. It helps a lot of players to see that it’s just a game, and at the end we can all come together to give praise and honor to God for letting everyone come out safe and healthy.”

Faith has stepped onto the field and has made Locker think about things other than football.

“It puts it all in perspective for you,” he said. “Football is a great game, but I think it helps to realize there are bigger things in life than football as a sport and the game at the end of the day. People are facing bigger things every day and we are very fortunate to be able to do the things we can do on the football field, and we can’t take that for granted.”

Locker’s perspective can be seen in all four corners of the college football nation.

Florida Gators quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow also donned the same biblical scripture as Locker in his eye black — Philippians 4:13.

While Locker remains more private than Tebow about his personal faith, he respects that many athletes use their position to reach others with religion and make their faith public.

“I think it’s great,” Locker said. “It’s one of the reasons that we are put in the position we are and given the talents that we have to see what we’ll do with them and how we’ll use them to make our community and environment better.”

For Locker, his presence among his teammates and surrounding staff is a subtle act of expressing his faith.

“I try to live my life as good as I can, and hopefully that’s an example to others,” Locker said.

Even some athletes who don’t consider themselves religious believe every player should be able to express their religion freely on the football field.

Offensive lineman Skylar Fancher is one such player.

“I’m not a religious person, but hearing prayers before games don’t bother me,” he said. “Everyone believes in their own thing and they have every right to practice it during football.”

Athletes exemplifying religious values may be far from typical, but faith has created an impact on the game of football that the players can hardly ignore.

“When student-athletes do use their platform as football players to talk to others about Christ, it changes the image of us as just being the ‘football player,’ an image that isn’t always seen as positive,” Williams said.

Religion continues to remind Locker to focus on seeing the positive and to take everything with a grain of salt, which he believes the Husky football program is doing in hopes of forgetting a disappointing 0-12 season.

“I’ve never felt it was good to dwell on the things that happen in the past,” Locker said. “So moving ahead, I think the attitude of everybody is really positive. We’re looking forward to having a chance to putting that year behind us.”

Though not overtly religious, new head coach Steve Sarkisian’s believe-in-the-team message echoes some of the themes Locker has adhered to during his football career.

“We have to change the belief systems here,” Sarkisian said. “We have to get these kids to believe we’re going to win, not we’re going to find a way to lose. The more we convey that message, the more we’re going to be able to change the way these guys think, and we are going to win in all aspects.”

Locker gives credit to Sarkisian’s energy for the renewed mindset of the team.

“Obviously anytime you have an 0-12 season, there are going to be problems within the team and outside of the team,” Locker said. “But the way [Sarkisian] came in, it’s now about our team and no one individual. He stresses that at every meeting. Every time he speaks to us, it’s about us as a whole rather than single individuals.”

Reach reporter Nari Kalafian at sports@dailyuw.com.