The Franciscan Barons women’s tennis team, which just finished the season with an 8-2 record.
“Before every match, we go through an entire litany of saints with all our tennis patrons: St. Joan of Arc, Blessed Chiara Luce Badano, St. Maria Goretti, St. Sebastian, St. Joseph — the whole litany.”
Welcome to a new series, "Fields Full of Grace: The Faith at Play," casting a spotlight on the devotional practices of college and professional athletes and coaches on and off the field.
By Jay Sorgi
Across the street from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio is the Marian House of Studies, where 15 Marian seminarians are spending their novitiate years and taking courses at the university. Those who play tennis during recreation time will find inspiration on the court from the Franciscan Barons women’s tennis team, which competes in NCAA Division III.
Before Maggie Gallagher, Anabel Stickney, and their teammates take the court, they take the time for prayer.
“Before every match, we go through an entire litany of saints with all our tennis patrons: St. Joan of Arc, Blessed Chiara Luce Badano, St. Maria Goretti, St. Sebastian, St. Joseph — the whole litany,” explains Stickney, a senior. “‘Pray for us’ after each saint, then Our Lady Queen of Victory, and then ‘Lady Barons!’ on three.”
Personal encounters
The players are dedicating a lot more than just their tennis games to Jesus through Mary. They’re dedicating their education, their friendships, and essentially every moment of their lives that way, a path that they each took ownership of in their youth.
“I had my first personal encounter with Christ in praise and worship,” says Gallagher, a junior who grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. “It was at a middle-school retreat, and Christ was present in the Eucharist in Adoration. We were singing, and it was the first time that I really was pouring out my heart through song to Him. In that moment, I just felt His warmth and His love physically within me, and I just felt like I was really basking in His presence and His glory. From there, it just stemmed and steamrolled.”
Stickney, a native of Butler, Pennsylvania, can relate. “I really came to know God personally and on my own terms when I got to high school, and I joined my youth group at my church. Through them, I really got to know God on a level where I want this for myself and not just what my parents told me.”
Theotokos Household
The Catholic faith takes center stage at Franciscan University. Both players are roommates in a university “household,” a living arrangement of up to 6 students which encourages spiritual growth and campus participation.
“A household is what I like to say is a sisterhood,” says Gallagher. “Each household has a specific devotion or focus, and the primary emphasis is on prayer commitments together, to walk with each other and lean on each other. So for us, our Theotokos (Mother of God) household means God-bearing, Mary at the foot of the Cross, carrying our crosses together, growing in Mary and femininity, and bearing Christ to everyone.”
Their shared prayer life includes a walking Rosary and time in Adoration on Sundays alongside Mass; a Wednesday early morning Mass and breakfast as a community; Stations of the Cross on Fridays; and scripture, song, and prayer intentions on Saturdays.
On the court
There are 20 players on the Barons’ team, and the season lasts from August through October. This year, the team has an 8-2 record, and at the PAC (Presidents Athletic Conference) Championship Tournament last week, they reached the semifinals for the second year in a row, but were bested by the Grove City Wolverines.
Nonetheless, both Gallagher and Stickney have found plenty of moments evoking Mary at the foot of the Cross with intensely strong meaning on the tennis court.
“My teammates taught me that the sport was so much more than just playing. It was actually giving back to God and giving for more than ourselves, playing for an intention,” says Gallagher. “We play every moment for an audience of one, that God is the only one that we’re playing for.”
Perhaps no more compelling moment came to convey that truth than during the 2024 Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championship Final against Allegheny College. Each university had won three out of the first six matches, and the seventh and final match turned into a title-deciding third set tiebreaker, with Franciscan’s top singles player Claire Cardie on the court.
The moment turned into witness of a greater victory, regardless of the result.
“We were praying Hail Marys for Claire for strength,” Stickney recalls. “The whole team was doing planks on the court to unite some little bit of suffering and struggle to Claire and what she was feeling, how tired she was.”
Win or lose
The result was disappointing, but also enlightening.
“We ended up losing, but there was so much joy. Even though Claire lost that last ball, we all jumped up cheering for her. We all huddled together, saying, ‘You fought hard! This was awesome! What a great season!’”
Supporters of the winning team appeared dumbfounded.
“The Allegheny fans were like, ‘Did I miss something? Didn’t we just win? Why are they so happy? Why are they so joyful?’” Stickney relates with a smile. “We could be mad that Claire lost and we lost as a team in the biggest match of the season. But we were so grateful that we got this season together, that we got to be a community, that we got to be a team.”
And, she added, “Win or lose, that’s not what matters. We’re playing for Jesus.”
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