Mary Volmer M.A., M.F.A
Abstract
Mary Volmer explores how sport, once a personal pursuit of ambition, became a transformative spiritual journey rooted in Lasallian values. Reflecting on her experience as a student-athlete at Saint Mary’s College, she illustrates how sport—through mentorship, community, and faith—can embody the Lasallian charism. Volmer introduces the “deep gift,” a divine, evolving self-expressed through roles like athlete, coach, and teacher. She contrasts toxic coaching models with holistic, relational approaches that nurture the whole person. Framed by a “pedagogy of fraternity,” sport becomes a sacred, communal act that fosters unity, growth, and spiritual presence across diverse communities.
Full Text
A Lasallian Spirituality of Sport
Keywords
Lasallian spirituality, pedagogy of fraternity, sacred presence, holistic coaching
About the Author
Mary Volmer, the author of two novels – Crown of Dust and Reliance, Illinois – is the Mission Fellow for Athletics at Saint Mary’s College (CA). In this interfaith, lay-chaplaincy position, she counsels and attends to the spiritual well-being of NCAA athletes and coaches. And she is the founding director of the Saint Mary’s Sport for Humanity Higher Education Initiative.
In private practice, Mary works with artists, especially writers, helping them to uncover the voice and the underlying emotional, spiritual, and dramatic structures of their work. As an athlete and a working novelist and essayist, Mary understands the rigors and joys of discipline, the quiet rush of the flow state, the pain of failure, and the courage it takes to try again. It is her mission to help artists and athletes of all spiritual and religious traditions to grow into their many gifts and to share those gifts with the world.
ISSN: 2151-2515
© Christian Brothers Conference 2025.