April 28, 2008

Washington, D.C. - Georgetown University senior football player Brent Tomlinson (Hoffman Estates, Ill./St. Viator) said that it's really a matter of faith for him. And what he's found out through a group he founded on campus is that for many other student-athletes, their faith matters to them as well.

When he arrived on campus in 2005, Tomlinson sought out an organization where he could share his faith and religious beliefs with other student-athletes. To his surprise, one did not exist. Two years later, Tomlinson has helped to spearhead Hoyas for Christ, an ecumenical Christian group consisting of athletes from almost every Georgetown athletic team.

On Tuesday, April 29, Tomlinson and Hoyas for Christ, with support from the Georgetown Athletics administration, will sponsor the 1st Annual Prayer Breakfast at McDonough Arena from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The keynote speaker for the event will be Matt Stover, the Pro Bowl kicker for the 2001 Super Bowl Champions Baltimore Ravens.

In 2005, Tomlinson was just a freshman trying to find an outlet to share his faith with other student-athletes. When he found that one did not exist, he began one on his own. After his workouts were finished in the Georgetown weight room, Strength and Conditioning Coach Augie Maurelli would keep the room open after 8 p.m. and a small group of student-athletes joined Tomlinson. In the following three years, the group has grown and includes student-athletes from every team.

"It basically started by just seeing a need," Tomlinson said. "Everyone I talked to my freshman year agreed that there should be a group and that they would like that, so I just decided to do something about it. It started off shaky, but with the Lord's help and the support of people it has continued to grow and serve many student-athletes. The people in the athletic department, such as (Director of Athletics) Bernard Muir and (Senior Associate Director of Athletics) Pat Thomas, met this idea with open arms, especially because we had already done a lot of the work and the group was established."

And while one of the goals of Hoyas for Christ is to help student-athletes through tough times by sharing their faith - regardless of their denomination - one of the most rewarding aspects for Tomlinson has been that the group has helped to simply bring Georgetown student-athletes together.

"The group has done more than just get people through tough times," Tomlinson said. "It surely has provided another element to our foundation of support here at Georgetown, but in my opinion the best thing it has done is bring athletes together that would never possibly have met.

"At Georgetown many people only meet by going out on weekends or mutual friends or something like that, but many athletes pass each other everyday inside McDonough and do not know one another. This group has allowed people from different teams, socio-economic, and faith backgrounds to meet and fellowship together. This has created a wider circle of support for each other's sports and well-being."

Tomlinson knows himself the effects the group can have for a person's well-being. In the season opener of the 2006 Georgetown football season, he caught two passes against Holy Cross. On the second pass, he extended himself for a reception and lacerated his spleen, forcing him to the miss the remainder of the season. The support he received from the group, as well as his own personal faith, helped him with his rehabilitation and in other aspects of his collegiate career.

"Faith is honestly what has carried me through serious injury, unknown times, and also success," Tomlinson said. "In interviewing with the major financial firms of the world during an incredibly competitive time, I would be asked to describe myself and I felt putting my faith first was putting my best foot forward.

"I would tell them that my foundation in my life is faith and family and from that comes integrity. My faith is not developed but constantly improving and being challenged."

One of the reasons Tomlinson wanted to organize Hoyas for Christ was to put an emphasis on the spiritual side of life for student-athletes who may not otherwise do so during their years in college.

"Faith is everything to me," Tomlinson said. "It is my driving force and that combined with my family, is all I honestly need. A theme we constantly echo in our group meetings is that of faith. We play for the glory of God and if we do not play to our fullest ability or apply ourselves to our fullest we are dishonoring God, who has bestowed upon us these gifts of athleticism and opportunity.

"In college many people lose faith or put it to the back burner and I wanted to make sure that my faith could remain a key element in my life. This group allows me to practice developing my faith and also allows it to be challenged in an appropriate setting."

And while some might think that Hoyas for Christ is a group only for student-athletes of the Catholic faith, Tomlinson said that the group has encouraged anyone to come to meetings, which are held every Wednesday night at McDonough.

"We have worked hard to encourage everyone to come," Tomlinson said. "We have had almost every sport present at these meetings at one point from its conception. We also work hard to balance the very different faith backgrounds. It is an ecumenical Christian group, so anyone who is Christian regardless of affiliation is encouraged to come. We also encourage other faiths to come if they feel comfortable to promote positive discussion."

That is why he, and others in the group, are excited for Stover's appearance. Senior field hockey player Lauren Sheets (Lutherville, Md./Garrison Forest), whose father Larry played Major League Baseball from 1984-93, is a family friend of Stover's and she helped to arrange his visit.

"Matt is a close family friend and has had the opportunity to come down and watch a few Georgetown sporting events including a men's basketball game," Sheets said. "He has a true passion for sharing his faith and testimony with athletes young and old, and is a part of several different faith-based groups.

Stover, who is a part of several different faith-based groups, played college football at Louisiana Tech and was drafted by the New York Giants in 1990. He attended a pro-athlete conference in California in 1992 and it was there that he rediscovered his relationship with God.

"As a group we were very interested in putting on an end of the year community outreach event and we wanted to bring in a high level professional athlete to speak," Sheets said. "I spoke to him about the possibility of coming down and talking to our athletic community and he was extremely excited about the opportunity and we built the event from there."

Mission Statement: Hoyas for Christ was founded in 2005 by Georgetown Student-Athletes. These students are uniting on two fronts: Georgetown Athletics and a passion for the Lord. The group is an ecumenical Christian group consisting of athletes from almost every Georgetown athletic team. We pride ourselves in the number of sports teams represented and the number of different denominations of Christianity involved. Although it is a Christian based group, Hoyas for Christ welcomes everyone and encourages conversations among those of different faiths. Through weekly fellowship, discussion, and prayer the group members look to further their relationship and understanding of Christ and develop another support network of friends. The group strives to serve the spiritual needs of individuals of all levels of faith, ranging from those currently seeking to those who are passionate about the Lord. The group is about coming to together to fellowship, worship, study, and pray as a united group of Georgetown Student Athletes. The Athletic Department helps facilitate the group and is again showing their dedication to improving the overall experience of being a Georgetown Student-Athlete, preparing their athletes to be successful in the arena of sports and in life.