The Lake Clergy Association recently published a letter about sports on Sundays. The letter stated, “Parents should not be placed in a position where they need to make a choice between attending Sunday church service or athletic events for themselves or their children.” 

The clergy realize that athletics and extracurricular activities are important, but Sunday worship is vital to equip them to have moral values necessary for living as a Christian in today’s world, they stated.  The association is concerned about the trend of having sports on Sundays for children. The letter was a petition to area teams and sports facilities to stop the practice of sports on Sundays. Several pastors for Lake Township are members of the association and are hoping that parents and community members will help put a stop to this growing trend in Lake Township.

Pastor Richard Beck from Grace United Church of Christ is very involved with the youth of the community. The church is host to Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in the area as well as many youth activities for members. Beck stated, “I am aware right now of one father who seems to think that his son’s sports leave no time for God or church. I find most parents struggle to develop discipline in worship and religious education. For too many, God and we pastors are not as demanding as coaches and their teammates. But I still believe that those who make time for God and for church activities are the real winners.”

Luke Price from Gymnastics of Ohio in Lake Township has been working with gymnasts for 35 years. He is appalled that pastors would suggest that his gymnasts are choosing between sports and God. He added that Christians are not the only people that have holy days. He feels by singling out Sunday as a day where sports should be banned is an insult to other religions. Price added, “Lake Township does not realize the economic boost that our gym brings to the area with shopping, lodging and eating during the tournaments.”

According to Price, athletes come from Medina, Steubenville Sandusky and even as far away as Michigan. “There are probably only 12 or 15 athletes that are from Lake competing on Sundays, and even then there are only about 10 or 12 competitions a year on Sundays.”

Sundays are the only days that many athletes can come to compete because of travel restrictions. Price stated, “U. S. of America Gymnastics is the governing body that dictates the competitions. They mandate that the judges are rated and must be qualified. Those judges are hard to find.  No one is ever forced to compete on Sunday.”  Price added that he is always willing to work around family obligations and religious functions. As a Christian, Price feels that the letter published by the Lake Clergy Association is offensive and judgmental.

Tobin Crenshaw, pastor at Hartville Church of the Brethren, stated that it would be nice for families to have freedom on their Sundays. These choices cause stress and it would be a positive change. The pastors are not just worried about church attendance, although that is a problem, but they are worried about the children’s well being.

Dean Miller, pastor at Hartville Church of Christ, added “This is getting way out of hand. These poor kids need a break. Our culture had drifted from the need for worship. There is never a break in the routine.”

He feels that there is common sense to let children have a day off, even if they are not religiously inclined. A person needs to have down time.  Miller stated that he fears that the whole experience has become more about coaching success rather than an educational experience for the young athletes.

According to Lake Athletic Director Bruce Brown, “The policy at Lake is that we do not have interscholastic sports on Sundays. We do not condone offering our teams to participate on Sundays except for a very rare exception such as a practice on a Sunday due to a state sanctioned game on a Monday.” 

Lake does not encourage any type of curricular or extracurricular activities on Sundays. Brown pointed out that Lake Local Schools has no jurisdiction over club sports.
Terry Allison, president of Lake Youth Baseball and Lake Lacrosse, agrees that there is a problem. “There is a lack of money for additional fields and it creates a scheduling problem. We are funded by the club only. We do not have a park and recreational department in our township.” 

The lack of fields causes the teams to play on Sundays. Sunday play does not affect the regular teams, but does affect the traveling teams. Allison added that a field can cost a team up to $10,000. Private funding is the only option for Lake to have more fields for youth sports. They rely on fundraising efforts of the team members.

A local Lake Township church had donated property for Lake Youth Baseball to construct a field on. According to Allison, “We would encourage any church to help us like this church did. It will help alleviate the problem.” Allison welcomes the help from churches. He feels that this cooperation will benefit the youth as well as allow those that worship on Sundays to have the ability to do so. Everyone will win in the end.