“And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” – Colossians 3:17
Player Spotlight: Colton White
October 17, 2016 – As part of our Biola Lacrosse Connections newsletter, we feature a player from the current team, and ask them “Why did you choose to join the Biola lacrosse team?” October’s featured player is Colton White. Colton is a sophomore at Biola and will be playing his second season in 2017. Here’s why Colton chose to play lacrosse at Biola:
During the opening weeks of my first semester at Biola I started to go stir crazy. The initial newness of the school was beginning to wear off and I felt uninvolved. Back home, I was highly engaged in the fast paced, aggressive sports of Boxing and Grappling. Now that I was at Biola, I wanted another sport that had those fast paced, aggressive components, but did not have any luck finding one on campus.
Lacrosse? I had heard of it, but I had only ever seen one game played and I did not understand the rules. Some friends of mine were headed to Biola’s Lacrosse game against USC and invited me along. I decided to go, if for nothing else than the company. The game was intense. The much larger USC team beat Biola by a handful of points, but throughout the game Biola never gave up. They played hard and honorably every quarter.
Even after they lost they did something that surprised me even more. The Biola team was not dejected at all after their loss and instead, gathered with whoever of the USC team was willing in the middle of the field to pray. I had never seen that before and I was stunned as the athletes put their arms around each other in a circle and prayed. Immediately, while sitting in the stands and watching this, I got a feeling. That type of camaraderie and spiritual leadership is something I wanted. Something I felt like I needed to be a part of.
The next day or so I went to the club fair and found the table that said, “Biola Men’s Lacrosse”. Sitting at that table was the senior goalie, Isaac Delgado. He shook my hand and told me how to get involved. I was shocked by how welcoming he was, but as I would soon find out, that is how the whole lacrosse team acts. Coming from my background of boxing and grappling, both individual sports, I was worried about if I would do well in a team setting. How would the team act? Will I fit in with the team dynamic? All of the common worries when trying something new were dancing on my brain. However, coming out to practices I found an entire team of leaders and incredible athletes, who all found time to help me learn the sport of lacrosse.
Lacrosse has filled that space for a fast paced, aggressive sport, but even more so, the camaraderie of brothers I have found in the team has been huge for me during my time here at Biola. Being able to pray with these men, learn with these men, and play hard with these men has helped me grow, and continues to help me grow as Christian, as a leader, and as a man.
During one of my first practices, Jon Prichard, our team captain was opening in prayer and he said, “God, we are Christian, student, athletes, in that order. Thank You for allowing us to play, thank You for allowing us to study at this school, but most importantly, thank You for being God and giving us eternal freedom through Your Son.” That prayer stuck with me, and as I continue to play in the wonderful, hard-hitting, fast paced sport of lacrosse, I can remember; I am not only an athlete, or a just a student, but I am a Christian who can be an example with the rest of my teammates, out on the field using lacrosse as a ministry to bring glory and honor to God.
CLICK HERE to learn how you can support Colton and his teammates.
