Guardians

Mount Angel's basketball team got some serious press this week with a full-length article on Sports Illustrated's website, and the writer impressed me with the depth of research and quality of work. She captured the culture of seminary and the personality of the seminarians. Read up!

MT. ANGEL, Ore.—Alex Woelkers sighed and held out his hands in a what else can you do? shrug. The second-year college coach was talking about his team’s struggles and how this season hasn’t gone as planned. It’s a rebuilding year for the Guardians, partially because they didn’t get any prized newcomers. Selling their program is tough. Other college coaches complain about competing against cheaters and wooing AAU coaches. The Guardians have bigger problems.

“Celibacy,” Woelkers sighs, “is not the best recruiting tool.”

Monks, Friars and priests-in-training call Mt. Angel Abbey home. Fifteen of them, aged 18-38, comprise the Guardians, a seminary and monastery college basketball team that fits into no real division. Boasting a 2-8 record and playing their final game Tuesday night in the third annual Rose City Classic at Multnomah University, they compete against local NAIA Division II junior varsity teams and junior college squads. They already know what you’re thinking: Robes, vows of silence and generally unathletic men.

“Everything we’re doing, I hope it’s breaking down stereotypes and helping people find the human being in us,” says Matthias Lambrecht, a Carmelite Friar in his fifth year who is sitting out this season because of a nerve issue. “I think a lot about a quote from St. Francis of Assisi: ‘Go preach the gospel—and use words if necessary.’”

The Guardians have their quirks: After blowout losses, most college teams sulk through the handshake line. Mt. Angel players earnestly thank their competitors for teaching them humility. But they’re also not that different from other teams across the country. For the Guardians, basketball serves as a foundation of brotherhood, a way to build fraternity within their community. It’s hoops at a grassroots level, where they hope a ball and a court, no matter the quality of play, can become the space for life-changing conversations.

*****

“You’re tall—do you play basketball?”

It’s a question Stephen Cieslak has become used to, because 6’5” stands out, especially in a high school of just 250 people. But he didn’t expect to hear it during his admissions interview at Mt. Angel. Three years later, he is the star of the basketball team he hadn’t known existed.

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