Will Chesterton Academy Have Sports?

Yes! Chesterton Academy will definitely have sports teams. The school is already making preparations for having teams in the first year. The facility includes a gym equipped for both basketball and volleyball, along with athletic fields for soccer, baseball, and softball.

Fall sports for girls will certainly include volleyball since many of the girls who have applied expressed a desire to have a volleyball team. Another possibility for girls is cross country. For boys, the possible fall sports are soccer and cross country.

In winter, the expected sports are boys basketball and girls basketball. Headmaster Peter Ohotnicky has also suggested fencing—a great sport with classical origins. G. K. Chesterton made frequent references to swords in his writing, poetry, and drawings, so fencing is a natural fit!

For the spring, possible sports for boys include rugby, baseball, ultimate frisbee, or track and field. The school has already been approached by the Detroit Rugby Football Club which is eager to support the creation of a rugby team for Chesterton Academy. Girls sports for the spring might include soccer, softball, or track and field.

Chesterton Academy is open to other possibilities as well: “I am a big fan of having young people participate in sports team. Besides four years of cross country, swimming, and track in high school, I also ran cross country and was on the cycling team at the Air Force Academy—that all made a big difference in my life. We are excited to have sports teams here at Chesterton Academy, and we really want to have teams for the sports the students and families want. Because we are a small school, all our student-athletes can be confident that they will get an abundant chance to play and compete—not just the best,” said Mr. Ohotnicky.

Like all aspects of Chesterton Academy, the school will ensure sports stays focused on its proper ends: the development of the human person and the glory of God. As St. Pope John Paul II says: “Give thanks to God for the gift of sport, in which the human person exercises his body, intellect and will, recognizing these abilities as so many gifts of his Creator.”