Title:Team Spirit

Chaplaincy brings spiritual dimension to student-athlete well-being

During Senior Week in May, Connor Brennan (C’25) celebrated the end of his collegiate athletic career at a special banquet, along with teammates from the men’s swimming and diving program. “We did an exercise where we had to write to future athletes, offering them advice,” Brennan says. “I wrote, ‘Go talk to Chaplain Tony. He’ll change your life.’”

“Chaplain Tony” is Tony Mazurkiewicz, Georgetown’s inaugural athletics chaplain. “He’s the best listener I’ve ever met,” Brennan says. “He’s willing to talk to anyone about anything, embrace new perspectives, and encourage interreligious dialogue. He really personifies what Georgetown stands for.”

The athletics chaplaincy, established in 2019 through the generous support of Georgetown benefactors Nancy and Arthur (C’54) Calcagnini, is a key element in Georgetown’s holistic approach to ensuring the well-being of student athletes. The position was endowed in 2023 by Jeff (B’66) and Nancy Moreland.

The athletics chaplain complements resources in leadership training, sports performance and medicine, mental health, academics, and nutrition. “For the chaplaincy to be able to work alongside those folks is an absolute gift,” Mazurkiewicz says.

“That’s something really special about the position—we’re not tucked off in the corner. It’s embedded in the overall ecosystem of the resources that are available to everyone in Athletics.”

‘Two full-time jobs’

Student-athletes at Georgetown, competing in NCAA Division I, face a unique set of pressures. “It’s like having two full-time jobs, balancing the demands of a very academically rigorous university with all of the time that goes into their sports participation,” says Erica Force, a psychologist who serves as the Amato Family Head of Athletic Counseling Services.

“Trying to manage that schedule can cause athletes to feel overwhelmed. Just managing sleep can become challenging if they’re staying up late to get homework done, then have an early morning practice,” Force continues. “And in their sport, they want to perform well. That can add to feeling stressed.”

The culture of Hoya Athletics reflects Georgetown’s tradition of cura personalis, with coaches and staff focused on the holistic needs of each individual student. “They’re very much willing to let you be a student-athlete,” Brennan says. “My coach really prioritized that. I was pre-med, and he offered me a morning practice schedule if I had to make a lab.”

Under the leadership of Lee Reed, Francis X. Rienzo Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, the program has significantly expanded its resources devoted to student well-being. Georgetown Athletics was the first inter-collegiate athletic department in the Big East Conference to hire a dedicated mental health professional for student-athletes (Force), a position endowed in 2022 by Joseph (B’84) and Lisa Amato (Parents’13, ’17, ’19). A gift from Ambassador David Welch (SFS’75) and Gretchen Welch enabled the hiring of a second mental health professional, psychologist DeVonna Jacobs.

“Our programming and efforts are really well-supported by our leadership and alumni,” Force says. “We are so grateful that we have those partnerships.”

Spiritual accompaniment

Mazurkiewicz, who captained the Yale football team during his senior year in college, has a deep understanding of the difficult balancing act that student-athletes perform on a daily basis. Prior to joining Georgetown’s Athletics program, he had worked with the Hoya football team as director of Georgetown’s John Main Center for Christian Contemplation. He joined Georgetown in that role in 2017, bringing two decades of ministerial and educational leadership experience.

When he began the athletics chaplaincy position, Mazurkiewicz explains, Athletics Director Lee Reed asked him to work with coaches and staff first, recognizing their role as a linchpin in fostering student-athlete well-being. The pressures on coaches are enormous: in a 2022 NCAA study, 40% reported feeling mentally exhausted nearly every day.

“So much of their lives is about filling up other people’s cups,” Mazurkiewicz says. “We wanted to create a space for them to focus on themselves, so they can be better at taking care of others.

“The word for me is accompaniment,” he continues. “I walk alongside coaches and staff who want to talk about their spiritual lives.”

Early on, Mazurkiewicz developed innovative programming for coaches and staff, such as monthly Busy Hoya retreats—later offered to students as well—involving 20-30 minutes each day over five days of meditation, reflection, or prayer.

“Then I noticed that some folks weren’t sure what the word ‘chaplain’ meant, maybe thinking, ‘I don’t know if that’s the space I want to be in.’” Augmenting his Master of Divinity degree, Mazurkiewicz decided to pursue a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies to further support coaches and staff.

“He’s there to meet you as you are,” says Kendall Mulligan, head coach of the Women’s Rowing Program, who participated in one-on-one leadership coaching with Mazurkiewicz. “He’s not there to place judgment or try to push you in a certain direction. He’s there to assist you in finding the way to work through life’s challenges, but also successes, and in the process grow to be the best version of yourself.”

‘Be where your feet are’

For Brennan, who was interested in growing in his Christian faith, the Athletics Chaplaincy provided a perfect opportunity to seek spiritual guidance.

“I got involved in a leadership position with the Georgetown University Christian Athletes in my junior year,” Brennan says. “As a result, I started working pretty closely with Tony.” (Brennan notes that the student-led organization was co-founded in the 1970s by basketball coach John R. Thompson Jr. and President Emeritus John J. DeGioia during his undergraduate years.)

“During Ramadan, Tony invited our leadership group to join in the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr, the breaking of the fast. He really encouraged us to embrace other faiths and take opportunities to learn more about them.”

Brennan also began working individually with Mazurkiewicz. “I was doing well in school, but because of that I was stressed a lot of the time, as many of us are. Tony became my lifeline towards the end of my time here.” Among other activities, Brennan participated in the Busy Hoya retreat program. “It’s an awesome time of reflection. I felt like my faith really grew.”

Mazurkiewicz has developed a wide variety of other programming to meet the individual needs of student-athletes, whatever their spiritual background and beliefs.

“One example is Tony working with us on meditation and mindful awareness,” Mulligan says. “Meditation really resonates with our team in particular—they like to say rowing is 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental.” She notes the combined pressures of academics, athletics, and “life in general” as young adults.

“We’ve found there are mornings where the students might be in the boat but they’re already worrying about their 9:30 chem test,” Mulligan continues. “How are they going to be successful in either venue if they’re constantly split? The meditation work that Tony does slows them down so they take the time to be where their feet are.”

Working with the Office of Mission & Ministry, Mazurkiewicz also holds regular retreats at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in the Shenandoah region of Virginia.

“Our students love it,” Mulligan says. “Along with spiritual development, there’s also that cultural piece—what is the heart and soul of your team? For me as a coach, I really take advantage of that, because I believe that culture, not individuals, wins championships, especially in a sport like rowing. There are nine of you coming across the line together, so you have to commit as a group.”

‘It’s okay not to be okay’

As Mulligan notes, the variety of resources available in the Athletics Department enables each student-athlete to pursue support in a way that resonates best with them.

“Student-athletes can be shy about going for mental health support,” she says. “Tony is that perfect bridge that may eventually lead them to seeing a clinical psychologist.”

“There is still stigma attached to mental health everywhere,” Force says. “In athletics, it can be even harder, because the culture of sports is to be tough and work through pain. We work to normalize that it’s okay not to be okay, that we all need help sometime.” Force often uses Olympic athletes Simone Biles and Michael Phelps as examples of athletes who are open about mental health issues.

“Coming in to ask for support doesn’t get in the way of you being in the starting lineup or getting playing time,” she says. “What sometimes gets in the way is when you don’t ask for help and the problem gets worse.”

Force and her team have introduced a number of innovations to further enhance student well-being. “Through support from Athletics, we were able to pilot free subscriptions for the Calm app available to all student-athletes. This coming year, we hope to introduce virtual peer-to-peer mentor support.”

‘Tinkering in the Spirit’

Every day, Mazurkiewicz walks by the statue of Hall of Fame basketball coach John R. Thompson Jr. in the athletic center that bears his name. For him, it serves as a reminder of the work that remains to be done to address issues of equity within Georgetown Athletics and the university as a whole.

“Whether it be working for racial justice or advocating for other issues of equity, our Catholic and Jesuit identities, especially our institution’s original sin of anti-Black racism rooted in the GU272, compels us to try and do our part,” he says, referring to the 272 children, women, and men enslaved by the Maryland Jesuits and sold in 1838 to plantations in Louisiana.

Mazurkiewicz calls attention to the video, “I Can’t Breathe,” made by the Black Student-Athlete Coalition (BSAC) in 2020. The BSAC formed in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd as a way to amplify the voices of Black athletes and find community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the video, young people testify to their campus experiences and end with a call to Georgetown administrators, faculty, and fellow students to take action, such as having formal, structured conversations about race and inequality in America.

Mazurkiewicz has made equity an important piece of a workshop offered for students on the topic of life beyond Georgetown athletics. “We offer guided meditations about what needs were met during their participation in sports and beyond, and how they can lean into those to ground themselves after they finish their sport. We invite them to think in an intentional way about how equity issues—whether it be race, gender, orientation, etc.—will be part of their lives as they’re discerning what might be next.”

For Georgetown coaches, faculty, and staff, Mazurkiewicz sponsors a spiritual equity advocacy program called Tinkering in the Spirit. Participants explore ideas about equity in practice and how to live in a more inclusive way.

“We offer three-hour workshops—dynamic, engaging, collaborative, spirit-filled opportunities for people who want to lean into issues of equity while engaging their spirituality,” he explains. “It taps into our Ignatian tradition and connects people in what can often be a siloed institution.”

‘The holistic person’

These changes have enabled Georgetown to better fulfill its mission of caring for its student-athletes in mind, body, and spirit.

“I don’t know of any other athletic department that has someone quite like Tony,” Mulligan says.

“He’s an amazing human; he gives himself so completely to supporting those he serves.

“I think there are a lot of schools that choose to have athlete-students versus student-athletes,” she continues. “At Georgetown they’re definitely student-athletes with that throughline of the holistic person, which I think is really special.

Brennan found that to be true during his four years at the university. “I came to Georgetown expecting an exceptional education and chance to compete, and I got both without question,” he says. “But what emerged most was the growth in my faith, compassion, and understanding of others. That is something to be incredibly grateful for.”