HUNTERSVILLE — Father Christopher Angermeyer, a parochial vicar at St. Mark Church, finished his first year coaching the St. Mark School girls’ JV soccer team with a win against Grace Covenant in Huntersville.
When school Athletic Director Greg Davidowitz learned Father Angermeyer had played goalie up through high school, he asked the priest to be the assistant coach.
“I never formally coached soccer but did coach basketball at the seminary,” Father Angermeyer said. “It was a great blessing being with them, seeing them grow as human beings, and watching them be able to complement each other and grow in holiness and virtue. They progressed as soccer players and learned to play as a team.”
The girls liked having a priest coach them, he said.
“It was cool for them to experience a priest in that way, because everyone thinks about us like we are in some kind of box,” Father Angermeyer said. “Like we are exactly a certain way and don’t have interests and hobbies, but that is entirely not true.”
They called him Father, not coach, and even in 90-degree weather, he wore his cassock through long practices and two-hour games that all began the same.
“We always start in prayer, which is one of our big foundations,” he said.
All the priests at St. Mark Church make it a point to attend at least one game for every team.
“We try to have a presence in each domain. We keep telling them that the game is where we show that we are virtuous,” he said. “It helps the kids, they love when the priests come.
But I am very proud of them and the whole experience was a great joy.”
— Lisa M. Geraci