Mission Moment

Dear Covenant Families,

The other day, I called my sister to check in after my nephew’s game. Like many of us do, I asked, “How did he do?” Without hesitation, she answered, “He won!” 

That answer struck me. It’s a response we’re all accustomed to in sports: we instinctively equate how someone did with whether they won or lost. But I wasn’t really asking about the outcome. I was asking about him—how he played, how he handled the pressure, how he grew, how he led.

This moment reminded me just how easily we can default to scoreboard thinking—even in places like Covenant, where we work so intentionally to develop young men and women of character. Winning is worth celebrating, of course. This year, we’ve had a lot to celebrate. Our Rhetoric School teams brought home four state championships, and our Logic School teams captured four TAPS championships. As the spring season wraps up, there’s a real possibility we’ll add even more titles to that list.

But if we stop there—if we measure our athletes solely by what the scoreboard says—we risk missing the real mission. 

At The Covenant School, we believe that athletics are a platform for discipleship, for teaching virtue through adversity, and for building bonds that reflect the body of Christ. We believe that sports offer one of the most powerful opportunities for students to experience growth through challenge, humility through defeat, and grace through teamwork. 

The championships this year have been incredible; however, they are the fruit sown of something deeper. They came because our coaches taught more than game plans—they taught discipline, perseverance, and service. They came because our athletes held each other accountable in practice, showed up consistently, embraced roles they didn’t always want, and chose team over self. 

I think of our cross country runners who trained through the heat of August and learned that suffering can produce endurance. I think of our volleyball team who battled through tough losses in the season and used those setbacks as fuel to become a stronger, more unified squad. I think of our captains in every sport—young men and women who modeled leadership not with volume, but with presence, example, and humility. 

This year our teams have experienced the full arc of what we hope sports can provide: joy in victory, maturity in defeat, and growth in every step of the journey. We’ve seen students lean into discomfort, into challenge, and into each other. As a result, we've seen more than just great athletes emerge—we’ve seen transformed hearts.

The Covenant mission is at the core of everything we strive for in athletics. Sports, when grounded in that mission, become more than games. They become classrooms for the soul. They become proving grounds where faith and character are tested—and strengthened. 

When someone asks me how our year in athletics went, one might be tempted to start with the six championships we have won, but I intentionally want to talk about the moments that didn’t make the headlines—the athlete who played their best game and never saw the field again or the one who supported teammates even when sidelined by injury.

As we reflect on this year, I want to thank every coach, parent, and player who embraced our mission. Thank you for caring about who our athletes are becoming more than just what they are achieving. Thank you for modeling what it means to pursue excellence with integrity. And thank you for seeing beyond the scoreboard—to the eternal story that God is writing in the lives of our students. 

Let’s celebrate the wins. Let’s hang the banners. But let’s always remember that the greatest championship is a life well-lived in pursuit of Christ. 

At Covenant, sports are not a detour from our mission—they are an expression of it. This year, that mission has been alive and thriving on every field, court, and course.

Go Knights!

Non Nobis,

Jesse Olvera
Athletic Director