Horner attributes a lot of his confidence on the field to before-game prayer meetings. He says the quiet time helps him concentrate on the team nature of the sport, so he doesn't get carried away with his individual performance. "Part of being a Christian is that that particular game is not that important in the larger scheme of things," he says.
Casto, an Alabama native, says many men who join the FCA have belonged to the group in high school. That may be one reason why it has taken until this year for the male/female ratio to equalize. Fifty students signed up at registration this year, and members often bring teammates to meetings.
This year the group's meetings have changed slightly, since Casto has added more study of fundamental Christian precepts. Many FCA members are new Christians and hence have little grounding in Scripture.
As part of its outreach, the FCA plans to distribute fliers in conjunction with a UPenn Christian group at tomorrow's football game. Casto also coordinates fellowship meetings at local high schools and churches to explain the purpose of the group.
But the FCA does not suit every Christian athlete. Worsley says a couple people who attended one meeting this fall did not come back. "It's very open and very personal. Some people don't like it, or it's just not what they needed at that time," she adds.
Three other people help Casto plan the meetings. They discuss the topics beforehand to anticipate the group's questions.
"There are lots of things even mature Christians get confused about," Holpuch says. "We don't talk about trans-substantiation or pre-tribulation and post-tribulation rapture or anything like that," she adds.
Holpuch says the group talks about practical problems like how to react "when a coach doesn't play you and you feel you're better than the person in the game." If God wanted her to be playing, she'd be on the court, she adds, admitting "There's a lot to be learned about pride from sitting on the bench."
In a predominantly non-Christian university, FCA members value the support the FCA gives them. But they also agree that elitism--a holier-than-thou attitude toward their teammates--is a potential problem.
"My teammates and I are aware that differences exist in our lifestyles, but that doesn't constitute a barrier on or off the field," Horner says.
Holpuch says her behavior differs little from her teammates' because "everybody on the team is so nice anyway. I may as well be Buddhist," she adds.
Worsley says her teammates care enough about her to care about what she's doing. "Nobody on the team would turn around and call me a weirdo," she says.