Faith Douglass loves sports. Whether she is playing on the basketball court, watching her brothers play football or writing about the big game for the school paper, her admiration for the games and people who play them shine through her attitude and words of encouragement.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) named senior Faith Douglass their Most Valuable Player (MVP).

“I didn’t even know it was a thing,” Douglass said. “I had heard of other people winning, but it just kind of snuck up on me. I was honored, but something one of the coaches talked about at the FCA banquet was like at the end of your life, all your trophies go in the trash, so even though I got a plaque and it’s really nice to be nominated by your teammates, in the end, it’s not what really matters.”

Douglass said how you affect others is what matters, not winning or losing.

“Your walk of faith and the way you affect other people is a lot more important than a state championship,” Douglass said. “I put that into perspective for my team because sometimes we get caught up in the winning. I try to keep everybody happy and getting along, but also I give my team a lot of devotionals before games. We all take turns on that, but I pray over the team a lot. That’s probably why they chose me for the FCA MVP.”

Douglass said she meets athletes all over the Panhandle through FCA events and enjoys learning their testimonies.

“Watching other people and hearing from other people impacts so many others,” Douglass said. “It’s a huge organization. I’ve met so many athletes all over everywhere who have their own story, and a lot of people have come to Christ through FCA. They grew up spending 100 percent of their time on their sport. They realize their sport is going to come to an end, but your faith and Christianity will last you for eternity as long as you let it.”

Douglass said she uses her platform as a high school athlete to spread her faith.

“People always talk about the platform you have as an athlete, but until you start using that platform for the betterment of His Kingdom, you don’t realize the impact you have on others,” Douglass said. “I’ve learned high school is not the ‘greatest four years of your life,’ but rather four years of your life you can use to shape yourself into a leader and grower of the Christian family. Being the end of my senior year, it’s not about the end of a chapter but the beginning of the rest of my life because I’ve used my time in high school to prepare myself for reality.”

Douglass said her role on the team is to encourage her teammates.

“Everybody has a role on the team, and everybody has a job on the team,” Douglass said. “My job on the team is reminding everyone that everybody’s spot on the team in important no matter how many minutes you play and how many points you make. I think of myself as an encourager. It goes beyond what everyone sees and what the whole community watches every Tuesday and Friday night.”

By praying over the team and providing devotionals, Douglass said she is able to be a leader on and off the court.

“I’ve had to step up as a leader,” Douglass said. “You learn to eliminate what doesn’t matter. You realize what really matters and what really doesn’t. Being on a team will help anybody with anything they do in their life. You can either step up and take on a leadership role on your team, or you can not, and either way you’re going to learn and grow.”

Douglass said FCA’s goal is to involve athletes in something greater than their sport.

“A lot of times, athletes get caught up in points and scholarships, and they want the next big athletic thing,” Douglass said. “As an FCA member and leader, you realize there’s greater things than just your sport.”

Douglass has been part of FCA for six years and is part of the leadership team.

“It’s impacted me a lot,” Douglass said. “They have different things you can go to that are community wide, panhandle wide. It’s just people talking about what they love to do here on this Earth. Whenever I think about FCA and basketball together, they go hand in hand. It would be hard to picture our team without FCA and everybody being able to share their Christianity with each other.”