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SPORTS CHAPLAIN FOR WOMEN IN SPORT
In Summer 2005, Score appointed the Revd Mary Vickers to the role of Chaplaincy Coordinator for Women in Sport. Mary is an
Anglican priest who alongside her main ministry with SCORE is Assistant Priest as St Michael’s West Andover, in north-west Hampshire. She works in the parish one day per week, and as also a distance-learning tutor on courses for people interested in delving more deeply into their Christian faith. If you would like to read something of her parish life CLICK HERE.
 
SCORE is really delighted with Mary’s most significant and strategic appointment. Her
sporting background, her understanding of chaplaincy work, and her sense that this work is something that she strongly feels called to be involved in, really makes us look forward with
great anticipation to a long & fruitful involvement with us. We are so thrilled by this development and pray Gods richest blessing on her work and ministry with SCORE.
Mary became familiar with SCORE through her involvement as a Chaplain to the 2004 Olympic
Games in Athens. She is seen above along with some fellow chaplains, including her husband, Peter (yellow shirt) who is also an Anglican priest. If you would like to read more about her
involvement with the Olympics, CLICK HERE.
Although her role is quite varied, her main duties will involve specific responsibility for
encouraging, stimulating & resourcing sports chaplaincy for Women in Sport. She does this in a variety of ways, but primarily by contacting & networking with sportswomen and with those
sports agencies & administrators with a special involvement with women’s sport. Mary also provides pastoral care and personal & spiritual advice & counsel to sportswomen throughout the UK.
PLEASE NOTE: To send Mary an eMail to request information or for any other reason please
click her email address indicated below. Then fill out the email form and send it in using your regular email program and procedures. mjvscoreuk@btinternet.com
Mary introduces herself.....
I was thrilled to take on this new role with SCORE, and continue to enjoy it. Women’s sport in
the UK doesn’t often get the publicity and attention that it deserves, and so it is good to be able to make sports chaplaincy available to sportswomen in the same way that it has been in men’s sport over the years.
I’ve been a Christian minister for over 22 years now – first as a deaconess, and then in 1987, I
was privileged to be one of the first women in the Church of England to be ordained deacon. I was ordained priest in 1999.
Since leaving theological college, I have worked in a number of different situations, many of
which have involved chaplaincy alongside parochial ministry - over the years I have been involved in offering chaplaincy in hospitals, in the retail trade, in local government, and in the
armed forces. I have also worked within the international field, firstly as the World Mission Officer for the Church of England Diocese of Worcester, and then later for USPG, a major Anglican mission agency.
I’ve been interested in sport as long as I can remember, first as a TV spectator in my childhood, particularly enjoying athletics and swimming, and later actively at school, where my favourite and best
sport was hockey, although I also enjoyed netball and orienteering. I tried to continue with at least one other of these when I left school but struggled to combine it with my faith as most teams
and clubs met on Sunday mornings when I wanted to be in church – so I took up badminton and squash as they could be enjoyed at any time of the week. Eleven years ago,
whilst living in Germany, I began running seriously, as that was even more flexible. I really enjoy running and have enjoyed competing in numerous races, mainly 10km, half-marathons, and
marathons, as well as supporting my local athletics club in track and cross-country leagues.
However, I’ve recently had to stop running in
order to protect my knees, and am learning to enjoy swimming, cycling, power-walking and race-walking instead. I’m also qualified as an athletics coach (with endurance running
being my speciality) and hope soon to qualify as a walking coach. I’m also an athletics track official. I once said that whilst I’d never be a really speedy athlete myself, I
might make it to a championship as a result of someone else’s talents. What I’d never envisaged was that one day I would be at the Olympics..... - as a Chaplain!
Although attending church and leading services is obviously important to me as a priest, I was
once heard to say that “I’ve always been happier outside the church than in it!” This is why I’ve often been involved in chaplaincy. In our mobile and busy society, many people don’t get the
chance to attend church regularly as a result of their work or family situation; and so, through offering chaplaincy, I and others like me are able to offer care & support with a spiritual
dimension to those who want it, wherever they are, at work or at play. All of us, whether we’re in contact with the Church or not, still feel spiritual needs (such as at bereavement,
hospitalisation, injury, personal crises, etc) and chaplaincy is there for this. It is also about providing a confidential listening ear in all kinds of situations, as well as an opportunity for
engagement with the critical spiritual, social and ethical questions which arise in our complex world, among other things…..
Although SCORE is a Christian organisation, we work with folk of all faiths and of none, so if
you’re a female involved in sport in any way or at any level, or you know someone who is, then please do get in touch, as I’d love to hear from you
Mary J. Vickers
PLEASE NOTE: To send Mary an eMail to request information or for any other reason please
click her email address indicated below. Then fill out the email form and send it in using your regular email program and procedures. mjvscoreuk@btinternet.com
Resources and services available…..
As with any new role, my work as SCORE’s ‘Chaplaincy Coordinator for Women in Sport’ has
developped as time has gone on - and I want it to continue to develop in all sorts of creative ways as opportunities present themselves. And so, I am open to suggestions for what I might
get involved in, so please do get in touch if you have any ideas or suggestions that you’d like to share. However, in the meantime, these are the main practical areas covered:
- Day-to-day chaplaincy in local sports clubs/activities
- Major Event chaplaincy
- Resourcing other ministers who wish to offer sports chaplaincy in their locality
- Contact with national & regional groups involved with women in sport
- Confidential discussions by email, phone, or (if feasible geographically) face-to-face
- Advice on finding churches and worship centres close to sports venues, tournaments, etc
- Advice on distance learning courses for those who’d like to study their faith but find that
their training regime prevents regular attendance at local groups
- Spiritual Direction
Other things that may be offered in the future:
- An interactive website with spiritual and other resources for sportswomen – a kind of
‘virtual church’
- Life coaching
- Your suggestion could be here…..
I look forward to hearing from you ...
PLEASE NOTE: To send Mary an eMail to request information or for any other reason please
click her email address indicated below. Then fill out the email form and send it in using your regular email program and procedures. mjvscoreuk@btinternet.com
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