Athletes
Understanding athletics as an extension of the classroom, our students are expected to model virtue representative of our broader educational mission and values. They recognize athletics as a crucible for personal formation and commit themselves to displaying character and virtue through competition. They cultivate a culture of selflessness through an appreciation of personal development being displayed through collective flourishing.
Cambridge athletes appreciate the part their opponents play in their own formation, recognizing that meaningful competition requires opponents, and thus treat their competitors with respect and dignity. In victory, our athletes show humility, and in defeat, they demonstrate grace — understanding that victory and defeat are conditions that do not define character, but rather reveal it.
Through our philosophy and expectations, our goal is to graduate athletes who understand that achievements remain secondary to the enduring lessons and virtues developed along the way — through a disciplined commitment to something far grander than just a sport.
Our Coaches
Cambridge coaches are called to be mentors who understand the true purpose of athletics in education – who create environments where students can face challenges, experience both success and failure, and emerge stronger from each experience.
King Solomon coined a proverb over three thousand years ago that would come to be one of the most widely used proverbs in the athletic field of play:
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
The use of this proverb in athletics has strayed from nuance and been used to justify pushing athletes to their limits, regardless of the consequences. Our coaches are challenged to recognize that the angle of instruction and the force at which it is applied is crucial to honing character and imparting valuable lessons, lest the spirit of our athletes be dulled or broken. It is those lessons and the character that is formed that are the reason for the sport, not the hopeful outcome.