Post-game prayers help athletes focus on what matters most

Lola Doerneman has been playing basketball since kindergarten. Along the way, she has experienced victory and defeat and learned many important lessons. One stands out above all others.

“Win or lose, it’s all for God’s glory,” she said.

This knowledge is what inspired the Scotus Central Catholic senior to do something unexpected after games this season: invite the opposing team to center court to pray with hers. She admits those invitations weren’t always easy.

“The first couple times, I was so nervous – especially if we won and it was a very aggressive, close game. I didn’t know if they would want to pray with us,” she said.

PHOTO BY BRIDGET McPHILLIPS

The idea of bringing teams together to pray wasn’t something Doerneman came up with on her own. Last year, when she was a junior playing on varsity, a few teams invited her team to pray with them after the final buzzer.

“It was so cool to end the game realizing what the main purpose is, why we actually play basketball,” she said.

At the beginning of last summer, she asked her coach, Jarrod Ridder, if she could lead prayer before team practices. He was all for it.

“I didn’t ask him about praying with other teams; I just assumed it was OK,” she said.

Ridder was not surprised when Doerneman reached out to the opposing teams to pray after games. “Lola genuinely lives out her love for God, and inviting others to pray is simply an extension of who she is,” he said.

Ridder said Doerneman’s actions come from a place of humility and a deep desire to bring people together, even in competitive environments.

“She exemplifies hard work and teamwork in everything she does, holding herself to a high standard while encouraging her teammates to do the same,” he said. “What sets her apart even more is how she leads through her faith, treating others with kindness, patience and respect both on and off the court.”

Scotus Central Catholic High School 2026 girls basketball team. COURTESY PHOTO

The oldest of five children, Doerneman did not tell her parents, Sarah and Michael, about her plans to invite opposing teams to pray. And, like Ridder, they weren’t surprised. One thing that did surprise Sarah was how consistent her daughter was.

“At the beginning of the season, I was like, ‘OK, this sounds like a great idea.’ And then maybe she’s met with some adversity, and I’m like, ‘OK, well, if you don’t continue, it’s no big deal.’ And then it’d be the end of the game, and you look up and there they are, they’re praying in the middle of the court,” Sarah said.

Not every team accepted the invitation to pray, but many did. It was then that both teams would go to the center of the court, stand in a circle and hold hands. “It was perfect,” the young athlete said. “You could tell a lot of the girls that we prayed with were very thankful that we did it.”

Doerneman, whose family belongs to St. Isidore Parish in Columbus, recently played her last game at Scotus Central Catholic as her team did not qualify for the state basketball tournament. She hopes that next year’s team will continue to invite teams to pray with them, even if they are scared.

“It’s going to be so nerve-racking to go up to them and ask them to pray,” Doerneman said. “It’s going to be even harder to lead that prayer because everyone is listening, and the boys are going to start trying to warm up on the court at the same time. But just letting the Holy Spirit take over and asking God to give you the words helps so much because then it’s not all on you. It’s God that you’re bringing into it, and God is the purpose for it.”

The Scotus Central Catholic girls varsity basketball team prays with the Battle Creek Braves. COURTESY PHOTO

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