Phelps Remains Steadfast: It’s God Before Football

Brady Phelps sat in the stands, hands thrust in the pockets of his letterman’s jacket, listening to adults and students alike question his heart and his loyalty.

Listening to all manner of disparaging and erroneous comments about his absence from the playing field, he expected no less. And it didn’t help that his former Buena High teammates were being dismantled, 42-8, by Newbury Park.

Still, he wanted to jump up and scream out the reasons he had abruptly quit the team after rushing for 331 yards and five touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ first two games.

Phelps simply wanted to set the record straight. Given the chance, he might have done what he did Thursday: reach into his backpack, pull out a well-worn Bible and begin reading.

“Surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders . . . and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.”

Phelps, a junior, believes the passage from the book of Hebrews sums up why he gave up the sport. He quit the team last week, citing time conflicts with church and school obligations.

“Church, and my relationship with God, is my No. 1 priority,” he said. “School is also very important and my class load is overwhelming. I thought about this every day for a long time and came to the conclusion that something had to give.

“Football was very rewarding and I can understand people saying I am crazy not to continue. In any decision, there will be losses and gains. And there will always be that nagging voice in the back of my head saying, ‘What if?’ ”

Of course, this isn’t the first time a player has quit an athletic team, causing a huge cloud to hang over a team. In this case, however, it is more like a huge question mark.

“One of the things that has made this so hard is the speculation going around,” Phelps said. “People don’t know the truth.”

His mother, Lisa, believes she knows her son’s heart.

“Brady is struggling so much with this because he knows how much it hurt his teammates,” she said. “How many kids would put schoolwork and church ahead of football glory?”

Many believe that far from being the regrettable decision of an impulsive adolescent, this was an extraordinarily mature move.

“He obviously has strong convictions, and I admire him for that,” said T.J. Stafford, Buena’s leading receiver and a member of the same church youth group as Phelps.

Rick Scott, the Buena coach, has mixed feelings.

“You can’t get angry at him,” said Scott, who nevertheless has assigned Phelps to clean the equipment room while the team practices. “With some kids, you’d say it was because of drugs or gangs, a thousand bad things. But this is a great kid.

“My only problem with it is that loyalty and commitment aren’t words kids use anymore. It’s characteristic of society. It’s the era of the free agent.”

Phelps insists he wrestled long and hard with that very issue.

“I thought of all possible alternatives,” he said. “It goes against everything I believe in to quit. I take full responsibility for the troubles I’ve caused my coaches and teammates. I am extremely sorry for that. But God guided me to make the right decision.”