A nationally growing ministry for female athletes is launching new chapters across the country this fall, countering attacks on gender integrity with formative, feminine, Christian encounters.
FIERCE Athlete reaches women and girls in sports through clinics, retreats, and coaching that strive for whole-person formation. The organization has had impressive growth since 2019, with reach in more than 20 states, impacting 24,000 people, and 5,200 female athletes. Several schools are launching or continuing in-house chapters this fall and engaging in mentorship programs to raise up student leaders.
Programs typically run full-day or after school in lieu of practice and are commonly attended by coaches. This year’s expansion of chapters marks significant progress in the ministry.
A “toxic world”
Female athletics has been targeted by the transgender industry with particular malice, played out on the world stage at the 2024 Olympics, and through recent threats of discriminatory action by transgender men demanding entrance into professional women’s leagues. Mental health challenges plague elite female athletes at higher rates than males. Violence is becoming more flagrant.
A former Division I soccer player and competitive rower, Samantha Kelley designed FIERCE to combat the obstacles she witnessed in women’s sports years before abuses of biological integrity became standard. Elite athletes are extremely driven, exhibiting extraordinary mental and physical capacities, and achieving insurmountable gains. They train hard, set best records, and can suffer identity loss when off the field or court.
Sidelined by a 13-month injury recovery as a freshman at the University of Connecticut, Kelley became depressed. For years she had lived and breathed success as a multi-sport high school state champion living in a legacy household. Then an encounter with Christ reshaped her understanding of authentic self and dignity as a woman.
“There’s a lot of confusion regarding identity and femininity,” Kelley said. “[FIERCE] is teaching truth because truth sets free. Your identity is not in your appearance, your body weight, or performance, but in the beauty of being designed as a woman.”
After five years as a FOCUS missionary and a thorough study of John Paul II’s landmark speaking series, Theology of the Body, Kelley was inspired to confront the “toxic world” of female athletics in a way that male-dominated leadership had failed. Developing female athletes through Christ-centered training clinics and retreats became her mission field.
Quenching a thirst
FIERCE offers an intimacy with a God who calls each by name, quenching what Kelley calls a “thirst” amongst female athletes, who too often define themselves within the confines of their sport. Breaking down barriers allows for more difficult discussions around struggles with body dysmorphia and same-sex attraction, and healing.
Kelley’s ministry is crucial, working from the ground up. In nearly half of the states, women are not protected within their sports, adding excessive external pressure where internal pressure is already high.
New York and California maintain state policy and education promoting men in women’s sports. They are two of the states where FIERCE chapters are developing a permanent presence. St. Anthony’s in New York will continue its FIERCE chapter this school year; chapters in California, Ohio, and Tennessee are just launching.
Testimonials underscore the program’s life-altering impact and witness to the transformative FIERCE experience — enhanced receptivity, vulnerability, and confidence alongside a group of “sisters” in Christ.
One St. Anthony chapter member described FIERCE as giving her an identity beyond “athlete.” “I am a sister in Christ, I am a daughter of God, and I’m way more than just my injury. I’m way more than just a player. I found that all through FIERCE, so I give total thanks to FIERCE, and you should join any chapter you can find.”
Uniquely woman, uniquely FIERCE
The Supreme Court’s June rulings on states’ rights to exclude men from women’s sports were a crucial defining step, but nearly half the states still promote biological non-realities. As Kelley says, the victory still leaves a lot of work to be done, and “there are going to have to be a lot more Supreme Court cases.”
Kelley is hopeful a cultural shift reclaiming the protection of children is underway.
In a culture that has degraded women to nothing more than mislabeled men, FIERCE offers something desperately needed: a sisterhood celebrating the unique strength and beauty of women as created with a definitive purpose, and the ability to excel in God-given, female bodies.
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Ashley Bateman is a policy writer for The Heartland Institute. Her work has been featured in The Washington Times, The Daily Caller, The New York Post, The American Thinker, the Ascension Press blog, and numerous other publications. She previously worked as an adjunct scholar for The Lexington Institute and as editor, writer, and photographer for The Warner Weekly, a publication for the American military community in Bamberg, Germany. She and her brilliant engineer/scientist husband homeschool their six children.
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