Book Review: The Spirit in Football

The Spirit in Football, by Kathryn Nixon and Ana Boudreau demonstrates how Christian values, particularly the fruits of the Spirit, are easily infused into sporting activities…primarily football.  This children’s book is creatively written and illustrated by Nixon and Boudreau in a scrapbook style manner.

In the book, the authors share, “Just as our Heavenly Father hides the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ within our hearts, we have hidden God’s created fruit for you to seek throughout this book.”  It’s based on Galatians 5:22-23, and these scripture verses state: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

The Spirit in Football highlights each fruit of the Spirit with an additional scripture verse and how it can be applied towards playing football.  For example, kindness focuses on the following: “Even if I fumble the ball or make an incomplete pass, my teammates support me and treat me with kindness and respect,” along with the scripture verse of Ephesians 4:32.  Plus, this book includes a short introduction by Matt Hasselbeck, NFL quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.

Young children will most enjoy this book, but it’s also a great tool for parents and coaches to implement the fruits of the Spirit into football, and then possibly leading towards utilizing the fruits of the Spirit in daily activities.  With football as the primary theme, this book is geared more towards boys.  However, girls interested in sports, particularly football, will benefit from this book, too.  While any nationality might enjoy this book, it seems to be written for American children, since football is commonly known as an American sport and the American flag is prominently displayed on the front cover.

In addition to The Spirit in Football, Nixon and Boudreau have written and illustrated The Spirit in Baseball.  In a recent Question and Answer session by B and B Media Group, Nixon shared, “We would like to do a basketball and a soccer book,” which would expand their The Spirit in Sports series.


Note: I received this book from B and B Media, which is a program designed for bloggers to write book reviews in exchange for books, yet the opinions expressed in this review are my own.