Here it is a circle prayer" (Marcus 120). He then discovered that there were certain manners that went along with prayer such as: "never ask God for victory" (120). When prayer was involved with football it was respected by everyone. He remembers that: "the initial argument advocating prayers before games asserted that they helped solemnize the occasion" (120). Praying was allowed at their school and it was clear that everyone took part in the act. "When we took off our helmets and knelt in the end zone, the crowd was hushed by our seriousness. The prayers added gravity to our game, as if we were characters in the Bible, already legendary" (120). These students gained confidence through religion and felt it was benefiting everyone. Another Texas football player is encouraged by the locker-room tradition of prayer has no plans to end it: "We circle up and have the Lord's Prayer before every football game, we enjoy it and feel good about it" (Deann 19). When the players are in these situations, they are even supported by the coaches and teachers. The players feel strength through prayer and have the support of the public. They also receive complete support from the authorities and their coaches.
The coaches of these schools are often school officials. And as employees of the school, they are part of the public school system, which is supposed to be separated of all church affairs. However, the coaches see no reprimand as their bosses support the right to prayer in school as well. One coach does not plan on tossing out the team's tradition of saying grace before the team's meals and even knows he might be stepping on others" toes about the issue. " I am sure the American Civil Liberties Union would probably view that as unfavorable because I am a public school employee, but I think I would be a whole lot more remiss in what I do if I didn't. I imagine probably 99 percent or more of the Texas football coaches do the very same thing (19).
