Jesus Jerseys spark uproar in Virginia youth soccer league

A volunteer coach turned kids’ uniforms into Bible billboards, raising questions about coercion, inclusivity, and abuse of trust

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In Virginia, the Prince George County Parks and Recreation Department is being criticized after telling a volunteer coach in its youth soccer program that his players can’t wear jerseys with Bible verses on the back.

The county gives kids jerseys to use when they sign up for the league, but in this case, Coach Drew Collins asked parents if he could have their kids’ jerseys, add a Bible verse to the back of them, and give them back. No one seemed to oppose it.

One parent explained the situation to local news station WTVR:

"The coach had asked us if it was OK that we put a Bible verse on the jersey and told us the Bible verse and [they] taught it to our kids," [Shauna] Collins said. "We had said, 'Yes, it's fine, it's OK.' It's John 14:6."

In that verse, Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

(Shauna Collins is not related to Drew Collins.)

There’s an obvious reason this would be a problem. When you bring religion into a community-run sports league, a game that’s meant to be inclusive of all students who want to play turns into one that purposely alienates Muslims, Jews, atheists, and even some Christian families. It wouldn’t be surprising if the families agreed to let the coach redesign the uniforms because the cost of saying no would be too high for their children.

It’s also irrelevant that the verse in question is supposedly uplifting. (It’s not! It actually implies that people who don’t accept the divinity of Jesus will be tortured for eternity!) You don’t want Bible verses on those jerseys for the same reason you wouldn’t want Satanic, Islamic, or atheistic messages on them. Just stick to the damn game and stop forcing your religion on the kids.

There’s also the coercive element of it all. For kids, if your teammates are wearing jerseys with a Bible verse on the back, you’re going to feel pressured to do the same regardless of what your family believes. These are kids ages 7, 8, and 9. They shouldn’t have to make decisions about religion when they just want to kick a damn ball around.

But they ended up playing in those uniforms on September 6. Some other parent must have noticed because word of the altered jerseys made its way back to district officials who soon called up the coach:

"Parks and Rec called our coach and said, 'Hey, we're ordering you all new jerseys with nothing on them. And told us we could not play if we had this on the back of our jersey,'" Collins said.

…

Collins said county officials then delivered an ultimatum to the team.

"That if they show up on the field with those jerseys, they will not be able to play for the rest of the season," Collins said.

It seemed like a perfectly fair ultimatum: If you’re violating the dress code, then your team can’t play.

There’s just one problem. It’s not clear the county had any rules in place about those uniforms. The article even noted that “jerseys have been customized for years with children's names and even business names without issue.” If business names are allowed, you have to wonder what would prevent a church from sponsoring a team… or what rule would prevent any kind of message that doesn’t obviously violate basic standards.

In fact, the coach’s lawyer, Tim Anderson, sent a letter to the district threatening to sue them if they didn’t allow the kids to compete. Because why handle things calmly when you can blow everything out of proportion?

So while the county’s ultimatum was ethically the right move, they faced legal concerns if they punished the team over it. Was this really worth a potential lawsuit at a time when conservatives want nothing more than to destroy local governments for not catering to Christian whims?

When all this happened just over a week ago, it was coincidence that the weekend’s soccer games were canceled due to “First Responders' Day” events. Which meant no one was going to play with the Jesus Jerseys again until Saturday, September 20. Even then, the team and their next opponents had a contingency plan: If they weren’t allowed to play because of the first team’s Jesus Jerseys, they would just scrimmage on a different (non-county-sanctioned) field.

But earlier in the week—and on the day the attorney gave as his deadline—the county chimed in with an update.

First, they said that “not all parents of affected children [were] informed in advance of the uniform alterations,” which suggested the coach was going rogue.

They then addressed the fact that people were accusing them of hypocrisy by admitting they hadn’t considered the possibility of someone wanting to put Bible verses on the backs of these shirts:

“While previous alterations, such as players’ names or sponsorship logos, have previously occurred without complaint, participation in County-run athletic leagues has not historically included having to make one’s religious preferences known or displayed,” officials said in the release. “As such, the addition of religious messaging on County-purchased uniforms for a County-run program presents complex First Amendment considerations.”

A policy review has thus been launched into the County’s “legal obligations in local government-sponsored programs.”

I can help out the county officials here: Right-wing groups would loooooooove to sue you over this because you’ve created an opening, so either allow all kinds of messages on uniforms (with the exception of hate speech) or just say they can’t be altered in any way.

For now, the county has resolved this particular situation in a sensible way: They’re not going to punish anyone on this team this season for their Jesus Jerseys.

In the meantime, the county said that “no player will be excluded or removed from participation based solely on uniform alterations,” as long as the alterations are approved by the player’s parent or guardian.

That makes sense and it buys the county some time to figure out the best path forward. (The best path forward is the simplest one: No alterations, period.)

Incidentally, the coach said he didn’t go rogue at all and that the parent who wasn’t “informed in advance” just wasn’t communicating with his wife:

Collins claimed the dissent was due to "miscommunication" among parents.

"One of the child’s parents (the mother) verbally consented at the first practice. However, she did not communicate it to her husband," he responded. "Had they communicated, this would have never been an issue.

Collins added he holds no ill will. "I’d like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with them sometime," he said.

This is exactly why you don’t sign up to be a volunteer coach when pushing religion on kids is your priority. You’re creating drama when there doesn’t have to be any. That’s really the problem here. While the legal threat no longer poses any problem—and won’t, assuming the county comes up with a sensible policy—this coach has made it clear he cares more about his religion than the kids. Instead of volunteering at his church, he’s decided to push his faith on children via the community soccer league.

It’s faith-based arrogance, pure and simple.

Youth sports run by community leagues are supposed to be the great equalizer: a place where children of all backgrounds can come together to play, learn teamwork, and grow without fear of exclusion. When a coach decides that religious proselytizing is just as important as (if not more important than) practice drills, the entire premise of inclusivity collapses. A space for joy and belonging quickly becomes another battle in the culture wars, where children are forced into decisions they’re too young to make and parents are pressured into silence to protect their kids’ place on the team.

Collins’ selfishness warps the very spirit of volunteer coaching. The county should respond with a blanket ban on uniform alterations—as well as a strict code of conduct for coaches who want to use their position to do anything beyond coaching the sport. Anything less is an abuse of trust, a disservice to children, and a dangerous precedent.

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