By Derrick Smith

Faith and athletics are two important things for Morgan Maloney. She is a senior at Hooker High School and was recently named to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-State. Maloney says that FCA has been a key part of her high school years. 

“FCA is important to me because it combines two things that I am very passionate about, Christ and sports,” she said. “It allows me to meet monthly with other believers my age and share my faith at school. FCA brings all us athletes and Christ-followers together to share His word and be His light in our school.”

Malone is a multi-sport athlete for the Bulldogs. She plays first base as a member of the softball team, and she is a guard on the basketball court. She also is a part of the cross-country team. Morgan has put in a lot of work to become the athlete that she is today, and she has some hardware to show for it.

“I was named All-District for softball,” she said. “For cross country, I was a senior all-star and a state champion. And on the basketball team, I was the Merritt Tournament Defensive Player, and on teams that were district champion, regional champion, area consolation champion, and a state qualifier.”

While she is proud of all the accomplishments she has, Maloney says that her faith in Jesus is the most important thing to her. 

“My parents allowed me to grow up in our local Methodist church,” she said. “We always went to church, and I was involved in our youth group, vacation Bible school, and Sunday school, but I never understood my commitment as a Christian. In the seventh grade, a band came and played, and a speaker shared his testimony. I had previously given my life to Christ, but I finally realized what it truly meant to give my life to Him at this event. I vividly remember my small group leader taking us to a small corner in our gym, and she explained to us how to walk in the light of Christ. All of us in our group cried as we finally understood that Christ gave his life for us, and we had not been living his life how he wanted us. This is when I remember taking the reins of my faith and pulling them in the right direction towards Christ.”