When most people think of college sports, they likely imagine national broadcasts, athletic scholarships and athletes whose lives revolve around their sport. But in Minnesota, thousands of student-athletes are part of a different model — one that is less about fame and more about formation. Division III athletics shows us, every day, that sports can be about something deeper.
Division III is not about headlines or full-ride scholarships. It is about passion, purpose and pride. It is about students who balance practices and travel with full academic loads, who serve in their communities and lead peer organizations, and still show up ready to compete.
At the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, we see this in our Bennie and Johnnie student-athletes. But the same is true across the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and throughout Division III nationally. These athletes play not for personal glory, but for the love of the game, for their teammates and for the joy of representing something bigger than themselves. As the Division III athletics seasons get underway this fall, I encourage you to look beyond the athlete you see on the field or court.
The examples are endless: a soccer captain who tutors elementary students in reading. A cross-country runner who leads campus sustainability projects. A basketball player who excels in undergraduate research and plans to pursue medicine. These are not unusual — they are everyday reminders of the remarkable balance Division III student-athletes achieve.
In the Benedictine tradition that shapes CSB and SJU, we talk often about balance, humility and community. Athletics provides a powerful arena where these practices come alive. Our students learn how to lead and how to follow, how to win with grace and how to respond to setbacks with resilience. These lessons shape not only their four years on campus, but the lives they lead long after graduation.
The long-term impact is clear. Across Minnesota, Division III alumni are thriving as teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs, engineers, public servants and leaders in their communities. Many point to their time as student-athletes as a formative experience. They remember the long bus rides, the early morning practices and the lifelong friendships forged through shared struggle and joy.
At St. John’s University, football Saturdays regularly draw more than 7,000 fans (among the largest crowds in all of Division III). But what makes those days remarkable is not just the scale. It’s the spirit: generations of Johnnies and Bennies, families and friends gathered together, united not by celebrity or spectacle but by pride in their community and joy in cheering on student-athletes who are as committed in the classroom and community as they are on the field.
That is the enduring value — and the quiet magic — of Division III. It reminds us that sports can be about education, growth and joy. It demonstrates that excellence and balance are not mutually exclusive but mutually reinforcing. And it proves that athletics, when rooted in purpose, helps young people become not only better players, but better people.
As Minnesotans, we are fortunate to live in a state where this model thrives. So let us keep supporting and championing our Division III student-athletes — for their leadership, their service and their commitment to the communities they represent.
Because in the end, Division III athletics is about more than games. It is about shaping lives of purpose, building communities of character and reminding us all of the joy found in striving together.