DICKINSON — At Dickinson’s Trinity Catholic School, the athletic programs exemplify a blend of discipline, personal growth, and religious passion. Students can choose from a variety of sports, including cross-country, track and field, football, volleyball, and basketball, alongside cooperative programs at Dickinson High School for softball, baseball, hockey, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, and gymnastics.
This extensive selection underscores the students’ strong determination and their commitment to community service and team support. Their dedication is apparent in every sport and continues throughout the school year, showing that athletics at Trinity Catholic School are about more than just physical activity—they nurture personal and spiritual growth.
Father Grant Dvorak, the chaplain at Trinity Catholic School and a former standout basketball player at Bismarck St. Mary’s, is a regular presence on the sidelines, deeply engaged with students at all stages of their spiritual growth. He passionately believes in the connection between sports and spirituality, guiding his students to become devout Christians and exceptional athletes.
Josiah C. Cuellar / The Dickinson Press
“With athletics, I think what’s common, not only to Trinity but every school, is the discipline that it affords in the bodily aspect and the teamwork aspect of all those things — and they’re super-duper important — and that allows you to not-only give of yourself and to others but-also rely on others as a team, and I think that’s huge,” Dvorak said. “But what makes it distinctive, especially at a Catholic school like Trinity or any Christian school is what it points us to: The analogy that St. Paul uses is that, ‘I’ve won the race and I’ve competed well,’ and all the runners in a race compete for the victory and we’re doing the same thing, except the victory is not of this world and instead is heaven forever with Jesus.”
Dvorak added, “The source of competition that sports brings is another avenue that also points us to that and it’s our purpose in life.”
Gaylon Wm. Parker / The Dickinson Press
Father Dvorak notes that “victory” is a Christian principle, suggesting that sports can serve as an allegory, despite the differences in what is “won” in each context. He believes that the connection becomes clear to competitors who read between the lines.
“I think sports is a huge, huge help to a lot of students,” Dvorak said. “If our exemplar, and the source of all our joy, is Jesus and watching Him sacrifice — ultimately His life but day-after-day giving of Himself and exemplifying those virtues — everything in our lives should point to that and sports is a perfect avenue for sacrificing of ourselves.”
Josiah C. Cuellar / The Dickinson Press
Father Dvorak explains that in sports, the inevitability of failure is mitigated by the prospect of future games. He emphasizes that religious discipline helps athletes to move past setbacks, whether a win or a loss, and look forward to new opportunities and brighter horizons.
“(It was hard) watching our state championship team lose — and my team in high school got to the championship game and lost, so that helped me commiserate with them — but the beauty in it was: Victory can come from defeat, and that entire mode of thinking (now that Jesus has been raised from the dead) is a spiritual principle that applies to sports that it’s in our failures, where we learn and we grow and we actually receive life,” he explained.
The passion for religious growth at Trinity Catholic School is further demonstrated by the 28 assistant chaplains, many of whom are also athletes. These assistant chaplains contribute significantly through peer leadership and teamwork. Their meticulous attention to detail fosters a continuous cycle of engagement among coaches, administrators, classmates, and athletes, a dynamic that has been a cornerstone of the school for decades.
Photo courtesy of Trinity Catholic Schools
“It’s a continuous cycle, and that’s very real,” Dvorak said. “I’m incredibly grateful for them; and they are leaders in the school not just because they play sports but because they play sports well.”
He added, “They win-well and they lose-well … and there’s just this exuding of love — especially from the families and all of our supporters — and they feel loved even in the disappointments. They experience not despair or overwhelming disappointment, but love in the midst of grief.”
What’s more, when outsiders see leaders like volleyball coach Breanna Sisson, along with football coaches — and twin-brothers — John and Jacob Odermann, and hall-of-fame basketball coach Gregg Grinsteinner and their dedication to the school (then realize all of them played for one Trinity team or another), it’s easy to observe why there is so much consistency across-the-board. Those coaches aren’t the only former students who benefited from a Trinity education, as they are joined by assistant coaches such as Asia and Amaya Willer, Tylla Roshau, Sami Jacobsen, Isaac Fridrich, Cole Fitterer, Jayden Dolechek, Dylan Gress, Alex Klug, Trevor Ernst, Logan Karsky, Kevin Poswilko, Aric Knopik, Hunter Dassinger on one sideline or another.
Amber I. Neate / The Dickinson Press
“It’s amazing: Just the posterity of it all and the passing-on of something that you’ve already received, and it’s just another spiritual principle,” Dvorak said. “I can’t give what I don’t have, so all the experience that I’ve received in sports I now pass that on and it’s the same thing as grace through Jesus … when I receive, it’s meant to be given away.”
Dvorak added that the entire school, church, community and program is a team, regardless, and while that implies dependence upon others, the expectation is to give their best in pursuit of the goal and that must be shouldered by each individual player. That demand places expectations on everybody involved, Dvorak said, and it’s become a routine part of life at Trinity to meet those priorities, event-by-event, minute-by-minute and inning-by-inning.
“There’s a dual aspect of, ‘If I do well, I help the team and if I don’t, I’m hurting the team. So, not-only am I dependent on the team to accomplish something great, but-also what I do personally, virtuously and discipline-wise affect the whole team,’” Dvorak said. “It’s the receiving and giving of oneself.”
Gaylon Wm. Parker / The Dickinson Press
He added, “I’m so impressed with that aspect of what I see in all our teams — especially in the camaraderie that they have together because they’ve suffered together and gone through it day-in-and-day-out since they were little kids and now they’re young men and women — and when they go forward they will treasure those moments.”
For more information about athletic programs at Trinity Catholic School, please keep reading your Dickinson Press and/or visit their website at https://trinitycatholicschools.com/titan-athletics .
Gaylon is a sportswriter from Jensen Beach, Fla., but has lived all over the world. Growing up with an athletic background gave him a love of sports that led to a journalism career in such places as Enid, Okla., Alamogordo, N.M., Pascagoula, Miss. and Viera, Fla. since 1998. His main passion is small-town community sports, particularly baseball and soccer.
