For student-athletes at BYU, there’s an added dimension that sets them apart from most other universities.
BYU is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and young adults in this faith have the opportunity to be assigned to serve an 18-month to two-year mission where they teach others about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For athletes, stepping away from their sport for two years can seem daunting. Skills can fade, conditioning slips, and the competitive landscape changes. Yet for many, the mission experience is transformative. It is a sacrifice they describe not as a setback, but as a defining chapter of their lives.
“I don't think that a sport can replace that. I don't think that there's anything that can really replace it," said Sophia Callahan, a sophomore on the BYU women's volleyball team. "I think missions are just a once in a lifetime opportunity … I'm so, so grateful that I went for the things that I learned."
Callahan explained that her mission helped her reshape how she sees teamwork.
“I think my team works better now, because I feel like I understand that, like, strength comes when you can elevate the people around you," she said. "I feel like the biggest principle of missionary work is to forget yourself and just focus on others, and that's when you see success. And I actually feel like I came to believe that on my mission.”
Her words reflect a broader truth about BYU athletics. Returned missionaries often bring a different kind of maturity and perspective that has its way of rippling through the team.
Coaches frequently note that athletes who have served missions return with a deeper sense of leadership, patience, and resilience. These qualities cannot be measured in stats but often define championship culture.
For Callahan, the mission also offered freedom from the identity she carried since childhood; a volleyball player.
“For my mission, it was kind of freeing in a way, because I had grown up being a volleyball player — like, that was my identity. And then I got to form this new identity, no volleyball, and I loved it," she said.
That shift in learning to see herself as more than an athlete gave her perspective when she returned to the court after two years in Peru. Volleyball was still important, but it no longer defined her entirely. Instead, she carried lessons of service, humility, and spiritual growth back into her athletic life.
Similarly, Heather Gneiting, a standout player in the 2018 season, shared her experience with seeing a new perspective in life.
“I feel like I just changed as a person, and I feel like it did put things in perspective, that maybe volleyball wasn’t the most important thing in my life, which it had been up to that point, and more so that the simple things are super important,” Gneiting said.
The decision to serve a mission is deeply personal, and for some athletes, it comes after wrestling with the tension between athletic opportunity and spiritual calling.
“I think what led to that [decision] was I knew I wanted to grow in a way that was different from what I was experiencing, and I just felt the feelings I needed to go," Gneiting said. "I’ve been learning from a young age to follow promptings and to grow and learn. I was able to leave and go serve a mission and still be able to come back.”
Her words highlight the faith-driven courage it takes to step away from the game. For Gneiting, the mission wasn’t about abandoning volleyball but about trusting that growth in one area of life would strengthen another.
At most universities, athletes rarely pause their careers for two years. At BYU, it’s part of the culture. Men’s teams often feature older athletes who have returned from missions, while women’s teams, though fewer in number, showcase players like Callahan and Gneiting who bring unique maturity and perspective.
The result is a program where faith and athletes intertwine. Success isn’t measured only by wins and losses, but in the ability to balance spiritual commitments with competitive excellence.
For BYU athletes, missions are not interruptions but investments. They return with sharpened character, broader perspective, and a deeper sense of purpose. On the court, that translates to leadership and resilience. Off the court, it shapes lives in ways that last far beyond college athletics.
As Callahan put it, “I don’t think that a sport can replace that.”