Brigham Young University is widely known for deferring scholarships to accommodate athletes who wish to serve full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
For a physical sport like football, it raises the question – how do these athletes stay fit while serving their missions?
It’s not just luck that these guys come back and spring into Division I football shape right away. Each athlete is given a training plan months before they return to the field.
Christian Tupou is the assistant football strength and conditioning coach for BYU Football and is in charge of writing the workout plans for missionaries out in the field.
“We like to prepare them before they come back and have to take a year off to get their bodies right and ready,” Tupou said. “I just see that behind the eight ball, with the whole NIL deal and transfer portal, returned missionaries just don’t have that time to come back and get their bodies back in shape to compete. They have to return ready to go. And hence, our mission program gives them a fighting chance to do so.”
Tupou says the plan is rigorous and tailored to each athlete, but he says he has to work closely with mission leaders to make sure the athletes can fully fulfill their duties as missionaries.
“Certain mission presidents allow the missionaries to train and other mission presidents are not so lenient,” Tupou said. “But obviously the Lord’s work comes first. So I’m just in constant communication when guys transfer, what’s available; do we have to mod anything and stuff of that nature. So it gets really creative on both of our ends to find a solution.”
Elder Roger Swanson is one of those missionaries. Elder Swanson is serving in Africa, and Tupou says he has been writing Swanson’s workout plan.
“They don’t have anywhere to run, they don’t have a park, they don’t have any training equipment available – I mean it’s literally stones or some kind of agricultural equipment that they have to lift,” Tupou said. “We’ve got to find creative ways to still keep him in some sort of shape. But obviously the Lord’s work comes first, so prioritizing training around doing the Lord’s work is a whole art in itself.”
Tupou says his job is unlike any other job in college sports, and he is grateful for the opportunity to help guys in the mission field train. But it ultimately comes down to whether the missionary wants to put in the effort it takes to follow his training plan.
“The Lord will bless those who put in the effort to make it so,” Tupou said. “There’s no hard answer of whether missionaries can work out or not. If an elder wants to really do it and stay in shape while he’s in the mission field, it’s ultimately up to him whether he wants to do it or not.”
For these athletes, two years of missionary service doesn’t have to mean two years away from the game. With the right plan and the right commitment, they can return ready for Division I football.