Photo by Patti Black on Unsplash

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has successfully worked with the Hannibal School District #60 in Missouri to stop religious prayers at district softball events.

A concerned parent reported that on Nov. 13, 2025, the Hannibal High School Girls’ Softball Coach directed a student to lead all attendees in prayer at the softball team’s award banquet. While the student led the prayer, the coach and the assistant coach reportedly stood and bowed their heads with the students and parents in attendance. The parent who contacted FFRF stated that this is the second year in a row that the coach promoted religion while acting in his official capacity as coach. Additionally, the assistant coach had a pattern and practice of praying with students before and after games while serving as a representative of the district.

The parent stated that they and their child felt “obligated” to participate in the banquet prayer because the vocal majority of the team was religious, and they feared retaliation. Further, the student reported that the prayers made them uncomfortable, but they participated to avoid losing opportunities to receive awards or have the coach speak to college coaches on their behalf.

“It is unrealistic and unconstitutional to put student-athletes to the choice of allowing their constitutional rights to be violated in order to maintain good standing in the eyes of their coach and peers or openly dissenting at the risk of retaliation,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to the district. 

As the student reported, student-athletes are especially susceptible to coercion, and the relationship between student-athletes and their coaches is inherently coercive. Students know that their coaches control their positions on the team, including who plays in each game. When coaches direct students to lead and participate in prayer, the student-athletes will no doubt feel that participating in that prayer is essential to pleasing their coaches and being viewed as a team player. They are unlikely to speak up against coach-led prayer and proselytizing even if they feel uncomfortable. By allowing coaches to direct students to lead prayer and foist their religious beliefs onto student-athletes, the district abridges that duty and needlessly marginalizes the 38 percent of Americans who are non-Christian, including the 43 percent of Generation Z that is nonreligious.

Following FFRF’s intervention, the district took immediate corrective action.

Superintendent Ritchie Kracht recently emailed FFRF to detail an investigation that confirmed FFRF’s report. Kracht explained that he spoke with both coaches to make sure they fully understand that the prayers were unacceptable. 

“The head coach will ensure this will not happen again in his program, Kracht wrote. “We are also educating the rest of our coaching staff in all our activities to ensure this does not happen again.”

FFRF applauds the district for taking steps to safeguard students’ constitutional rights.

“It has always been FFRF’s stance that student-athletes should never feel forced to pray to play,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor states. “We hear stories like this far too often. FFRF will always stand up for the right of students to dissent without fear of retaliation.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 42,000 members across the country, including hundreds of members in Missouri. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.

The post FFRF removes religious influence from Missouri district’s sports program appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.