Mormon missionaries devote 24-hours a day for two years to teaching the gospel. This means that besides thirty minutes of morning exercise, Mormon missionaries don’t have time to train physically. But even then, “training” is a loose word. Because they change service locations so often, missionaries can’t carry weights with them and many missionaries serve in locations without access to athletic facilities. With the lifestyle that missionaries for the LDS Church lead, it seems like taking two years off to serve as a missionary could kill an athlete’s career. But wrestling champion Matt Brown disagrees:
“People think missions will set you back professionally, academically or athletically, but that’s just not the case. Every [athlete] faces the challenge of burnout. I think my mission saved my career. Because I hadn’t competed in over two years, I was fresh, I came back hungry and was able to find that passion again.”
Brown’s coach at Penn State, Cael Sanderson, agrees. He said, “I was really surprised. When he left, he had the attitude, effort and work ethic but wasn’t there yet. When he came back, we were all super impressed because he had progressed in a lot of ways.”
Although he didn’t know that his sacrifice of two years away from the sport would make all the difference, Brown’s record speaks for itself. Upon returning home from his mission to Africa, Brown has become the 2015 national champion and one of the NCAA top 10 athletes.