Tower Topics ~ Spring 2003

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'Skip Test' is Shear agony for some seminarians
...but where wellness is concerned, excuses are non-negotiable

The Skip Test. This happy- sounding phrase can raise pulse rates in the halls of Conception Seminary College. Especially if one is munching on a cheeseburger or puffing a cigarette.

“What’s that going to do to your Skip Test?” someone will invariably ask. A little guilt to go with your vice.

The dreaded Skip Test is seminary slang for the physical fitness evaluations performed by Skip Shear, director of Conception’s mandatory Wellness Program.

The seminary lifestyle isn’t always conducive to physical activity. Long hours of study, prayer and classes leave minimal time for a round of racquetball or a game of soccer to shed the three squares from the abbey kitchen. Sixteen years ago, the seminary added the Wellness Program to stress physical as well as spiritual and mental health. Shear has captained the program with firmness since 1997.

“He’s that little gnome sitting on your shoulder when you’re doing something unhealthy,” says junior Greg Dolan. “He’s kind of a hovering spirit.”

Skip Shear has been an important cog in the success of the Bearcat
basketball program at nearby Northwest Missouri State University.

Shear came to Conception with impressive credentials. A professional basketball coach of 30 years, he currently serves as an assistant coach for the nearby Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, who in 2002 advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II Tournament. His coaching career also includes an NAIA national championship, several league titles and a six-year stint as head coach at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Mo., where he won two district titles and advanced to the NAIA national tournament. Oh, yes, in the past three years he’s also led Conception Seminary College to two championships, and second- and third-place finishes at national seminary basketball tournaments.

A former NAIA All-American guard at Tarkio College in Northwest Missouri, Shear began his coaching career under legendary – and controversial – coach Bob Knight, at the United States Military Academy at West Point and later as a graduate assistant at Indiana University. He credits Knight with forming him as a coach and teacher.
The slender, soft-spoken Shear does not have his mentor’s famous temper, but he shares other traits that can make a slacking seminarian uncomfortable.

“I guess you’d say I’m a disciplinarian,” he says. “I expect things to be done a certain way, and I don’t compromise that too much.”

“He never cuts me a break,” says seminarian Vince Casper. “But he’s the ideal of a good coach. There’s a wholeheartedness to him. He brings humility and a sense of the ideal of sports as a lesson for life. He shows us that there’s always more to learn.”

But not all seminarians are as high on their demanding fitness guru.

Father Samuel Russell, dean of students, hears the rumblings from students through the seminary grapevine, but shrugs it off.

“I’m not always popular either,” he says with a knowing grin. “Skip holds people to their responsibilities. I think it’s a part of growing up.”

Father Samuel says participation in the Wellness Program is “non-negotiable” and essential to seminary formation. “I feel very strongly that seminarians need to get out and expend energy, whether they like it or not,” he says. “This isn’t just high school stuff; it’s life stuff.”

Father Samuel notes that seminarians are asked to establish good habits – in prayer, in their studies, and in physical fitness. He adds that poor physical fitness is seldom an isolated issue in a young man’s life.

“It usually fits into other issues,” he says. “We try to keep it in context.”

Father Samuel says that Shear does not badger or intimidate anyone, but the fitness tests he conducts can reveal some harsh realities.

“I think that’s why some students find Skip such a threat,” he says. “Because they’re stuck with the results of those tests.”

Shear is quick to point out that successes far outnumber failures in his program.

Skip Shear, right, with NWMSU head coach Steve Tappmeyer.

“We’ve had guys come in here who are just physical misfits, but they’ve taken it and run with it, and they come out pretty fit,” he says. “I don’t take any credit for that, because most of it has to come from within themselves. I present options and tell them what will happen if they do and what will happen if they don’t. I’m not here to pound it in.”

While Shear says most seminarians see the importance of physical fitness, he sincerely worries about the few who are potential health risks and would like to see more specific emphasis placed on their conditioning.

“I don’t want to overdo it,” he says, “but I’d like to do more than give them a program they’re probably not going to follow. Maybe those people need a wake-up call.

“As potential priests, they need to be healthy enough that they can work with the people they’re trying to help,” he notes. “If they don’t have the overall health to do that, they’re probably not going to be very good priests – not because they don’t want to, but because physically they are going to be unable to do it.”

Shear’s concern for his students, even the ones who don’t like him, is genuine, says Dolan. “He showed up at our fall play, he’s always showing up for things we do that are beyond his job. He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t care about us.”

For his part, working at Conception, especially coaching the seminary basketball team, has been “a breath of fresh air” for Shear, who says he enjoys stepping out of the highly competitive world of college hoops to the serenity of the seminary.

“Here, it's not like I have to develop Olympic athletes or win a certain amount of games,” he says. “Obviously I go into games wanting to win, and I'm competitive enough that I'm not happy unless I do win, but the world isn't going to come to an end if I don't.”

If his players have to adapt to Shear's competitive nature, he's had to do his share of adapting as well.

“When a kid says, 'I don't want to practice because I need to clean my room,' that upsets me,” he admits. “But I have to back up and realize that this is a very small part of that person's life. Maybe he's better off cleaning his room.”

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