By Mirin Fader | The Athletic, 2026-06-04 09:15:59
修女们站在球员通道内，等待着马刺队的球员们从更衣室里走出来。当身高7英尺4英寸的圣安东尼奥超级巨星维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 开始朝她们走来时，她们敬畏地抬起头瞻仰。
这是一场至关重要的主场第六战，一个扳平系列赛大比分并拖入抢七大战的机会——然而，文班亚马并没有急匆匆地跑出去热身。他缓缓走向这些女性，她们是圣若望·鲍思高慈幼会西美省的修女，正式名称为圣母进教之佑孝女会。在马刺队季后赛的征程中，她们可以说是最引人注目的马刺球迷，因在场边为球员祈祷并为圣安东尼奥加油助威而走红网络。
在穿过通道时，文班亚马并没有只是简单地挥手、点头，或是随口说一两句客套话。相反，他特意花时间与所有九位修女一一握手，停下脚步，用自己的大手包裹着她们的手，停留的时间比她们任何人预期的都要长。
“在某种程度上，他是在说‘谢谢’，”贝尔纳黛特·莫塔 (Bernadette Mota) 修女说道。“他没有大声说出‘谢谢’，但他紧紧握住了我们的手。……你可以看到他眼神中的专注，以及他对我们为球队祈祷的感激之情。
“他虽然一言未发，却胜过千言万语。”
这些修女不仅热爱篮球，她们更深爱着这支马刺队。她们会定期关注球队的比分。莫塔表示，她们热爱这支球队的职业道德和核心价值观，包括它的“忠诚”以及“团结”。
“对于当今社会来说，这些都是伟大的价值观和美德，因为我们现在的世界存在着太多的分裂。”
在马刺队的季后赛征程中，修女们已经成为了名人。不同于纽约尼克斯队在场边拥有一众大牌明星拥趸——比如提莫西·查拉梅 (Timothée Chalamet)、凯莉·詹娜 (Kylie Jenner)、查克·D (Chuck D) 和本·斯蒂勒 (Ben Stiller)——马刺队则以这些修女为傲，她们或许是球队最著名的粉丝。莫塔说，除了“我们祈祷他们能打好比赛，展现出高尚的美德，并成为我们社会的优秀领袖”之外，她们并没有什么特别的马刺祈祷文。
不过，修女们可不仅仅是旁观者，她们自己也会打球。偶尔，她们会在室外互相打打半场混战，但大多数时候她们是和她们服务的年轻人一起打。一些修女有篮球背景，比如莫塔，她在高中时就打过球。身高5英尺1英寸的她是个活力四射的“小钢炮”。她控球技术娴熟，还能在外线投篮。“我的耐力很好，所以到了比赛后半段也不会觉得累，”她说，这得益于她在大学期间曾连续两年在越野和径赛项目中获得代表学校参赛的资格。在2005年25岁时投身修道院之前，她甚至还担任过高中篮球教练。
还有她身材高大得多的队友悉尼·莫斯 (Sydney Moss) 修女，她经常穿着文班亚马的球衣。她能投篮。“她是我们的中锋，”莫塔说。“她跑得没那么快，但在内线移动绝对没问题。我的工作就是把球传给她。”其他修女也在高中或初中打过球。其中一位初学修女曾是大学排球运动员。
莫塔说，她们所有人都有一个非常重要的共同技能：“我们真的很擅长加油助威。”
修女们对球队的热爱可以追溯到近二十年前，当时几位现在住在圣鲍思高退休社区的年长修女从不落下任何一场马刺队的比赛。“当我们在晚上不得不关掉电视时，她们实际上会有点生气，因为我们不能熬夜看完所有的比赛，毕竟比赛打得很晚，而修道院的作息时间你是知道的，你必须早睡早起做祈祷，”莫塔说道，她的办公室里挂着一件马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginóbili) 的球衣。
一位已经去世的年长修女经常给前马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 写信。他不仅回了信，还和已故的妻子一起去修道院探望了修女们。她们与他之间建立了一种特殊的亲切感。
多年来，这种关系一直在默默却意义深远地延续着。当莫塔于2019年上任，担任她们修会省区的使命推广总监时，她一直在寻找加强社区联系的方法。她在圣鲍思高的数据库中找到了波波维奇助手的电话，并联系对方询问是否能提供马刺队的门票。“他们非常慷慨地给了我们30张门票，这样我们就可以带修女和我们的员工去现场看比赛了，”莫塔说。“我们位于圣安东尼奥的西区，那是一个非常贫困的地区。因此，带我们那些拿最低工资的员工去看比赛，对他们来说是一份极好的礼物。”
修女们在马刺队比赛中问候一位年轻球迷。她们像名人一样被认出来。(照片由贝尔纳黛特·莫塔修女提供)
那场比赛因疫情而取消，随后NBA也暂停了该赛季剩余的比赛。莫塔一直保留着这些门票，把它们存在办公室的抽屉里。这提醒着人们善良与联系的力量，正是这些价值观将她和修女们与今年的这支球队紧密联系在了一起。
在莫塔的办公室里有一个不起眼的小推车，里面存放着修女们去现场看球时穿的马刺球衣（她们所有的马刺球衣和T恤都是通过捐赠获得的，她们从未自己购买过）。她穿的是一件蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 的球衣，以此向她有史以来最喜欢的球员之一致敬。其中一位年长的修女是马刺球迷，参加了本赛季所有的观赛派对，她今年已经93岁了。而她亲生的姐姐同样也是马刺球迷，目前正在接受临终关怀。她的记忆有时不太清晰，但当莫塔给她带去一个马刺队的小玩偶时，她兴奋得脸上有了光彩。“马刺队！！！！”她微笑着大喊。莫塔问她是否需要帮她把玩偶放到架子上，但这位修女拒绝了。“我要把它留在这里，”她说。也许，这是一个幸运符。
收到赠票（包括一家汽车经销商赠送的四张总决赛门票）的修女们不仅在社交媒体上走红，在整个圣安东尼奥也是家喻户晓。莫塔在城里不管走到哪里都会被认出来。在最近的一场马刺队季后赛中，她和其他几位修女甚至在洗手间里被要求合影。在修女们成为网络红人之前，她偶尔也会在圣安东尼奥社区被认识她的当地人认出，例如，在杂货店里当场请求她为生病的父母祈祷。但现在，她在网上有成千上万的粉丝请求修女们为马刺队的胜利祈祷。
莫塔笑着承认并没有什么特别的祈祷文。她说，在比赛日她们也“没有专门为马刺制定的日程”。她和修女们过着纪律严明的生活，无论前一天晚上马刺队是输是赢，早上6:30都要准时开始在小教堂祈祷。接着是半小时的祈祷和默想。然后是弥撒，接着是每日礼拜。然后集体吃早餐。接着是当天的传教工作，午餐前还有中午的圣体祈祷。最后是晚上的玫瑰经、属灵阅读，以及最后的晚祷。
修女们与马刺队以及前主教练格雷格·波波维奇的关系可以追溯到近二十年前。(照片由贝尔纳黛特·莫塔修女提供)
而且，如果当晚有马刺队的比赛，她们希望这一天能以一场胜利收尾。
她们希望能激励年轻人。“这就是我们参与体育运动的原因，”莫塔说。“要想真正融入年轻人的世界，你必须热爱他们所热爱的事物。”这一原则源自她们的创始人圣若望·鲍思高。修女们觉得体育是接触年轻人、了解他们并帮助他们走上信仰之路的理想方式。
修女们的走红完全是意料之外，更不用说是有意策划的了。她们甚至事先都不知道自己会拿到场边的座位。“这一切都不是安排好的，也不是在摆拍，”莫塔说道。
她在赛前为马刺队替补中锋卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 进行的祝福同样不是刻意为之，科内特是一位虔诚的天主教徒，并且对自己的价值观非常坦诚。莫塔当时并没有意识到周围有摄像机。她和修女们只是在看他热身，在他结束赛前投篮训练后，他走过来和她们握手。莫塔随后问他：“我可以为你祈祷祝福吗？”作为文班亚马身高7英尺1英寸的替补，科内特弯下了腰。“他真的必须弯下腰，因为我只有5英尺1英寸，”莫塔笑着说。“我只是为他做了一个祈祷，祈求圣灵和我们圣母的帮助，真心希望他能打得强硬、远离伤病，并在场上展现领袖风范。那是我们为他进行的一次自发的祈祷。”
卢克·科内特接受修女的祝福 pic.twitter.com/ctFzBkqA9E
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ ohnohedidnt24) 2026年5月24日
还有其他一些幕后时刻让修女们倍加珍惜，比如在通道里与文班亚马相遇的瞬间，或者是迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 的母亲玛丽亚 (Maria) 走向她们的时候。“修女们，感谢你们所做的一切，”玛丽亚对她们说。随后她提到迪伦是慈幼会学校的校友，她自己也是。这是一个美妙的连接时刻，让莫塔想起了信仰和体育如何能够拉近人与人之间的距离。
这也是她对总决赛的期望，不仅是对她们深爱的马刺队，对尼克斯队也是如此；她希望每个人都能感受到更深层次的使命感和社区归属感。
“马刺队是否能赢得总冠军，我并不知道。尼克斯队也是一支伟大的球队，”莫塔说。“我们只是祈祷每个人都能在场上打出精彩、诚实的篮球。不要出现任何消极的敌对情绪。良性的竞争是好事。
“我们希望他们能打出干净、诚实的篮球，然后——愿最好的球队获胜。”
她和她的修女们正努力活在当下。
“这太美妙了，”莫塔说。“社会正在看到，你知道吗？信仰和体育是可以携手并进的。”
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Meet the Spurs nuns: Inside the basketball-loving world of the Salesian Sisters
Meet the Spurs nuns: Inside the basketball-loving world of the Salesian Sisters
The Sisters stood inside the tunnel, waiting for the Spurs players to emerge from the locker room. They looked up in awe, as 7-foot-4 San Antonio superstar Victor Wembanyama began to walk toward them.
It was a crucial Game 6 at home, a chance to even the series and force a Game 7 — and yet, Wembanyama didn’t rush out to go warm up. He walked slowly toward the women, the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco, West Province, known formally as the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. They’re arguably the most visible Spurs fans of the team’s playoff run, having gone viral for praying over players and cheering on San Antonio courtside.
Wembanyama didn’t give a quick wave or nod, or shout a kind word or two as he passed through the tunnel. Instead, he took his time to shake hands with all nine Sisters, pausing and cupping his large hands over theirs, a beat longer than any of them expected.
“In a way, he was saying, ‘Thank you,’” Sister Bernadette Mota said. “He didn’t say ‘Thank you’ out loud, but he grabbed our hands. … You could see the focus in his eyes, and also his sense of gratitude for the prayers that we were giving the team.
“Without saying a word, he said a lot.”
These Sisters don’t just love basketball; they love these Spurs. They check the team’s scores regularly. They love the work ethic and core values of the organization, including its “loyalty,” Mota said. “And unity.
“These are great values and virtues for society today because there’s a lot of division in our world out there.”
The Sisters have become celebrities during the Spurs’ playoff run. Unlike the New York Knicks, who have a star-studded roster of A-listers courtside, such as Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, Chuck D and Ben Stiller, the Spurs take pride in their Sisters as perhaps the organization’s most famous fans. They don’t have a specific Spurs prayer, other than: “We pray that they can play well, show a lot of virtue, and be good leaders for our society,” Mota said.
The Sisters aren’t just watching, though; they can hoop, too. Once in a while, they play pick up outside with each other, but mostly they play with the young people they serve. Some Sisters have basketball backgrounds, such as Mota, who played in high school. She’s a 5-foot-1 firecracker. She has handles and can shoot from deep. “I have a lot of endurance, so I don’t get tired at the end of the game,” she said, thanks to lettering in cross country and track for two years during college. She even coached high-school basketball before devoting herself to the convent in 2005 at age 25.
Then there’s her much taller teammate, Sister Sydney Moss, who often wears a Wembanyama jersey. She can shoot. “She’s our center,” Mota said. “She can’t run as fast but she can sure move inside. My job is to get her the ball.” Other Sisters have played in high school or junior high. One of the novice Sisters was a collegiate volleyball player.
All of them share one really important skill, Mota said: “We’re just good at cheerleading.”
The Sisters’ fandom goes back nearly two decades, as a few of the elder Sisters, who now live in the St. Bosco retirement community, would never miss a Spurs game. “They would actually get a little bit irritated when we’d have to turn the TV off at nighttime because we can’t stay up to watch all the games because they go quite late, and, convent hours, you know, you’ve got to go to bed earlier and wake up early for prayers,” said Mota, who has a Manu Ginóbili jersey hanging in her office.
One elder Sister, who has since died, often wrote to former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. He not only responded to the letters, but also visited the Sisters at the convent with his late wife. They felt a special kinship with him.
The relationship continued over the years, quietly but meaningfully. When Mota arrived in 2019 to be the Director of Mission Advancement for their province, she had been looking to strengthen ties in the community. She found Popovich’s assistant’s number in the St. Bosco database and reached out to ask for Spurs tickets. “They graciously gave us 30 tickets, so we can bring Sisters and our employees to the game,” Mota said. “We’re on the west side of San Antonio, so we’re in a very poor area. So, to bring our employees who are earning minimum wage would have been a great gift for the employees.”
The Sisters greet a young fan at a Spurs game. They are recognized like celebrities. (Photo courtesy of Sister Bernadette Mota)
The game was canceled because of the pandemic, and the NBA shut down the remainder of the season. Mota has kept the tickets, storing them in a drawer in her office. It is a reminder of the power of kindness and connection, values that have bonded her and her Sisters with this year’s team.
In Mota’s office is a modest cart where she stores the Sisters’ Spurs jerseys that they wear to the game (all their Spurs jerseys and shirts are via donation; they’ve never purchased one). She wears a Tim Duncan jersey, a nod to one of her favorite all-time players. One elder Sister, who is a Spurs fan and came to all the watch parties this season, is 93. And her actual sister — also a Spurs fan — is currently in hospice care. She doesn’t always remember things clearly. But when Mota brought her a small Spurs doll, she lit up with excitement. “Spurs!!!” she said, beaming. Mota asked if she wanted her to put the doll on the shelf, but the Sister refused. “I’m going to keep it here,” she said. A good luck charm, perhaps.
The Sisters, who receive the tickets as gifts (including four seats for the NBA Finals from a car dealership), are recognized not just on social media, but also all over San Antonio. Mota can’t go anywhere in the city without being recognized. She and some of the other Sisters were asked for a selfie in the bathroom at a recent Spurs playoff game. Before the Sisters became an internet sensation, she would occasionally be recognized in the San Antonio community by locals who knew her, who might ask her to pray for a sick parent right then and there in a grocery store, for example. But now she has thousands of fans online asking for the Sisters to pray for a Spurs victory.
Mota laughs, acknowledging that there is no special prayer. “We don’t have a Spurs routine” on a game day, either, she said. She and her Sisters live a regimented lifestyle, beginning at chapel at 6:30 a.m. whether the Spurs win or lose the night before. There is a half hour of prayer and meditation. Then Mass. Then Liturgy of the Hours. Then breakfast as a group. Then doing ministry for the day, and a midday Blessed Sacrament of prayer, before lunch as a group. Finally, rosary in the evening, spiritual reading and, finally, evening prayers.
The Sisters’ relationship with the Spurs and former coach Gregg Popovich goes back almost two decades. (Photo courtesy of Sister Bernadette Mota)
And, if the Spurs are playing, hopefully the night ends with a W.
They hope to inspire young people. “That’s the reason why we’re into sports,” Mota said. “To really be able to engage the young people where they’re at, you have to love what they love.” It is a principle originating from their founder, St. John Bosco. The Sisters feel that sports are an ideal way to reach young people and to get to know them and help them in their faith journey.
The nuns’ fame wasn’t expected, let alone planned. They hadn’t even known they were going to get courtside tickets. “None of that was staged or posed,” Mota said.
Neither was her pregame blessing of reserve Spurs center Luke Kornet, who is a devout Catholic and open about his values. Mota didn’t realize there were cameras around. She and the Sisters were just watching him warm up, and after he finished his pregame shooting, he came over and shook their hands. Mota then asked him: “Can I pray a blessing over you?” Kornet, the 7-foot-1 backup to Wembanyama, bowed. “He really had to bow down because I’m only 5-1,” Mota said, laughing. “I just said a prayer over him, really invoking the Holy Spirit and the help of our Blessed Mother to really help him to just play strong, and to not have injury, and to be a leader out there. It was a spontaneous prayer that we said over him.”
Luke Kornet getting blessed by nuns pic.twitter.com/ctFzBkqA9E
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ ohnohedidnt24) May 24, 2026
There have been other moments behind the scenes that the Sisters have cherished, such as the moment with Wembanyama in the tunnel, or when Dylan Harper’s mother, Maria, came up to them. “Sisters, thank you for everything,” Maria said to them. She then mentioned that Dylan was an alum of a Salesian school, as was she. It was a wonderful moment of connection that reminded Mota of the way faith, and sports, can bring people closer.
That is her hope for the finals, not just for their beloved Spurs but for the Knicks, too; that everyone is imbued with a sense of deeper purpose and community.
“Whether or not (the Spurs) are going to win the championship, I have no idea. The Knicks are a great team, too,” Mota said. “We’re just praying that everybody can play good, honest basketball out there. That there’s not gonna be any type of negative rivalry or anything like that. Good rivalry is good.
“We’re hoping that they can play clean, honest basketball, and then — may the best team win.”
She and her Sisters are trying to stay present in the moment.
“It’s been beautiful,” Mota said. “Society is seeing that, you know what? Faith and sports can go hand in hand.”
By Mirin Fader, via The Athletic