When Danny McVay was a young child and at church with his family, the pastor at Mount Pleasant Church offered anybody the chance to come up to the front and sing for everyone. 

McVay, being nudged by his grandmother, made his way over to his uncle, the church’s head deacon, and made an offer.

“My mom says she saw my uncle go up to the pastor, telling him that I wanted to sing,” McVay said. “Then I came up to the front, sang a song and had everyone crying. They loved it.”

Outside of the physical demands of playing on high school football teams, some players find their passion in music. While the excitement of putting on jerseys, lacing up cleats and taking to the field consumes their Friday nights, they use music as a way to relieve stress, entertain others and become closer to God.  

For Russell Christian Academy’s Moore brothers, Seger and Duke, piano was something they said they were reluctant to try at first. They had no say in the matter, however, as their parents had their older brothers all learn as well. 

Once they got the hang of the black and white keys, they saw its value for themselves.

The more I played, the more I found that it helped with stress,” Seger, a junior, said. “It got me loose before games.”

Said Duke, a sophomore, “After you start learning how to play it, and you get better at it, it’s more fun.”

McVay said he found his love for singing through his grandmother and her affinity for the Blues. He also enjoys R&B, and belts out Gospel at Mount Pleasant, mostly solo. 

In addition to his own church, the sophomore fields requests from other churches to come and sing. To him, it’s a method of preaching. 

“When you’re singing, you’re not just singing to the Lord,” McVay said. “You’re also ministering to the people and the congregation.” 

The music that Seger and Duke Moore enjoy playing on the piano differ. While Seger said he enjoys the uptempo works of composers like Mozart, Duke likes the ragtime pieces of musicians like Scott Joplin. 

Whatever they play, they enjoy doing it for others.  

“Whenever you’re around other people, they’ll ask you to play a song,” Seger said. “You play for other people.” 

McVay said his singing is a means of reaching others. 

“It’s all about getting the Word out to people,” he said. “It’s all for them.”

Along with piano, Seger Moore also knows a decent amount of Chinese, taught to him when he was homeschooled, and he chose to learn it over Spanish.

“The symbols and everything, it just looked cooler to me,” he said. “More interesting.”

He said after three years taking lessons in Chinese, he could write short characters and knew their pronunciations. While RCA doesn’t offer the language, and it’s been a while since he was learning it on a daily basis, he has retained quite a bit of it.  

“Unfortunately, I had to give it up. Didn’t really get in-depth with it,” he said. “But it just stuck with me.”

Seger Moore said he hopes to revisit Chinese some day and use his knowledge of it to his advantage. 

“I hope it’ll come back up in my life. For college purposes, scholarships,” he said. “It’ll be more beneficial.”