Siblings and Sports Camp

Ben and Emily are siblings who attended sports camp for the first time this year. Ben’s sport was baseball, a sport he has played since before Kindergarten. Emily chose soccer, a sport she has never played. One of the many beauties of sports camp is that athletes can grow in their sport whether they have been playing for years or just for a short time.

After carpooling two hours with three other campers, they checked in and headed to their rooms to drop off their stuff. Ben didn’t know his roommates, and Emily knew one of hers, but everyone quickly became friends. Another beauty of sports camp – a lot of intentionality so that campers have many opportunities to build authentic relationships with their huddle members and leaders.

When asked his favorite takeaway from the evening sessions, Ben paused and said, “Well, I fell asleep at one of them” (he blames the 100-degree days, the extra-hot turf fields, and how hard he played), but the quote that stuck with him most was this: “A Bible that is falling apart belongs to someone who isn’t.” As he thinks about starting high school in the fall, he knows he needs God to get him through life’s challenges, and he wants that quote to become true of him.

Although Emily’s passion in sports is pole-vaulting and she may never play soccer on a team, she enjoyed being active, learning new skills, and building relationships with her huddle. She also took some key points on what it looks like to pursue God from the evening speaker, Hans Nelson. Her favorite takeaway was the concept of an “Audience of One.” She said it means, “Don’t care what everyone else thinks. Just care what God thinks.” She knows it will help take the pressure off as she trains and competes but more importantly will remind her to be a light for Christ as she seeks to bring Him glory in her pursuits.

The Huddle

Ben moved to a new town this year and has struggled with finding his place and establishing deep connections on his teams. His huddle was different. He said, “No one made fun of anyone. If someone made a mistake, they encouraged them to do better next time. They helped me be more self-confident.” This group of guys from Minnesota and Wisconsin were fast friends, and now he has a bunch of guys and a huddle leader he can reach out to when he needs encouragement. 

It was similar with Emily’s huddle. She said, “We laughed a lot.” Even though she went to camp with her friend, Renae, they were intentional about getting to know other girls. “We always sat by different people and walked with different people from our huddle,” said Emily. Her huddle exchanged phone numbers and now follow each other on social media. She is excited to get together with some of the girls from her huddle who live within an hour of her. Her huddle coach also gave her number to the girls and encouraged them to reach out if they needed help. She’s already checked in with Emily.

The Takeaway: Boldness

At the end of camp, they were asked how they wanted to respond to camp. Ben and Emily both want to be bolder in their faith. They committed to praying for God to give them opportunities to step outside their comfort zones and to share their faith with more people around them.

Ben and Emily were only two of 240 campers. Each camper’s story is unique yet similar. The design of the huddle to quickly build deep relationships, the hours of hard work toward the goal of becoming a better athlete, morning quiet times and evening sessions to challenge campers to grow in their relationships with Christ . . . it was consistent for all campers, but God drew each camper to Himself in a different way.