Popular content
August 07, 2007
Set:
This summer I volunteered as a Huddle Leader at an FCA sports camp. I learned that God can use anyone with an open heart in ways I couldn't even begin to imagine. Coming into camp I thought that the only way God was going to use me was to speak His word through me in my Huddle. Boy, was I wrong. God had another plan.
In the last couple of years, God has blessed me with the gift of excitement. Absolutely everything fills me with joy, whether it be a smile, the clouds in they sky or just the smell of fresh air. God fills me with an insane amount of energy, and I just can't keep it in. He gives us so many little blessings every day, and I just cannot help but want to share them with everyone around me.
August 30, 2006
Set:
"I worked very hard. I felt I could play the game. The only thing that could stop me was myself. . ." This kind of quote has been said by many athletes over the years. This one in particular was said by former MLB pitcher Jim Abbott.
Abbott was/is an incredible athlete. He played three sports in high school and went on to the University of Michigan to play baseball. He eventually ended up in the majors and even pitched a no-hitter. But what is truly amazing about Jim Abbott is that he did all of this with only one hand. He knew he had the ability, but his own weakness was the only thing holding him back.
December 15, 2010
Set:
I remember sitting at an FCA Camp in Marshall, Ind., when I was in high school and believing that I could conquer anything, Over the last five to seven years, I’ve grown to miss that feeling. After a period of spiritual dryness, I have now started once again to look for ways to build my faith. I started to read the Bible more and am doing devotions to help me get closer to God.
Through the help of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, I came up with a simple method called “SUN UP.” It stands for Scripture Understanding Navigate Under Prayer.
June 09, 2010
Set:
This weekend I ran my first 25k. It was a great experience, one that I will definitely try again. It was easy to find inspiration all around. There were athletes in wheelchairs competing, a father pushing his disabled son through the race, and people wearing shirts bearing the name of a sick loved one.
March 08, 2010
Set:
After an All-American college basketball career at Kansas State University, Shalee Lehning experienced a breakout rookie season in the WNBA as a guard for the Atlanta Dream. Not only did she help the team set a franchise record in wins, but also ranked individually among the top 10 in the WNBA in total assists. Now between pro seasons, Lehning is serving as an assistant coach at her alma mater under Coach Deb Patterson.
September 10, 2010
Set:
Hockey Chat: We’ve all had the dreams of playing in the big leagues at sometime in our lives. For most of us, we’ve taken a different road in life but we are still grateful to be skating. So what if we never made it. We still love the game and enjoy playing it.
September 10, 2010
Set:
Hockey Chat: Some players try to cheat by making it look like they were fouled. Maybe they got bumped but they make it look like they’ve been hit by a truck. The technical term for this is “Diving” and it is a penalty that will cost the guy trying to twist the system two minutes in the penalty box and possibly up to $1000 fine.
May 28, 2009
Set:
This summer, many coaches and athletes will come to know Christ through the camp ministry of FCA. Every year, there is a new theme for FCA Camp, and this year it is “GET FOCUSED.” As coaches and athletes we often prepare for competition by getting focused in different ways. We may read Scripture, listen to music, talk to ourselves or do other pre-game rituals.
October 09, 2008
Set:
For nearly 30 years, Betsy King spent the majority of her time on the golf course. In most people’s opinion—whether sports analysts or average fans—she did some pretty significant things in a career that resulted in 34 LPGA Tour event titles, 6 major championships, and inductions into the World Golf Hall of Fame (1995) and the LPGA Hall of Fame (2000).
Yet while King was racking up every accolade available within the realm of professional women’s golf, a nagging doubt lingered about the importance of her role as an athlete and what life after sports might look like. Those thoughts were intensified after she read the book Half Time: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance by Bob Buford.
April 11, 2006
Set:
As an athlete your job is fairly simple in some ways – just listen to the coach and do what he or she tells you to do. But this doesn’t guarantee success because the coach does make mistakes and will at times fall short in his or her instruction.
Of course a driven athlete would never be completely satisfied with what only one coach has to say. The driven athlete may go to a better coach and seek advice or read a book for additional input, or even watch a video to gain some direction.
July 31, 2010
Set:
Every single person is in a position to lead…it doesn’t matter how good you are at your sport, or how popular you are on your campus, every person has the opportunity to influence other people.
I played JV soccer this past year at my high school, but I’m friends with all of the Varsity guys and I would always talk and hangout with them.
September 10, 2010
Set:
Hockey Chat: Coach Jack Parker of the Boston University has helped to lift players to new heights and ultimately to the NHL. As Chris Drury, the Captain of the Bufalo Sabers said, “He is so revered. His name carries a lot of weight. He teaches things I still carry today.”
September 28, 2006
Set:
After a meeting, my co-worker and I stopped at one of our favorite wings places to enjoy one of God's greatest snacks. As we munched on our wings we watched the press conference about Terrell Owens and his recent pain-killer overdose, or whatever it was. Whether or not it was a suicide attempt is unclear -- T.O. denies it -- but the situation still brought up a great discussion.
May 13, 2010
Set:
If you had to guess, what would you say is the hardest thing to do in sports? Win a national championship? Go undefeated for a season? Maybe just winning your conference if the competition is tough. Or, you could say it is an individual action like sinking a hole-in-one or hitting a 90-mph fastball. To be honest, though, I would have to say that none of these is the hardest thing to do in sports. I personally think the toughest thing we can do is to play and coach like Jesus.
Now, hopefully we all understand that competing for and like Christ doesn’t involve being a doormat. The Bible I read doesn’t tell me to be a pushover for the competition. If we look at the verses from Philippians 2:1-4, we see a description of how we are to compete for His glory.
August 17, 2006
Set:
As an athlete how many times have you wanted to quit, or just stop and give up? I know as a cross country runner there are times when it's just too hot, and I don't want to run, so I stop and walk, even though I know it will only put me at a disadvantage later. It's just so tempting when that person who's usually behind you passes you, or someone in front of you starts walking. It's times like these when we need something many of us lack: perseverance and endurance.
June 28, 2006
Set:
How many of us today are aware of somebody who just doesn't like us? We all have people in our lives who try to put us down. As athletes, we encounter others who seek to break our confidence. Even more so, as Christians, we face individuals who do not understand our faith or our love for Christ and who, therefore, fear what they do not know.
April 07, 2008
Set:
Josh Davis is thankful for a lot of things. He’s accomplished greatness as a world-class swimmer, winning a combined five Olympic medals (including three gold medals) and breaking American and world records. As a family man, he is a devoted husband and proud father of five children. Davis is also thankful to have a nice house and a big car that’s spacious enough for the entire bunch. He even has had a building named after him—the Josh Davis Natatorium—in his hometown of San Antonio.
It certainly sounds great, but Davis will be the first to admit that everything on that list and more doesn’t mean much without one key ingredient.
September 14, 2006
Set:
In my opinion, basketball is the best sport in the world. I love the rush of playing it. Now, I'm a post player, so I'm not exactly the smallest person in the world, and the whole conditioning aspect of things during practice is not my favorite. There would be days when coach would say, "Everybody to the baseline," and I would slug over to the line dreading what we were going to have to run.
March 30, 2010
Set:
Does the word “wait” cause the hair on the back of your neck to rise like it does mine? As an endurance athlete, a lot of my training can last for several hours. An example would be during one of my former marathon trainings. One week I had a 20-mile run scheduled. Before the first mile was completed I was already thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if this was mile 19 and I only had one mile to go?” I was wishing that I could fast-forward through my run and just see the end results.
November 01, 2008
Set:
Upon arriving in Atlanta for the National Wheelchair Championships, the stewardess informed me that they had forgotten my manual wheelchair in Minneapolis when I had changed planes. Fortunately, they had remembered to load my racing chair, but it arrived with a huge crack in the back wheel frame. I knew that there was no way I’d be racing with that!
As I sat in the claims office, filing reports on these two wheelchairs, I thought back to some verses that I had memorized from Psalm 56:3-4:
When I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
These verses calmed my heart. I didn’t know if I’d be racing, but I knew that God was in control of everything.
November 21, 2008
Set:
The PGA Tour is a tough stage on which to perform. However, getting on the Tour is even tougher. “Q-School,” as it is called, is a tournament held in which hopeful players compete to make the cut and try to qualify for the following year’s Tour. One such player is J.P. Hayes. Hayes was not on Tour in 2008, but he is quite the accomplished golfer. As he played his second round at Q-School on the twelfth hole here is what happened according to the sports blog on Yahoo!:
April 11, 2006
Set:
Rulon Gardner and Dremiel Byers were both vying for one spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic wrestling team. Gardner was the 2000 Olympic gold medalist and 2001 World Champion and Byers the 2002 World Champion. Gardner won a pair of 2-1 overtime matches at the Olympic trials, and Byers laid down his pride and went to Athens to help prepare his friend for another gold medal run by serving as his training partner. Gardner came home with the bronze medal and a gold medal friend. Would he have done the same for Byers? No doubt about it!
October 26, 2006
Set:
As we stood at the starting line for this year's Chicago Marathon, every runner knew that the day would be vastly different than other autumn days. Not only did we need to run the 26.2 miles ahead of us, but we would need to do so while the temperature was expected to be in the 80's with high humidity. It would truly be a test of endurance.
August 06, 2009
Set:
It was a beautiful day in the Windy City. A hot dog, a Pepsi and a ballgame at Wrigley Field. . . What could be better? The game was going just as I wanted it to go. My team was scoring run after run, but the crowd was turning ugly. People were getting upset and starting to leave. Finally, after he'd had just about enough, the little boy sitting next to me pulled on my sleeve and asked, "Mister, who are you cheering for anyway?" You see, I am Reds fan, and the Reds handled the Cubs that day pretty easily. I left the game a happy fan.
February 27, 2007
Set:
After nearly one year of controversy off the field, the Duke lacrosse team returned to action in their 2007 season opener and defeated Dartmouth 17-11 in front of a crowd of 6,500. Rape allegations caused the university to suspend the team from play in March of 2006. The lacrosse program was reinstated later that June, and upon returning to practice, senior captain Matt Danowski was overflowing with thankfulness for the opportunity to compete again. "I can say personally I definitely appreciate it more. I took it for granted. We took going to the national championship game for granted. And playing games on Saturdays in front of fans, I took that for granted."
