One win from a storybook finish to his collegiate career at Cal Poly, Chase Pami lost the 157-pound NCAA title match in 2010. That loss—and his subsequent wrestling with the Lord over it—eventually spurred the Las Vegas native to new depths in his faith. Now training with Team USA to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Pami is teaming with FCA Wrestling to share Christ from his new platform.
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Heart of an Athlete: Rex Burkhead, Nebraska Football
“Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24
Without professional sports in their state, the citizens of Nebraska have elevated their Cornhusker football team to pro status—living for each Saturday in the fall. This fact isn’t lost on senior running back Rex Burkhead, who has used his four years in front of Big Red Nation to spread the saving message of his Savior, Jesus Christ.
California Kid
Depending on your perspective, 95 yards can be a long or a short distance. A car moving at 70 mph would cover that ground in 2.8 seconds. A competitive sprinter would take closer to 10. For a 19-year-old freshman quarterback leading his football team on a potential game-winning drive in one of college football’s most intimidating environments? Well, 95 yards might look more like 95 continents.
For USC quarterback Matt Barkley, those 95 yards were what he’d been waiting for since he was a kid dreaming of wearing the University of Southern California cardinal and gold.
Home Court
In the tight-knit community of Middleburg, Fla., residents have a history of showing support and commitment to their neighbors. So when Middleburg High School Volleyball Coach Carrie Prewitt got word that one of her players and her two younger sisters were headed for foster care, she knew what God was calling her to do.
West Texas Fire
On Oct. 10, students across the nation will pack their local football stadiums, standing shoulder to shoulder on a cool fall night. The crowds won’t be drawn in for matchups against big rivals, but for a far more powerful and important cause—the salvation of their classmates and the opportunity to share Jesus’ love at a Fields of Faith event.
Heart of a Coach: Kristin Steele, MidAmerica Nazarene Volleyball
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
MidAmerica Nazarene University volleyball coach Kristin Steele’s favorite verse from Scripture is Jeremiah 29:11, in which the Lord declares, “For I know the plans I have for you…” She’s living proof, as she followed His guiding, not her own, from standout collegiate volleyball player to collegiate volleyball coach years ago. Now in her third season at MNU, Steele is pushing her Pioneers to new levels of success on the court and deeper relationships with the Lord away from it.
Prepare for Takeoff
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With the leadership of staff members and relationships with colleges in the state, FCA is set to soar in Utah.
Heart of an Athlete: Brittany Poist
Chosen Topic: Teamwork
Dictionary definition: “The cooperative or effort of a group of persons acting in the interests of a common cause.”
My definition: “Putting the team’s goals and needs above my own. It goes hand in hand with selflessness and can be seen in every player and coach on successful teams.”
Heart of an Athlete: Rachel Hockaday
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” – Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)
This season hasn’t exactly turned out the way Iowa State volleyball player Rachel Hockaday planned. As a junior outside hitter, Hockaday was set to be a key component in the Cyclones’ success but suffered a season-ending knee injury just 12 points into the first match of the year. As STV’s November “Heart of an Athlete,” Hockaday had fielded our interview before the season, but, after the circumstances changed, she was kind enough to give us a few more minutes on the phone and tell us how the Lord has worked through this new challenge.
Wright on Time
The late John Wooden believed success was contingent on timing;every play required precision. Wooden drilled his players in practice, repeating schemes step-by-step until everyone was in sync, every movement a flawless execution.
WNBA guard Monica Wright knows about timing, too.
Rolling On
Year after year, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide battles for college football’s national championship, and this season should be no different on the field. But this fall, life itself is different in Tuscaloosa.
Against All Odds
Colorado Christian coach Tim Hays' unlikely journey from FCA staff to Australia to national champion
The Maine Thing
On a recent Monday evening, 5’9” University of Maine guard Amanda Tewksbury stood before the school’s entire men’s hockey team and shared her faith in Jesus Christ. Her powerful stance belied her diminutive frame as she boldly shared about FCA, about God and about how He has worked in her life.
“Maybe not physically, but spiritually, Amanda Tewksbury is as tough as any football player out there,” Maine FCA Area Representative Bob McClure said. “She’s not afraid of sharing her faith. As she approaches other athletes and coaches on campus, she’s not afraid to show who she is.”
Homestretch: Kevin Ollie
Los Angeles has so many potential distractions and pitfalls for young kids growing up there. But, in my own life, because God had blessed me with a solid faith in Him through the instruction of my mother, I was able to avoid most of them.
Lone Star Leader
For the three Witten brothers, family life was once enjoyable. Growing up in Vienna, Va., a bustling suburb of Washington, D.C., their childhoods were filled with rambunctiousness and athletics. Their father, Ed, was a huge sports fan, so he signed up Ryan, Shawn and Jason for two football leagues — a city league in Vienna and a Fairfax County league. He put them in two basketball leagues, too. He taught the boys to run, throw, catch and dribble. It was a warm slice of Americana. But, over time, the Hallmark moments were less and less frequent. Ed and his wife, Kim, hit financial straits. Alcohol and drugs added to a charged atmosphere.
Baseball in the Bay
Rigo Lopez sounded tired, but satisfied. It was a crisp November evening in Palo Alto, Calif., and Lopez, an upbeat Bay Area FCA area representative, had just concluded two long days of camps. Coordinating a four-hour baseball clinic at Santa Clara University that featured major leaguers, minor leaguers and college players as instructors would have been plenty of work by itself. But the next day, Lopez and the local FCA saff hosted a similar four-hour softball camp 30 minutes away at Stanford University.
Home Stretch: Tyler Zeller
Believe me, I realize how blessed my life has been. My parents are strong Christians who raised my brother and me to go to church every Sunday and develop a relationship with God. My brother, Luke, who played basketball at the University of Notre Dame, was very influential in my spiritual growth. We were both in small groups while in high school, and we learned a lot about the Lord during that time.
Following Her Leader
A passionate pursuit of the Lord ultimately led Sue Semrau to Florida State and forever changed the course of the Seminole program and players.
Heart of a Coach: Tim Bogar
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
A major league third-base coaching box is no place for the indecisive. For Tim Bogar—the man who holds the position for the Boston Red Sox—every split-second decision he makes carries tremendous weight not only for the team, but also for the die-hard fans at Fenway Park. But as a former player himself, Bogar isn’t intimidated by the situation. Instead, he draws on his faith in Christ and finds the strength to bravely face each day, each game and each play.
Empathy
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I was thinking overnight about some of the qualities that enable sports chaplains and sports mentors to be most effective in their work with coaches and competitors. One of those is empathy. Empathy is the ability to see situations from another’s point of view, to even feel what the other is feeling. Empathy shapes our attitudes and aligns our hearts and emotions to be most effective at communicating God’s heart in any given situation.
Air It Out
STV profiles D-I quarterbacks to watch this winter -- those who compete for more than the glory of the gridiron.
Included: Florida QB Tim Tebow, Texas QB Colt McCoy and Tennessee QB Erik Ainge.
Role Reversal
Failure threatened to expose Coach Scott Glabb. He slumped against the door frame of the Santa Ana High School wrestling room and watched the last of his wrestlers exit the school after practice. But could he even call it a practice? He’d wasted the first 15 minutes searching for the keys to his office after his athletes had locked him out … again. And when he’d finally gotten to the wrestling room, he’d found that half of his team was missing. Of the few who had shown up, two were set to exchange blows over allegedly stolen wrestling shoes, and one appeared to be intoxicated.
Unity in the Community
The circle on the Morehouse College football field spanned from the 10 yard-line to midfield. Locked arm-in-arm were football players, cheerleaders, coaches, administrators and volunteers from both sides of the rivalry.
Morehouse and Clark Atlanta. They’re two of Georgia’s 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and, even more specifically, two of the four undergraduate colleges seated on a single 200-acre lot on the west end of downtown Atlanta.
Restored
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Have you ever fallen into the pit of despair, landing in a pool of your toxic mistakes and filthy sin? There in the depths you gaze in doubt at the slippery walls of consequence that rise 20 feet above you on all sides. “I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold,” describes the psalmist in 69:2 (NIV).
We’ve all been down there—we’ve all experienced deep anguish. But, if you read further, you find that the psalmist escapes. “Praise the Lord, O my soul,” he shouts, “who redeems your life from the pit!” (103:2-4, NIV).
The story told in the Psalms is familiar to Mississippi State senior Alexandria Hagler.
Beginner's Guide to FCA
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The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is the largest Christian campus ministry in the world. It is on more campuses than the next three largest campus ministries combined. In the past year, FCA reached more than 350,000 people on over 7,100 campuses and worked with more than 46,000 coaches and athletes at camps across the globe.
The numbers for this ministry are staggering. Still, even though it's been around since 1954, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a mystery to many. Even the late Tom Landry, legendary Dallas Cowboys’ coach and lifetime trustee of FCA, used to call FCA “America’s best-kept secret.”
Most people have at least heard of it, but some of them can’t really say for sure what FCA is all about.
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