Summer blur...

Well, the summer season is well upon us and I've got 2 camps already under my belt, so to speak, with quite a few more awaiting my attention. As usual, during this season, either it's crazy-busy working 14-20 hour days or sick-in-bed in the break whilst gearing up for the next camp, but I praise God for my favorite season of year, despite the extra work - I really enjoy working with the younger kids again (lately I've been working mostly with youth and young adults during the school-year activities)! It truly is a blessing to be in sport and with kids and to see the joy on their faces when learning something new...

Euro 2012 Football Camp

First, we had a Euro 2012 football (soccer) camp with the Nadiya and Dzherelo soccer clubs where we had the kids divided into 16 teams (like Euro 2012) and lead a tournament-style camp. It was a lot of fun and the kids made their country's flags and learned some facts about the country they played for. At the end of camp, each kid received a new testament with Psalms & Proverbs in a modern, easy-to-read translation with a traditional embroidery-inspired cover. A few of the kids enjoyed it so much that they were already reading it quite a bit.

Last week, we had FCA Powercamp, a multi-sport camp run by the local FCA in cooperation with 5 churches and volunteer coaches from several churches and missions. We taught 10 sports each day in 5 different locations throughout the city (2 sports per location each day), with the coaches rotating through the 5 locations, so that by the end of camp each location had had all 10 sports. Many of the sports are fairly unusual sports for here: lacrosse, baseball/softball, Ultimate, floorball, American football, rugby, as well as some more usual ones like basketball, football (soccer), volleyball, and fun games. All in all, close to 250 children were in this camp, many of which attended the closing ceremonies on the last day of camp in one of the city's small stadiums. In this camp, I helped coach baseball/softball, my favorite "regular" type of sport. During the week, I realized just how much I've missed being involved in this sport, and am praying about the invitation to help with softball starting this fall.

FCA Powercamp 2012 - "In the Zone"

Summer is a great time to make the most of the summer school holidays to invest your time, energy, and love into the hearts of children and youth who need a big brother/sister to show them the unconditional love of their Creator. So, if you're not already involved in some kind of volunteer work during the summer season, think and pray about how you can be involved - you don't need to sporty or super-mobile for this, just willing to share a hug or a kind word with a kid in need. :)