The Heart of the Champion was the theme for the 6th Annual Day of Champions held in Azusa on March 29th, 2008. Under the capable leadership of Carrie Seawright director of the VIVA AZUSA, over 100 children participated in this outreach. Carrrie organized the event with numerous volunteers providing lunch, an incredible fun filled environment and prizes for all the children.
The Seahorses count in an honor to come along para-church programs like this and serve the community through soccer.
After getting organized the children were divided into three gourps where they played either Steal the Bacon, World Cup, Shooter-Keeper (Line Soccer) under the guidance of Seahorses Coach Chris (Rus); Captain Planet (Evan Cox) and Rumpelskillskin (Todd Elkins). The coaches also shared three characters essential for having a Champion’s Heart: Hard work, Enthusiasm andTenacity. Before the handing out of the awards at the end, Coach Pablo (Shedd) spoke to the children and their families about the Ultimate Champion-Jesus Christ!
A huge thank you goes out to all who paticipated in this great day of fun with the challenge of seeking after having a Champion’s Heart.
For the Seahorses it is joy to get in the community and share the love of Jesus through soccer. It is icing on the cake when we are able to parner with churches and other gourps. A big thank you to Kelly Warner (Sports Pastor at Whitier Area Commnicty Chruch), who organized the event. The local newspaper Whittier Daily News states: “Whittier Area Community Church, in conjunction with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes from Whittier High School, sponsored "Say Yes Sports Day" March 9 for 120 underprivileged children from Southern California "Say Yes" centers for youth development. Each child participated in a soccer, basketball and baseball clinic. Children also received a commemorative shirt and a bag filled with items. Michael Varos, the athletic director and varsity basketball coach at Whittier High School, headed the basketball portion and had several of his students helping to run the clinic. Paul Shedd and Aaron Kramer of the Southern California Seahorses ran the soccer clinics and Ben Orr of Called Up Baseball Camps conducted the baseball clinic.”
See some pictures: http://www.whittierdailynews.com/youthsports/ci_8616597?source=email
On December 15th several Seahorse players and friends made their way down to Tecate, Mexico to partner with Rincon Baptist Church. The day was spent playing soccer, doing some crafts with the children that Whittier Area Community Church had donated and just hanging out with whoever came by the field. We took some time from the activities and player Dany Serpas shared about gifts with an emphasis on God’s gift of Jesus Christ.
A trip like this is an encouragement to the local church leaders, gives credibility for their work with the youth and is a tremendous opportunity for the Seahorses to share Christ through soccer cross culturally. Our hope and prayer is that the local leaders will catch the vision of using soccer to share the love of Christ in a well organized and structured format such as a church based soccer league. The Seahorses thank all those who chose on this day to be a part of what God is doing in Tecate, Mexico.
