You can follow more about what the Timothy Project-sponsored Czech Republic team is doing in its summer soccer camp by clicking here and following the team blog.
Archive for month: June, 2012
Throughout the years, one of the questions people ask about my role as team chaplain for the Colorado Rapids is, “Do you ever kick around with the guys?”
Back in the days when I served the Colorado Rapids as a Public Relations Assistant, we used to have an annual event called the “Media Cup.” Here, there were sometimes an opportunity to play small sided games with the Rapids players, coaches, and media members to help promote awareness and build interest back in a day when soccer was trying to come into its own amongst the other professional sports like the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA.
There was a time, too, in team history, when the Rapids trained at a facility in a northern suburb and then commuted to Mile High Stadium. The training fields were wide open, and sometimes, while watching a training session as chaplain, I would help shag (chase) errant balls or clean up after a team’s training session. One particular occasion, I remember a player calling for me to kick him a ball. I took the nearest ball and struck with all my might. The result was disappointing to say the least – I am not sure if it would have been worth timing how long the ball took to get to him, but it was definitely not at the professional level that he was used to receiving on the field from his teammates.
I keep the incident in my mind to remind me of something very important (and it serves to somewhat answer the question above): as team chaplain, my main job and task is not to strike a ball like the pros that I serve. My role is to be the representative, the very presence of God to the players, coaches, staff and their families. My devotion and work is not to see how well I can compete with professional players – there is a reason they are professionals. My role is to be the best pastor, minister, chaplain, counselor, etc. that I am called to be as team chaplain. I would rather be able to pray well over a person or situation. I would rather be attuned to the emotional and spiritual needs of the athletes, coaches, staff members, and their families. These are the things that I have been made for and called to do – the ways that I can best serve.
Sometimes it can be a difficult temptation, when we find ourself working or serving in a somewhat glamorous environment to aspire to be like those we are serving or to want to show our best – but we must be careful to be the best at what God has called and created us to be, not at something that we are not.
Blessings,
Rev. Brad Kenney
CrossTraining today announced its third Timothy Project award recipient for the 2012 season. The project will feature church and Christian leader development in Mongolia to help leaders use the sport of soccer to reach out to youth and to battle against a growing epidemic of youth alcoholism and help plant 12 new churches near the Chinese border of Mongolia.
The Mongolia Project request has come from David Irby, who is part of the mission organization Surge International. Irby was recently featured in one of the 2012 CrossTrainer articles – the CrossTrainer is a monthly publication provided to the players, coaches, and staff of the Portland Timbers and Colorado Rapids.
The Timothy Project will help team members with some travel needs between the US and Mongolia for a trip in late July. More details on the mission work are viewable below:
If you would like to help support this Timothy Project, please use PayPal link below and mark your gift CXT: Mongolia. Remember that your gifts are tax-deductible when made to START Ministries.
In the buildup to the July 9 departure for the team to the Czech Republic, the first recipient of the 2012 Timothy Project, already has a story to share – and on this side of the pond.
The Cherry Hills Community Church Czech Initiative teams expect to have 25-30 players ages 15-20 attending the inaugural soccer camp from July 16th through the 20th. While the Timothy Project has been used to help provide soccer balls for the players, the team will be doing a lot more. Working alongside Czech coaches and leaders there will be a special time for camp participants. On the Tuesday afternoon of the camp,there will be an outdoor adventure training and focus on manhood. A Christian guest speaker from Prague will challenge the campers physically outdoors and then back at the church will share a message on manhood. The men on the CHCC Czech Initiative team will the follow up the next day in sharing a struggle or fear with campers – giving practical application and insight in how they dealt with it.
Please pray for the CHCC Czech Initiative team which is made up of four adult coaches and five teenage players who will integrate themselves into the camp along with the Czech teenage campers. The preparation for the trip has already had some lasting impact, below is an email from parents of one of the teenage team members:
“I am especially appreciative of the tremendous spiritual influence … on [his] faith walk. He certainly has matured spiritually in the past 12 months, but these meetings in preparation for the missions trip have been equally as helpful. So thank you … stay encouraged by the important role you play in young people’s lives.”
And CrossTraining thanks its supporters – because you are having an impact in this young man’s life and this team’s life, too.
Stay tuned for more and remember isn’t not too late to support the Czech Project. Just mark your donation CrossTraining: Czech.
The countdown is underway and the team is nearly set to go. The July 10 departure date will see a team of high school students and adults from Cherry Hills Community Church in Colorado fly to Pisek and host a soccer camp for Czech teenagers from July 14-July 22. The soccer camp is part of a larger outreach initiative to reach out to the Czech peoples.
One of the team leaders, David Guetig, recently e-mailed CrossTraining to confirm the delivery of several soccer balls acquired through the Timothy Project. “I did receive seven size 5 Nike indoor soccer balls … yesterday. They are in beautiful shape and will definitely help the team out with respect to our mission trip!”
The Czech Team still has financial needs that CrossTraining supporters can help with. Among some of the needs are for camper t-shirt costs. Make your donation out to CrossTraining: Czech in order to support this Timothy Project today.
Happy Father’s Day to fathers today.
Working as the team chaplain for the Colorado Rapids for the last 11 seasons means that I have spent a lot of time around the sport of soccer. Whether attending or watching games or watching training sessions, much of my free time has been spent around the “world’s game.” I even had a brief stint as coach for a U-12/13 (“u” means under) girls soccer team for a local youth soccer club to earn some extra money while in seminary.
Now, with four daughters of my own, people often ask – “When are you going to put your kids in soccer?” It is a question that I wrestle with personally. Perhaps, it is because I have been around the game so much. I have definitely formed some opinions and considerations about the youth game, a few of which I will share with here.
First, let me say, that soccer and sport in general is not for everyone (individually) or every family. My oldest daughter (nearly 9 years old), is athletic and certainly capable of playing, but as a father I must work within a delicate balance. Does my child have a desire to play (or participate)? This question, could be applied to many different types of activities – from piano lessons to horseback riding to competitive sports. As a father, it is part of my role (along with mom) to make sure that our children are growing and developing (i.e. not letting them beg out of activities like soccer just to sit around and watch TV). I remember a couple years ago, asking my daughter if she wanted to play soccer. Her response? “Dad, I just like to play in the yard with friends.” And I see that as a father – it is ok. I don’t feel the need to push my daughter to be Mia Hamm and pursue professional soccer at this point in her life.
A second consideration around youth soccer is the investment that a person and family makes. There is travel time, practice time, game time, injuries, fees, uniforms, and equipment expenses – none of these may be overwhelming at first glance, but here is where the consideration of the family must take place. Our family values gathering around the dinner table and sharing a meal, talking about our day, being together – this is more difficult when you and your child are leaving the practice fields at 6:30 or later at night. While soccer might be something that an individual plays, it has an impact on more than just the individual and each family must evaluate the cost.
Another consideration for me is the atmosphere around youth soccer. Perhaps more so on the boys’ side – but the competitive sphere tends to bring out the worst, especially in parents. Admittedly, in my time coaching U12 girls, there was a lot of shouting going – but from my side trying to instruct girls in the midst of the game. From the other side of the pitch, the parents were often bemoaning the officials (sometimes even me) or the other team or other parents. This is a sad part of youth sports culture – fathers and mothers yelling at each other, yelling at officials and often to the embarrassment and disdain of their children. “It’s just a game?” For many today soccer (and other competitive sport environments) are not just a game – they are a stepping stone to something else. Perhaps it is a scholarship at a college or other types of awards or accolades. These are not inherently bad things, but often in the pursuit of them the bad character of people comes out.
Finally, and perhaps most grieving for me, from where I have been as chaplain for these many years, I have seen personally the devastation in people’s lives when they forsake God for the god of soccer. I have watched parents and players alike, become addicted to the drug of sport. And usually family life, church, and spiritual life are the casualties. The emphasis on the physical training and the physical pursuit of the sport trumps the spiritual. In the end, when soccer fails to produce what people so eagerly want to achieve, there are spiritual skeletons that limp through life. Now, this is not true of all parents and children who put their children into youth sports – but for those without regard or consideration for how youth sport impacts faith and family it is certainly a dangerous threat.
In the end, I realize that some of these words might seem hard or harsh. Some of you may think that I hate soccer (or youth sports) or that I am a bad or unfair father. But my primary responsibility to my family and to my children is to raise them in the ways of God and to take great care in their spiritual, emotional, and mental development as well as in the physical. In other words, dads, we are called to be more than just soccer dads. We are called to be God-honoring, God-modeling fathers “train(ing) a child in the way he should go, (so that) when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
Blessings,
Rev. Brad Kenney
The typical coaching contract for coaches in Major League Soccer is three years, though the average length of stay is somewhere closer to 2 years (2.3 according to one source). If those statistics are comparative (there is some question to how scientific) to other leagues, then MLS coaches are among the lowest in terms of average length of stay among professional sports leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB) as suggested by this New York Times article written in 2008. So what has to happen in that 2.3 years that an MLS coach takes the reins? There are several things that a new head coach must undertake, but before looking at a few important tasks, let’s look at a few reasons for changes in the management of a club.
1. Rebuilding – a typical reason for replacing a head coach in professional sport is because of an under-performing team. Here, ownership and fans alike, often give new coaches leniency in the demands for the teams improvement. The coach works to rebuild (sometimes with a few remaining pieces or from the “ground-up”) by bringing in new staff (loyal or familiar to the coach) and making a lot of personnel decisions (players, strategy, tactics, etc.). Rebuilding situations can often garner a coach more than the average length of stay provided that team executives see marked improvement and progress.
2. Replacing – the truth is, in the world of business and sport, people fall out of favor. Relationships sour, opinions and philosophies differ, and people sometimes just plainly do not get along. Other reasons for replacing may not be for the typical, negative situations that occur in sport – for example, a head coach leaving for a better or higher position or retiring. Replacing can present challenges for a new head coach depending on the type of legacy and success that a previous coach may have had. Sometimes this can create tremendous pressure – the new head coach being called on to live up to certain high expectations (from the past or for the future).
But, whatever the reason(s) for making a change at the helm, there are certain tasks for a new head coach to accomplish that are critical within that short time frame. I suggest a few below:
1. Cast a vision – the biblical adage “Without vision the people will perish” (Exodus 32:35) holds true for teams in sport as well as people in nations. If a team (and all the components that comprise a team) does not know where it is going and have someone to lead them there, there will be a tremendous amount of struggle and discontent.
2. Build unity – not everyone will agree with the philosophy or practice of the top man. And many will show their true colors within a short amount of time – a coach has to deal with those who are not unified in the vision and direction of the team because those who are not on board will in the least slow down the progress of a team or at the worst, disrupt and thwart the teams direction.
3. Achieve success – regardless of words and promises of ownership and executive management, a modicum of success is desired. Sometimes those results are tangibly laid out before coaches as targets to reach. Subjectivity comes to play with each organization on the realistic nature of those particular goals.
While not an exhaustive list of coaching tasks, the above is fairly representative of some basic demands on a head coach in any sport (and many of these can translate into the work force as well). The question remains though, can a head coach accomplish these things in 2.3 years (MLS)? There are other influencing factors for consideration (for example, how supportive a team owner may be – whether in resourcing or financing or how much power or control is given to a head coach, etc.) that may make one coaching situation easier or more difficult than another, but hopefully it is clear to see how difficult it is to keep coaching.
Friends reading this, you might wonder why this musing and contemplation – but it is a consideration that weighs heavily on the team chaplain. If the average length of stay in MLS is 2.3 years, that is not long for building trust, relationship, and investing into someone’s life – especially, when this work is often limited to the time and resource constraints of one or two individuals. I would ask that your prayers be two-fold: first, for the chaplains of CrossTraining as we minister to people in this volatile work environment. Second, for the coaches and individuals themselves, as many have families and others dependent upon them. It can be a traumatic and difficult task to “keep coaching” as it means likely and frequent upheavals and moves, immense pressure and burdens to succeed, and difficulty in opening up and trusting others (like the chaplain) who serve for many years under many different coaches or leaders.
If my words of encouragement to a coach are “keep coaching,” then perhaps the word to us chaplains in sport might be “keep chaplaining.” And God willing, we will do so.
Blessings,
Rev. Brad Kenney
The longer I serve as team chaplain, the more I am reminded that not all stories are equal. Let me explain what I mean: sometimes, in our different roles and positions, we can become so engrained and entrenched in the day to day that we forget to see people uniquely. We can fall into the trap of thinking that people’s backgrounds and experiences are similar to our own.
A Chinese proverb has stuck with me for a long time and I use it frequently, “A fish in water doesn’t know it is wet.” Those words are a constant reminder to me to not become so enmeshed (whether in the work or ministry or everyday trappings of life) that I fail to see or recognized that someone’s story might be drastically different from my own. Now, I am not talking about making assumptions that everyone has a similar Anglo background, I am talking about failing to seek out what makes a person (and their life story unique). For the fish (in the proverb) it only comes to an understanding of water life when it has been removed from the life-giving environment it was created for and placed outside. There needs to be awareness before being removed so that there is appreciation and healthy respect of the “other.”
The recent article on Colorado Rapids Head Coach Oscar Pareja reminded me of this tendency and the need to “discover” each new story that has come to the Rapids team this year. Pareja spent years in Major League Soccer, and his adjustment to American culture, his ability to speak English fluently, and other considerations make it difficult (from the outside) to sometimes remember to look for that special story. But Pareja has a life and history that go beyond his time here in America and if I simply limit my relationship to that part of his life, I will lose (and will dishonor) those other parts of his life and story that make him who God has been making him to be. And the truth is that we all have special and unique elements to the journey that God has had us on – and it is the task, it is the responsibility, and privilege of the chaplain (and really each of us) to stop, listen, and remember that not all stories are equal.
Blessings,
Rev. Brad Kenney
Thanks to the generosity of CrossTraining supporters, CrossTraining, through the Timothy Project, was able to provide several Nike futsal indoor soccer balls for the mission team from Cherry Hills Community Church in Colorado to take with them for their upcoming trip in July.
The team leaves July 10 and will be in country for two weeks, conducting a soccer clinic/camp for youth in the city of Pisek amongst other activities. The team has spent years building relationships in Pisek and has usually conducted basketball camps, until this year when it will host the first soccer camp and clinic. You can read more about the team’s trip and plans by clicking the link here. And check back to our website for periodic updates, pictures, and reports on the work.
You can still support the work and needs for this Timothy Project by praying, or even making a donation via PayPal below and marking your gift CXT: Czech.