Urban Eagles U12 Tournament 1

So Friday night Urban Eagles had its first Under 12 tournament of the season.  49 kids 12 and under from all three neighborhoods came out to Elon Park for a night of fun, family, food, and of course, soccer and the Gospel.  The Under 18 team from my neighborhood had the opportunity to be the coaches.  Each U12 team had at least two U18 coaches plus and adult.  The night was wonderful.  Our kids did such a good time leading and encouraging the younger kids.  At practice on thursday we went over what it meant to be a coach and sort of what Friday was going to look like.  I read from Galatians 6 and encouraged the kids that they have the opportunity to sow seeds into the younger kids.  I truly believed they did just this on Friday.  Between being excited and engaged coaches to sharing the gospel, our kids created a really cool environment for the younger kids.  I believe having quality older kids to look up to will do incredible things for the lives of the U12s.  

At the end of our night our team put on a skit to help start to explain the gospel.  I was so proud of them.  They nailed it!

Commitment Crisis

If you have already read my update from August, then you know how excited I was about player buy in.  Well since then I have learned that player buy in doesn’t necessarily mean team buy in.  In the first two weeks of our season we had four players quit the team and seven more skip a practice or school – both commitments and requirements to be on the team.  We think in some ways they were testing the waters with what they could get away with.  

Our first game this past Wednesday we had to play defending champs Grier Heights.  But the consequences of missing school or practice means a player is supposed to miss a whole half.  Well with a roster of thirteen and seven suppose to miss the first half, we started the game only with six player. It was really interesting to try and watch our 4 -1 defend against eleven players.  After ten minutes and two conceded goals we put five more players on the pitch and ended up only losing 3-1.  Even though we lost it was a really good teaching point.  

All of the players were exhausted and cramping after the game, but the experience helped them see the importance of being a team – or as we like to say – a family.  When one player misses practice or breaks our team agreements, the whole team suffers.  They got to experience that suffering together.  While I don’t its soon enough to say a culture of commitment has been completely created, we have already seen some signs of change.  Hopefully this process will continue to progress.

Summer Monthly Updates

A look at some of the monthly updates I've sent out.  Sorry their delayed but I've figured out how to get them up on here.  If you haven't seen them yet, sweet, here they are.

Why Does This Blog Exist

I’m two months into this thing and I guess I should start sharing about what I am doing.  For the next year I will be interning with an organization called Missionary Athletes International, but the specific branch is called the Urban Eagles (based on MAI’s professional soccer team, the Charlotte Eagles). MAI believes a coach can be one of the most influential people in a young person’s life and they equip coaches to impact the spiritual trajectory of youth through sports. 

            My role is to be a soccer coach in an inner city/cross-cultural neighborhood consisting of a mix of Hispanics and Southeast Asian refugees.  The purpose of this internship is for me to gain “on the field” exposure, training, and experience in sports ministry.  Some of my responsibilities will include coaching a u-18 team, leading a small group, sports ministry training, inner city/cross-cultural ministry training, and weekly meetings with the Urban Eagles staff and my neighborhood leader.

            Like I said at the beginning, I have been doing this for about two months now but I wanted to restate exactly what I am doing so that those of you who do not know yet may have a bit of a foundation in order to understand the stories or the thoughts I may share on here.  I don’t believe my stories or thoughts or opinions are super special.  There are a lot of people out there who are smarter than me or better writers than me.  If you are looking for something of intellectual value I don’t claim to be your answer.  But if you are interested in what God is doing here in Charlotte and in my life then I would love to share with you what He has place on my heart. 

            I intend for this page to be simply stories and reflections on my experience here in Charlotte.  MAI is paying for my housing in one of the refugee neighborhoods and has declared it a Lighthouse amidst a dark area.  Therefore these are merely my Lighthouse Tales. Enjoy.