Athletes in Action South Africa

2010-06-17T20:26:00.001+02:00

Tuesday June 15th

2010-06-17T17:18:00.002+02:00

Today was another full but good day. We continued with the team competitions and also continued teaching through the AIA principles. Today was also the first day that our AIA team got to train with all the South African players in a session run by our AIA coach Mike. The South African girls at this training camp come from four different teams, all playing at some of the highest levels for their age groups in South Africa. One of the teams is the U17 National team who has just recently qualified for the U17 World Cup! Needless to say, the competition is good and we are enjoying learning a thing or two from these players.

In order to get better insight into what our girls are experiencing in these training sessions and teaching sessions, here are some thoughts on the day from on of our AIA girls, Laura Novikoff...

"This afternoon we continued talking about the principles, and today the one we talked about was "Inside Game." It deals with the athlete's mind, and where we get our motivation. As a Christian athlete, it's so easy to say that my motivation is glorifying God, but that is definitely tested when I get into an actual competition. After we listened to Asif, the speaker today, we went right outside to play soccer and try to apply what we learned, and the staff, who act as referees/coaches, deliberately make life difficult for us so we can see how we respond. Needless to say, emotions can get a little heated, mine included. So today, we were playing and Mike, our coach for the AIA team, stops the game and tells us that the intensity of the game is awful. he says this in that low, "I;m very disappointed in you" tone that makes everyone feel like the scum of the earth, we didn't know until later that the whole thing was planned. He then looks at me and calls me out by name, in front of everyone, ouch. I, of course, felt the need to redeem myself and played like a madman for the rest of the match. The point of the whole exercise was that we need to have motivation that is more constant than coach, and the message definitely rang true with me. The funny thing about coming on tour is that you show up, thinking you're going to help the people around you, and you find yourself learning and growing from the things that you're supposed to help facilitate...humbling for sure.

On a lighter note, a couple of us were interviewed by FIFA. A couple reporters came to our camp and wanted to do a story about what we've been doing here, and the story will hopefully be aired before the US plays Slovakia on Friday on the BBC channel I believe, but there's a chance that it might make it to America!! Very exciting!"

Monday June 14th

2010-06-17T17:05:00.002+02:00

Today was our first full day here at training camp-and it was definitely a full day! All of the girls have been placed into six different teams that are competing against each other for the entire week in a mock "Survivor" style competition. The team names are : Moraka, Maroyaya, Wakachu, Tamburi, Hakiri, and Rumbaki.

Here are some thoughts on the obstacle course this morning from one of our AIA girls, Brianna Roth...

"Let me just say as a Survivor fan, I was thrilled to hear that we were going to be doing a Survivor challenge this morning! The place that we are staying at has some really challenging and interesting obstacle courses which we used, and I truly got a taste of what a Survivor challenge could be like. From wading across a muddy lake while trying to keep one teammate completely dry, to crawling through a very tight mess of wire cable without touching the ground, to completing a challenging low ropes course, the morning was filled with lots of fun and hard work. We also wound up with a lot of little cuts and some big bruises! As an athlete, I love competing and especially when I am competing as a team. I loved seeing my team and other teams come together so quickly after only meeting each other yesterday, and the encouragement and spirit of the teams was incredible! The spirit of the South African girls is so inspiring and I believe God has blessed us so much in allowing us to so quickly connect and interact with them. Needless to say, this morning was an awesome start to camp and to be able to work together with my team and be an encourager and be encouraged by them was something I will remember as we continue to build relationships with the girls. Can't wait to see more of what God has in store for the rest of the week!"

We also began teaching through the AIA principles, beginning with the first-Audience of One. This included a teaching session indoors as well as some on field application. Here are some thoughts on this first session from Jilisa Krushel, another one of our AIA girls...

"We had the pleasure of hearing from Riley, on of the AIA staff here in South Africa this afternoon. She talked about worship and how we as athletes can use worship while we play our sport and how our faith and sport should come together. One of the main points that I picked up on and that I think most of the girls related to was how God needs to be involved in every aspect of our lives, not just a portion of our lives that we focus on when we aren't busy with other things in our busy lives. She showed us an image of a dinner plate with different sections for each part of the meal and used each section to represent parts of our lives; relationships, sport, school, and God. The point that she was emphasizing was that God shouldn't be a portion of our lives, but instead He should be in the center of each of the portions. After we had the session we were challenged to take what we learned onto the field. We had a series of 5 v 5 games and we were each challenged to think about what we were thankful for and how they were going to incorporate this with soccer playing. To sum it up it has been an awesome experience and it's been overwhelming to see how everything has come together and how God is working in the girls here. I am really looking forward to see what else is to come for the week!

We've Arrived! Sunday June 13th

2010-06-17T16:55:00.002+02:00

A women's team from North America has come to train with athletes from Banyana Banyana, U17, and the U20 SA teams. What a blessing it's been to have them here and pour into our South African women. Here are the updates from the North American team!!

We have arrived! The team has made it safe and sound to Pretoria, South Africa and all the girls are just now getting settled in to their rooms. Our two 13-hour flights were long, but we didn't experience any complications, praise the Lord! In fact, we even arrived in Johannesburg an hour early! We are already feeling a bit of the World Cup fever out here as the airport was filled with signs and propaganda everywhere! You can definitely feel the excitement in the air!

Our team chemistry already seems to be great. I'm very encouraged to see God connecting lives already as we build relationships with each other. Please keep praying for us as we continue to get to know each other and begin to share our lives with the South African women here.

Currently the girls are enjoying some much desired down time- and later this afternoon our AIA team will be meeting the South African players we will be training with this week. At this point we are expecting anywhere from 25-50 players at this camp, so it will be interesting to see how many girls show up! Please keep us in your prayers as we meet the girls tonight and being our training camp tomorrow morning!

Thanks for your prayers!

Rachel Baer, AIA Staff

Soccer World Cup Training Conference

2010-06-07T20:14:00.003+02:00

Our staff in South Africa has been waiting and preparing for this moment for almost 4 years! And now it's here - already the second day of our training conference.

Yesterday was a very busy day with all the teams arriving from various countries, registering at the conference venue and registering with TUG - "The Ultimate Goal". The Ultimate Goal is the umbrela organisasion under which all the different outreaches/ministries during the world cup will function.

We are very privilege to have teams from Liberia, the United States of America, Canada, Zambia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, France and South Africa. When the conference end on Thursday morning (10 June), the teams will leave for different venues where they will minister with local churches in their communities: the USA team will minister in Cape Town, the French in Bloemfontein and the rest will minister in Johannesburg and Pretoria. The following churches will partner with us in Jhb: Bryanston Methodist Church, Northcliff Union and Veranderde Lewens.

During the training conference the participants will be trained in how to share their faith; how to share the Gospel and how they can effectively be a witness of Jesus Christ in their sport and competition.

My trip to the US!

2009-07-30T12:03:00.000+02:00

My trip was organized by the ministry called athletes in action (AIA) and I am the chairperson of the ministry at the University of Johannesburg. AIA is a sports ministry where we teach students how to share their faith in sports, so we use sports as a media to reach out to young students.My trip started on the 15th of May. I went there alone, I took a flight from SA to Atlanta and there was a quick stop in Senegal. I went to Michigan which is in Detroit, to the city called East Lansing. I stayed there for three days with the other family. Those were the most wonderful days I have ever spent in my life; I took a walk around Michigan State University which is quite an amazing campus. The family was very welcoming and treated me very special. I took a flight from Detroit to Denver with the husband of the family and we went to Colorado, Fort Collins. With your prayers and financial support I spent the week of May 24-31st, 2009 in Fort Collins, Colorado at the campus of Colorado State University which is the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. Most of the people I met did not know what the camp was about they thought they just came to a training camp but quite surprised when talks were given. Each day we learned one of the five principles. Each principle builds on the previous one, I’ll briefly explain them. The purpose of the AIA Principle is to transform sport into an opportunity to worship God and to create a learning experience (through discussions, labs and the “SPECIAL”) so that we can learn to participate in sport in a way that honors Him. Principle 1 is called “Audience of One” where we were asked ‘who or what do I worship?’ here we learned about what can become our idols (anything we put before God) in sports and that God alone is worthy of our worship. Principle 2 is “Inside the Game” where we were asked ‘what motivates me?’ We learned that our identity in Christ frees us to compete with a “grace motivation”. Principal 3 is “Holy Sweat” which answered the question ‘how do I grow?’ this expanded on how we are to mature and learn to live more fully in the grace of God through spiritual disciplines. We were then introduced to the idea of having a focal point (scar on your body, something written on your T-shirt or your shoe etc) to remind us of the spiritual disciplines within the competition. The fourth principle is “Hurting for Certain” where we were asked ‘How do I deal with pain?’ We learned that trials and suffering are part of God’s game plan and that sports can be God’s avenue for teaching us to respond appropriately to trials. The last principle is “Victory beyond completion” which asked ‘Does it matter how I live today?’ We learned that we were each given unique talents and abilities and we will give an account to God for what we do with our time, talents treasures. We were encouraged to invest our talents, leave a legacy and make an impact. In order to practice applying the principles we were placed in three different teams/groups throughout the week. The first was a discussion group consisting of four other guys and an intern who led discussions about the principle we were learning and how to fit them into our lives. Another group we had was a volleyball team. After we learned the principle for the day we had ‘volleyballs labs’ where we all went outside and played volleyball to try to apply them. We had different experience levels and only had two legitimate volleyball players but we all learned a lot from playing. In order to make the game as realistic to real competition as possible everything was timed and scored. In order to nail down the application at the camp, players had to experience the same feelings of frustration, fear, fatigue and sometimes failure that they would if they were competing on their respective teams at home.Our third group, called our “S.P.E.C.I.A.L” team was formed at the end of the week. The SPECIAL was a climax of the week (and many of our lives thus far). It started at 5:20pm on Thursday and ended Friday around 1pm. There were 20 teams, most of which consisted of 8 or 9 athletes. We started with really competitive volleyball matches. When one game ended teams ran to the next court. Next was ultimate Frisbee with ten large fields land up, we had to run constantly during the games and then to our next field. Next we did tug-of-war, pushup relays, basketball and swimming until about 1:30 that night. at that point we had a written test over the principles, when we finished we allowed to go to bed until our team’s report time in the morning which was assigned based on your rank among the other 20 teams we came the fourth. The obstacle course included 11 stops involving activities like the army crawl, shooting basketball free throws, lunges, up-down, 200m piggyback with teammate. After that we played kick ball while every member on the team was fielding, kicking or doing a specially assigned exercise on the sideline. After kickball we did team relays including bear crawl, crab walk, regular sprints etc. the bottom line is we were being pushed absolutely beyond our limits many had cramps and some were crying.The very last event was not part of the competition: it was between us and God. We were bused to the nearby Rockies up a mountain and then we were told the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. Each of us had most likely heard the story before but we had never experienced this kind of pain. The story was made completely personal being absolutely overwhelmed that Jesus went through even more pain to die for us while we were sinners. I think that every person there now has a different perspective on pain and complaining in general.So now that we were all having even walking our final task was to run down and then back up this 1600m course carrying a 2-by-4 plank on the way down and putting it across our back on the way like a cross. Most of us had already realized that our strength was only coming from the Lord at this point but those that didn’t had no choice but to beg for strength during the last challenge; we knew there was NO chance we could do it on our own. This was where I was broken when I was walking up the hill because I knew at that point I am physically drained out and I needed Jesus to pull me through to finish the race and when I got to the finishing line I was rejoicing and worshiping him. The next night (after a good bit of relaxing) we had people sharing their experiences. Hearing people’s stories was incredible. I heard about 25 of people who came to know Christ as their savior. That was the rest of my trip all in all. Thank you so much for your support and prayers. I know it was no accident that I was a part of the Athletes in Action Ultimate Training Camp 2009; thank you so much for helping me get there!

Sammy

What a privilege!

2009-07-23T17:57:00.010+02:00

This sentence I've heard a lot the last few weeks. Since our team from the Netherlands arrived in South-Africa on the 10th of July, almost every person we've met said this sentence at least once to us. But that's not the way we see it. We came here to serve the people we were going to meet. So it's not a privilege for the South-African people that we came here, but it is a privilege for us to be here and see how your country looks like.

And I can tell you: we are amazed by your kindness. Everywhere we come, doors are going widely open for us and we can have supper wherever we are. So you can understand that it's really great to be here at this moment. There is only one thing we don't understand: during the day we have the feeling that it's summertime, but you South-Africans still wear a lot of clothes and have blankets all around you! It's so strange to see and experience that difference.

Till this moment we've met a lot of interesting people from different backgrounds. Last week we were in Eersterust, Pretoria where we were connected to a local church. During the week we did a sportsprogram for al the children and youngsters in and around Eersterust. At the end of the week we've showed them 'the Jesus movie' and gave them the opportunity to choose for a life with Christ. It was so great to see that many of the children accepted Jesus that night!

As I already mentioned, we've met a lot of interesting people with totally different backgrounds. For us as 'Dutchies', it's difficult to see the differences between rich and poor people. It is also hard to see that there are areas with a lot of HIV-infected children. But on the other hand we've met children and youngsters at Grey College for example and spent a lot of time with them, telling them about Jesus.

To come to a conclusion: it`s our privilege to be here and serve the country of South-Africa. It's great to see that a lot of you already know the Lord. But there is stil so much work to do in South-Africa for God's Kingdom. And that's why I want to encourage you to join Athletes in Action or any other kind of missions organization to share and spread the Gospel through your country!

Niels Norg, teamleader of the Dutch team.

Picture: "The Dutchies in Bloem!"

Dutch outreach in Bloemfontein

2009-07-23T16:44:00.001+02:00

Bloemfontein is freezing cold, especially today!! But I trust that many children’s hearts are being made warm by the love and joy of Jesus Christ.

A team of 9 from Holland arrived 10 July in Johannesburg. The first week they worked in Eersterust, Pretoria. I had the privilege of joining them on Saturday, 18 July to have an outreach in Bloemfontein. Mainly we are visiting schools where the Dutch play various sport with the children, perform some dramas and also share their testimonies and the Gospel. The schools that we visit are extremely diverse, from Grey College on Monday to several schools in townships where there are many broken windows and nothing but a black board on the walls.

I feel very blessed that I could also do my little part in sharing the Gospel three times so far at different schools. Normally I share the Gospel more on an one-on-one level and this has actually been a new experience for me to share with so many people at once. But I thoroughly enjoy it!

Tomorrow we will spend most of the day at the prison just outside Bloemfontein.

LOUISA KRUGER

India Tour

2009-07-13T11:05:00.001+02:00

Well, well what can I say? It was an amazing feeling, one of personal fulfillment and realizing that as you accept to be used by God you are actually fulfilling His purpose for your life which in turn brings a satisfaction within self that no amount of money can buy.

IN INDIA
Once we got engaged with our work in India, the three of us started to realize something happening inside of us. A joy that can not be explainable, a fulfillment and an understanding of what God was showing us. In India we were involved in coaching soccer to a group of young, enthusiastic soccer players and at the same time sharing our testimonies to this part of the world where Hinduism has a stronghold on these young men and women. For me personally I began to realize why in the first place Satan wanted us to lose focus on this great mission that God had planned for us. The bible says the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. India is an huge harvest for the lost souls and to do it (winning souls for Jesus) using the gift of soccer that God gave me made it a whole lot easier. Day after day these kids would always look forward to the following training sessions. During training sessions we would show love to these campers thereby preparing them for the Gospel presentation that usually happend in the evening presented by Benjamin Thomas. I began to see things differently as we were encouraged to always show love to the campers whether they made a mistake or not. We were not supposed to shout at any kids but to put our hands over their shoulders and correct them with the love of Jesus. This made a huge impact on these kids and made them draw closer to us and for them to notice that there was something different in us. Even myself I began to also understand more about how God loves me unconditionally and if I happen to coach one day that is exactly how I would treat my players. We would also give testimonies and this became an opportunity to know how to share your testimony in those kinds of setups.
In the midst of all this, I began to thank God for giving me this opportunity to tell people about Jesus. I knew money I did not have, but I had my knowledge of soccer which I could give and ultimately lead people to salvation. This also gave me a perfect opportunity to learn how to conduct such kind of a camp and I wouldn’t have learnt it from anyone other than Benjamin Thomas who was organizing all the proceedings. A great man of God who is passionate about the work he does. Each evening he made a Gospel presentation, more than 90% of the campers would always receive Jesus for the first time. The way he presents the Gospel is irresistible to any sinner or any stubborn demons, as I listened to Ben call people to Jesus I also wanted to raise my hand and receive Jesus for the second time. He really makes the Gospel to be ‘Good News’. I also made it a priority to sit down with Ben and ask him some questions about his ministry and how he manages to set up a camp in India. We are planning to do similar sports camps in South Africa.
Then there was discipleship time for our team of coaches. During this time we would spent time together studying various aspects of the Bible and getting to know each other more personal. This was another precious time I so much valued that happened in India. You will never come to a stage where you feel I know it all especially if you are the one always teaching others. There is an element of complacentcy that creeps in to those who normally lead bible studies. I normally lead bible studies in our teams so it was exciting this time to be led or taught by someone especially from a total different background from mine. Again Luke and his wife Alicia did a fantastic job teaching us the word of God. The contribution of everyone as well just broadened my understanding of certain aspects of our personal relationship with Christ. I know that a bigger impact was with my two friends Charles and Kujo whom I have discipled for quite some time. Coming on this trip I knew pretty well where they were at in their spiritual life. I immediately began to see a change in these guys. Charles started asking me a lot of questions about spiritual matters and this was something that normally never happened before. He even started sending scripture verses to his girlfriend much to her surprise of course. At this stage in India we totally forgot about the hardships at home, actually the three of us realized that it was God’s plan to take us away from that environment to refreshen us through something very fulfilling than any worldly success.Another humbling experience was to see how Campers Crusade for Christ India does their ministry. I mean these guys are really champions for Jesus. They work under very difficulty conditions just to reach out to the lost. Sometimes they have to walk long distances in order to put the message across. They are limited in terms of resources but they depend on the greatest resource they have that is Jesus. This made me look at myself and I wondered if I would be willing to sacrifice for Jesus as these true disciples are doing? Support raising is a big challenge to these brothers and sisters, some do not even get 50% of their budgets met but everyday you see on their face a great determination to spread the Gospel. May God bless these servants of Christ; this is my every day prayer.
When I left India coming back home I felt joy in my spirit that I had mad an impact in someone’s life, I felt I had made a good decision to go on this trip despite my predicament, this was faith in action. I now trust God more than before especially when I am called for duty; I am always ready to serve in His Kingdom. And to see my friend Charles growing spiritually like he did on this tour was even more a blessing to me. So all my thanks to the people who contributed to this trip whether financially, through prayer or otherwise. I am very grateful and may God continue to multiply in any areas of your need. God put me on another level in my desire to see many pro-soccer players know Jesus.
Elasto

2009-06-11T13:46:00.002+02:00

The Bible study with the athletes at High school Vorentoe is going very well. The last two weeks the pupils started with Praise & worship themselves and last night one girl opened the evening in prayer and one of the boys ended off in prayer. When we asked if someone would like to lead a little Bible discussion next week, they were very eager and more than one volunteered.
Last night Cobus, my colleague, explained again how important a relationship with Jesus is. When he asked who has prayed to receive Jesus before, lots of hands went up. He then continued to emphasise that God is not looking for organ donors (he doesn't need a heart), but wants our whole lives! He explained how we really need to give up our lives to follow Jesus...it's a very serious matter. I'm not sure how many were recommitments or first-time decisions, but out of the 18 pupils 12 raised their hands!!
Afterwards one of the girls came to me. She told me that she would like to accept Jesus, but she still has so many questions and fears. Sometimes she still doubts that He truly exists because she doesn't experience Him. She also has fears that He will expect stuff from her that she won't be able to give. Her eyes were tearing up when she told me this. I know she is so close. She just has to realise it's not about figuring things out or fearing God. It's all about faith and trust in His wonderful love for us. Please pray for Caroline.
Louisa

Sport & Life Conference

2009-05-25T13:39:00.005+02:00

The weekend of 15 - 17 May 2009 we had the privilege of hosting the Sport & Life Conference again. This conference is aimed at the professional sportmen /-women and wants to help them to bring their sport and life together... thus Sport & Life I guess :-)
In total we had 28 players, wives and coaches attending. Most of the players were from FCAK soccer club and we also had the whole U-19 National Ladies Soccer team. SAFA even arranged their transport!
We started off with Zach Computer Lamola sharing his testimony and the Gospel. 8 people received Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord and 4 rededicated their lives to God again. Dr Jannie Botha was our main speaker and he focussed mainly on marriage issues and also Sport Psychology. Other speakers included Elasto (FCAK captain) and Sipho Ndzuzo (former Bafana Bafana player).

Louisa Kruger
AIA Staff

Young athletes at local high school

2009-03-19T20:10:00.000+02:00

I've just came back from a Bible study at Vorentoe Hoerskool. They are about 25 young athletes between 14-18 yrs who stay on the school premises. We have a wonderful open door to build into their lives spiritually, but also in many other ways. One of the girls came to me afterwards and told me that she is struggling with English and has failed her last test, even though she studied very hard for it. I offered to look at her paper and see where she made mistakes and also told her that I'm willing to help her prepare for her next test. While I was saying all of this, I couldn't help but thinking of the irony of the whole situation. English was my WORST subject (okay, after Maths) and I couldn't speak one sentence with confidence until I was in my second year of teaching. And now 95% of my ministry is in English and I'm offering to help a girl with her English! Wow, God is truly amazing and faithful! He is the One making us willing and ABLE to do His will!!

Louisa KrugerAthletes in Action Staff

Who is AIA?

2009-01-28T19:44:00.000+02:00

Athletes in Action around the World

Basketball…cricket…rugby…soccer…field hockey…table tennis…around the world AIA is using the one language of sport to offer hope and life to hurting and broken people.

There are over 6,000 spoken languages around the world today. But there is one language that rises above all spoken languages—the language of sport. It was recently estimated that 3.5 billion people viewed parts of the Summer Olympics recently held in Athens, Greece.
From Albania to Zambia kids know what to do when a soccer ball is tossed onto a field. From Zimbabwe to Australia a rugby ball has the potential to build bridges between people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and languages.

In most cultures the value system highly esteems the performance of the athlete and gives him or her a national platform of influence. The nations that look up to athletes as heroes must find those heroes looking up to God. AIA wants to help build an army of sport heroes around that have a character worth modeling.

Recently, the President and First Lady of Guatemala commended AIA national leader Cristobal Chamales and his wife Ixi for their role in building godly character into the lives of Guatemalan athletes. In a November 2004 ceremony at the National Palace, the Chamales were exhorted to continue their good work among the nation’s athletes.

AIA staff members and trained associated currently serve the needs of athletes in 75 countries around the world. You are invited to help us make a difference and get into the game that counts for eternity!

Prayer Blog Begins!

2008-10-28T11:29:00.000+02:00

Welcome to our new blog site! We at AIA South Africa have been busy trying to figure out how to keep our supporters connected. This is our solution!

On this blog site we will update you on prayer requests, inform you of praise items and testify of God's faithfulness.

Look back for recent posts.

Many blessings,

AIA South Africa Staff