Sports Plus
Key Facts:
Project Name: Sports Plus summer camp bursaries
Programme: Enable
Partner organisation: Christians In Sport
Location: UK - camps in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Key contact: Ian Lancaster
Support provided: Bursaries provided to assist young people to attend the Christian summer sports camps.
Project since: July 2005 to present
Summary:
JMT has been supporting CiS’s Sports Plus camp work since 2005, by providing assistance to enable young people from churches and youth groups, who could otherwise not afford to attend the camps, to do so. This enables them to combine a great interest and passion in sport with learning more about the Christian faith and making friends amongst like-minded young people. The support, as directed and proposed by CiS leaders and those working with the young people, has been focused on the inner city areas of Northern Ireland and rural parts of Scotland. JMT helped assist, in part, 12 young people to attend 2006 summer camps.
Young people playing sport at the Sports Plus camp in Scotland in 2006
Detail and background:
Each summer, Sports Plus camps are organised and run by Christians In Sport in four locations across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They seek to give young people the opportunity to develop both their sports and their Christian faith. The camps cater for young people aged 11-18 and aim to provide a high quality of professional sports coaching in a number of primary sports (almost always including football, rugby, cricket, tennis, hockey and several others). The camps seek to teach the truth of the gospel relevantly with the hope that those who don’t yet know Jesus as Lord and Saviour would get the opportunity to do so. In addition to this, Sports Plus has many returnee’s each year of which a large number are Christians. Sports Plus seeks to encourage and equip these young people to be better at representing Jesus back home in their sporting worlds.
The week long camps are for both boys and girls, and the young people are organised into teams in which they do team games and their evening Bible studies. The days start with a morning run and stretch session and are structured around a morning and evening meeting of fun games, singing, features and interviews, and a bible-based talk which follows a theme through the week. Around this are a multitude of sporting activities – the morning session spent on the individual’s primary sport, and then the afternoon having options for ‘second’ sport followed by team-based games.
The camps provide young people who are keen on sport with the chance to be taught, to practice and meet other young sports friends. For those who are Christians it is an essential time of understanding more about the gospel and what it means to be a Christian, particularly in a sports environment, and to get help and advice from sporty, Christian leaders about the challenges they face. For many, it is the first time they have heard the gospel clearly explained and put in a context familiar to them; it may also be the first time they have met sporty Christians of a like-mind, which can help them enormously in realising the two are compatible passions.
Enabling those who really desire to go but are restricted by financial means is an incredibly important way to enable these young people to learn more about the Christian faith and to enjoy their sport and meet other like-minded young people. JMT has sought to work with CiS to help partner with the young people, youth groups and churches to provide a portion of the funding where the need is seen greatest.
Everyone is in a team - named after a country - and participates in sports and competitions
Latest updates:
In the summer of 2006, a total of 12 young people were assisted with JMT’s support. The support was focused at the more recently launched camps in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Both were a huge success and saw some great times for the young people there, and many who learnt and grew in their faith and commitment to being Christians in their sports teams.
The costs of attending vary from £195 - £225 depending on different camps (as they are different lengths and facilities), and JMT has in most cases sort to assist in part with fees, encouraging commitment and involvement from the individual, parents, youth groups and churches.
Proposals for support for 2007 camps are currently under consideration.
Please note that JMT is not able to support individuals directly, but works with CiS and its network of churches and youth groups.
Links and info:
Check out all about Sports Plus camps and all of Christians In Sport’s work on www.christiansinsport.org
Ways to get involved:
Financial support : any amount of money can go towards assisting a young person to attend, by helping to pay some of the costs of the camp fees. Most commonly, JMT has assisted with between £50-100 per individual, and so a donation of £50 would enable someone to attend.
Prayer: please do pray for the work of Sports Plus and CiS. In particular, pray for sound teaching and instruction at the camps, for young people to have an open mind and to engage with what is being taught and to live out their commitments during the year.
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