Building Community Through Football

I had a second opportunity to visit Lawrence United Methodist Church. In addition to the Youth Corps program, Lawrence also has an another summer youth camp. On the day I visited, the session for the week included sports and art. The boys and girls in the program were energetic coming back from a break. Ryan, the program director, told me that they would be learning about football and invited me to join them. I was surprised to see that each participant grabbed their notebooks and pencils. I soon learned why. Ryan and his co-worker were getting ready to tag team the group with details about defense and offense. With chalk in hand, descriptions of the offense and defense positions were described . A diagram of the field and where each position played was later added. Everyone took notes and answered the many challenging questions about football. Now I like football, but I really didn’t know as many details as I thought. Next we headed out to the field to put our knowledge to work. As we walked outside I visited with the kids. Many of the kids told me that they had been a part of the summer camp more than 5 years; others shared that it was their first year. Then they told me that Ryan, their director, was in his 12th year. As they were running routes outside, I could see how they had become a group caring for each other and cheering each other on as they learned to catch, run and throw the football. Why does Lawrence United Methodist Church provide these opportunities for kids? Keeping them safe? Teaching discipline and rules? Building community?