Susie and I have been spending these last few weeks before classes begin focusing on the Men’s and Women’s soccer teams. We are attending practices, traveling with the team, meeting with the students and coaches, and doing a pre-game chapel. Almost all of the girls attended the chapel and we see this reflecting future opportunities in their lives. We actually had the pleasure of having the entire women’s soccer team over for dinner last week.
Here are some thoughts from Maria Libertine, a Senior Captain on the team.
“I guess the biggest thing that AIA has taught me was that it helped me to see myself as something other than an athlete. For my first two years when I wasn’t playing it was really a struggle because that’s how I used to define myself, by my sport. The biggest message I got from AIA was to define myself in a different way and seeing myself as somebody “of Christ” instead of somebody “of your sport”. This not only changed my life, but it actually helped to improve my play a lot more because I was playing for something other than the image of myself, I was playing for Him instead of just me.”
This is what Maria wanted us to tell you:
“Thank you so much for your involvement with Mark and Susie. It’s made such a big influence on my life personally. I struggled a ton with my faith coming in (as a freshman) and AIA really helped me figure out my faith. You are making a huge impact. College is such a big time of your life because you are like molding yourself and developing into the adult you are going to be for the rest of your life. Having Athletes in Action here is just like ‘helping hands’, helping you mold yourself when you are a little lost or whatever. There is a group of people there that’s trying to support you and you know they are going through it too. It really does make a difference.”
Susie and I are thankful for your involvement with us in the work of reaching college students for Jesus Christ.
