On June 15, Upward Sports Camp kicked off in Chula Vista with an unexpected launch to the summer. 

“We were hoping for one hundred,” said Chuck Rheam, pastor of San Miguel Community Church.

To everyone’s surprise there were almost double. A total of 191 campers attended the camp.

“The more the merrier,” said Alex Troutman, a summer missionary serving on Vision San Diego’s Upward team. 

In order to put on the camp at no charge to the campers, it requires a lot of willing volunteers with a servant’s heart. For this camp, San Miguel Community Church and New Creation Community Church from Dover, PA, worked together.

The team from Pennsylvania only had a few weeks to prepare for their week in Chula Vista. They were originally slated to spend the week doing various projects in Mexico. However, when their plans fell through, they quickly made arrangements through Vision San Diego to partner with San Miguel Community Church and help them put on a basketball and cheerleading camp at Montevalle Park.

Although sports may not be the most traditional format churches use to minister to children, they're finding that it is certainly effective.

“Sports helps you to reach a lot of kids that you wouldn’t reach through Vacation Bible School. It gets lots of kids that are interested in sports but don’t have that Christian background,” said Jean Ball, one of the volunteers from New Creation Community Church. 

Unlike Upward leagues, which focus more on competition, the summer camps focus on building skills. Troutman said that one of the ways they teach basketball campers to shoot accurately is by using the acronym B.E.E.F. It stands for balance, elbows, eyes, and follow-through. They also work on other fundamental skills such as ball handling and footwork.  

“The main thing is to teach kids a better way to play sports. It teaches them to be competitive but not cutthroat,” said Ball.

On the sidelines, other campers are taught how to encourage the basketball players by learning cheers.

“Upward’s got the beat to make you get up, get up and move something!” shout the young girls as they practice next to the basketball courts.

Upward camps are not all about the games. They also focus on building relationships with the kids in order to be able to share the Gospel. The coaches use breaks and some time at the end of the day to share Christ with the kids and do a short devotional.

During the week, the devotions focused on ways that God sees people. Some of the lessons taught the children that they were created in His image, they are valuable and a piece of a puzzle.

“He put us on Earth because we are a masterpiece,” said one of the campers as he recalled what he learned about Jesus while at camp.

The kids aren’t the only ones that learn something while at camp.

“I am here to get a better understanding of what God has called me to do,” said Troutman who will be serving in San Diego all summer.

Some of the coaches even learn from the kids.

“The kids are teaching me patience,” said Randy Ball, the Director of Upward at New Creation Community Church.

Even if the teams were not initially prepared to run a camp for so many kids, they were thrilled to see that so many were in attendance and had the chance to discover Christ.

That’s what Upward Camps are all about; using sports to reach out to kids and families, and ultimately sharing the love of Jesus with them.
Fortunately for San Diego, this was just the first camp of the summer.
There are fourteen camps that are going to be taking place throughout the rest of the summer which opens up the opportunity for local churches and volunteers to make a huge, lasting impression for Christ all over the city. 

Check back throughout the summer to see how God is moving through Upward Sports Camps and impacting the lives of families throughout the county.

Click here to watch a short video that includes specific Upward prayer requests.