Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Sunday, July 13, 2008
Cross-over camps blend inspiration with perspiration for athletes
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DECORAH, Iowa — They sat on the gymnasium floor, legs crossed, heads up, eyes fixed on Larry Hegerle. There was no small talk, no giggling, no goofing around.
And this was before he had spoken a word.
In this forum, which is called a huddle group, the coaches, teachers and volunteers take turns speaking about subjects other than sports. It’s not a slam-it-down-your-throat type of message, nor is it out of touch with what these teenagers are dealing with in today’s fast-paced, often high-stress world.
And yes, it had a faith-based message. It went something like this
Hegerle, a teacher and volleyball coach at Kasson-Mantorville High School, a public school located about 20 miles from Rochester, Minn., told a story of a young person who inquired about the difference between heaven and hell. Hegerle’s story began with a large bowl of porridge where people with long-handled spoons were struggling to feed themselves. These people, he said, were all starving to death because they could not maneuver the spoon in such a way to eat the porridge.
This, he said, was hell.
In a different place, there were happy, healthy people with the same long spoons surrounding the same large bowl of porridge. How could they be happy and fulfilled yet be equipped with the same spoons? Simple, Hegerle said, as they did not try to feed themselves. Instead, they fed each other.
This, he said, was heaven.
While simplistic in its message, the story’s impact was strong. The high school-age volleyball players not only had a brief taste of scripture, they also learned that in a sport like volleyball, it’s not about feeding yourself or your ego, it’s about feeding and about sharing with your teammates.
If one shares the volleyball and works as one, Hegerle said, success will follow. Ego, he proceeded to tell the group, was short for “Edging God Out.”
It became immediately apparent that this was not your ordinary summer sports camp with a big-name college coach who might make a brief appearance, or a sports camp at which college players run the show, or even a sports camp with a claim to make your son or daughter a “far better player with a bright future.”
This was a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) multi-sport camp at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. A camp where mind, body and spirit would be challenged equally. And when the 297 campers from throughout the Midwest, including 31 from the Coulee Region, left after four jam-packed days, they would likely be changed in some way, shape or form.
Hopefully, camp faculty said, in all three.
The instructors, many of them high school or college coaches (from NCAA Division I, II and III), would likely make the campers better in their respective sport, but learning how to run faster, shoot better, or hit a better lob was just part of why these kids were here.
“We are here to coach all of you. We want you to be the best athlete you can be,” said Mark Hull, the area director of the FCA who is based out of Eau Claire, Wis. “You can do that if you are in the right place with your body, your mind and your spirit. That’s why I said we coach all of you because we deal with all three.”
This isn’t a camp for everyone, or is it? The kids here are of all denominations, while some have experienced very little if any religion in their lives. As one coach put it, “You, as a coach, are a walking Bible. For some, you are the only Bible they are ever going to know.”
The days are long, challenging and filled with exhausting physical activities with each of the sports that are taught boys and girls basketball, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross country, football and volleyball. But it’s far more than running drills, playing games, and working up a good sweat.
This camp is about huddle groups with coaches, huddle groups with college and high school athletes in which everything and anything is shared. It’s about putting others yes, including God before yourself. No EGO allowed.
It’s about walking out the door of your comfort zone and putting yourself out there before others you just met. And guess what? These kids do it, and do it without reservation.
“I go to church, but not enough,” said 14-year-old Brady Knueppel, who will be a freshman at Holmen High School this fall. “This camp, it makes me want to go more. It’s better in every area than I expected. It’s cool to go to because I learn about all the different parts of who I am.
“In one of our huddle meetings, we learned that you have to be confident about your game, but no matter the outcome, God is still cheering for you.”
While there is lot of talk about forgiveness and giving of oneself at the camp, campers must give of themselves on the football field, on the basketball court or on the volleyball court. Joe La Buda, a highly successful high school football coach at Menomonie, Wis., was one of the coaches at the camp. Expectations are high, said football player Dan Floren, who will be a senior this fall at Eau Claire Memorial High School.
“My little brother did this camp and he came back and he said, he went to tennis camp, he got better as a tennis player as his serve (percentage) went way up and he just got better all-around as a tennis player,” Floren said. “But the biggest thing is he said he grew so much as a Christian here. I wanted to experience that.”
Floren isn’t concerned about being labeled, or singled out, because he went to a faith-based summer sports camp. In fact, he sees attending the FCA camp as an opportunity to express his faith.
“When you express your faith you find other guys who are willing to express their faith. It’s not conflict, rather it’s a leadership opportunity.”
It can be conflict if you are a teacher and coach in a public school system, but Corey McKinnon, the head boys hockey and boys tennis coach at Chisago Lakes, Minn., a public school located just outside the Twin Cities, doesn’t let his faith cross over into his teaching or coaching. He does, however, use the sports he coaches to challenge his athletes’ minds, bodies and spirits.
“The sport is why they are playing. They want to have fun and they want skill development,” McKinnon said. “If I want to get into their head, it starts with their game. You use the game to capture them, then use the game to get into their heart. So much of how you play the game comes from the heart.”
In other words, spirit what you feel inside can dictate how confident, and therefore how successful, you are as an athlete. That belief in oneself, that utmost trust in your own talent, is oftentimes what separates the great athletes from the good ones. McKinnon tries to tap into that “spirit” of his public school athletes in ways that are not faith-based, but in reality, are the same message without scripture attached.
Don’t get him wrong, if a kid asks about his personal beliefs, McKinnon will tell him about his strong Christian faith. On the other hand, he’s a coach, not a preacher.
“The kids have a right to ask, and the kids have a right to do things the way they want to,” McKinnon said. “I try to lead my life in such a way that it sets an example for them.”
The examples didn’t stop after their sport sessions, after their huddle meetings, or after dinner. In fact, some of the most powerful moments of this camp came at night when listening to a rock band the Josiah Smith Band that performed faith-based songs each of the three nights of the camp.
To top it off, this particular camp had a highly inspirational speaker named Steve Fitzhugh, a former NFL player with the Denver Broncos. Each night Fitzhugh did his own rap songs and told gut-wrenching stories from his youth and from his current work at a teen center called “The House” in Washington, D.C.
The campers were riveted to Fitzhugh, partly because of his captivating delivery, partly because of his passion partly because of his message, but mostly because they could relate to what he was saying.
He was not talking to them, he was talking with them.
“The NFL was God’s gift to me,” Fitzhugh said. “The NFL was just a platform for me. This, being here before these kids, this is my Super Bowl.”
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
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