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2024 Louisiana FCA Doing Sports God's Way Sports Camp
June 21, 2024
Romans 15:13 “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit”
Competition, Perspiration, and Intense Worship combined to fuel the 2024 Louisiana FCA Doing Sports God’s Way Camp into an electric worship and training experience for over 200 High / Middle School Athlete Leaders from across the state at Camp Bethany outside Shreveport.
Our 2024 Camp Theme was 24/7…with the goal to encourage / engage coaches and athletes with God’s truth, to equip them to lead their staffs and athletes, and empower them to go deeper in their faith as they head into the coming school year. The four focus topics of the 24/7 theme are RESET, RENEW, REFUEL, and get READY to lead!
SWLA and SCLA FCA sent 70 student athletes to the Sports Camp. THANK YOU to our faithful sponsors who made it possible for us to scholarship a portion of the camp cost for each athlete! This was a huge help for our families to ease the financial cost of sending their young person to camp.
We look forward to watching the Lord work in the lives of these young people to lead their teammates in the coming school year!
Our largest attendance ever was present for the 2024 SWLA FCA Huddle Leadership Training on Thursday August 27th at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles.
2024 SWLA FCA Golf Event in the books!
On Sunday February 18 the SWLA FCA hosted their annual Day of Champions. 200+ athletes and coaches were in attendance for an afternoon of motivation and inspiration. Jacquise Terry, former Kent State All MAC, All Academic performer and currently on staff with the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge at the Dream Center Campus was our guest speaker. JT shared an inspirational message encouraging the group to grow in Godliness from 1 Timothy 4:8,9. SWLA FCA would like to express our appreciation to McNeese Soccer for being at the event to welcome our Middle/High School athletes when they arrived, Conner Smith, SJ Welsh FB for opening our event in prayer, Baily Tillman, McNeese VB for singing our National Anthem, Joseph Geier for sharing his faith story, Matt Kreneta, McNeese FB, for sharing how being a part of an FCA Huddle on campus has helped him grow spiritually, and Elijah Melandez, McNeese FB, for closing out the event in prayer! In addition, we appreciate Trinity Baptist for hosting the event, Mitch Bohannon, TBC, for running the power point for the event, JD Broussard, TBC, for leading in worship, our SWLA FCA Board for serving alongside us, and all the sponsors who financially support FCA Day of Champions to allow coaches, athletes, and huddle sponsors to attend free of charge. And lastly, THANK YOU to the coaches and huddle sponsors for getting their athletes to sign up and show up on a beautiful Sunday afternoon! Day of Champions was a huge success as a result of a tremendous collective effort!
On the weekend of January 12-14 Louisiana FCA held our annual College Athlete Retreat just outside Woodworth, LA. Of the 150 total athletes attending, our McNeese huddle won the high attendance award for the second year in a row with 40 athletes attending along with 4 staff members. The Purpose of this year's CAR was to train and equip student athletes to compete and live for Christ under the theme of "HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR 24/7? Training time included diving into God's word to RESET, RENEW, REFUEL their commitment to Christ and be READY to serve HIM in every area of their lives. Athletes were divided into huddles to go deeper in God's word. Thank you to Twin Lakes Camp for hosting CAR 2024, the FCA cook staff for preparing and serving the meals, and the Louisiana FCA staff for planning and organizing the weekend. Also, SPECIAL APPRECITION to all our FCA Sponsors who provided financial support for our 40 athletes to attend!
Our largest attendance ever was present for the 2023 SWLA FCA Huddle Leadership Training on Tuesday August 29 at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles. 20 Schools, 150+ HS/MS student athletes, 40 pizzas made for a great day to Engage, Equip, Empower and Excite our young people to lead for Christ on their campus, in the locker room, and on the field, court, or course of competition. Thank you, Trinity Baptist, for hosting our event, McNeese athletes Trey Vondenstien/FB, Mariana Torres/SB, and Amelia Broussard, FCA Staff in Lafayette for sharing, board members Charles/Beverly Allen, Janis Guillory and Denise Sanford for serving and the huddle sponsors/parents who drove their leaders to/from the event. We are looking forward to an awesome year!
TREMENDOUS weekend for our coaches and spouses to get refocused, refreshed, and relaxed as they head into the upcoming season. TIMELY word from our guest speaker and his wife Sherman and Sharon Smith, former NFL player and coach. (See their story in the documentary Show Me the Father), Jeff Fitzgerald (former College and HS HC and now NELA FCA staff) and his wife Kim. Along withgreat encouragement to our coaches and spouses from Jeremy Williams, 2X State 5A Boys Basketball Championship coach at Bossier HS and his wife Gloria, 5A State HS Girls Championship coach at Parkway HS in Bossier City. THANK YOU for the encouraging words from LA FCA Staff Andy Stroup, Hayden Slack, Terry Slack, Corey Steele, Mike and Ellen Dimaria, David McMullen and Jodi McMullen, and Hollis Conway as our MC! 2023 LA FCA Coaches Time Out is in the books!
2023 SWLA FCA Golf Event in the books! It took a tremendous team effort from our SWLA Board, Golf Committee, Event Sponsors, Hole Sponsors, Team Entries, Tarver Toyota cook team, and Lake Charles Country Club for each sharing their time, talents, and treasures to make this year a tremendous success.
On Sunday February 26 the SWLA FCA hosted their annual Day of Champions. 300+ athletes and coaches were in attendance for an afternoon of motivation and inspiration. Derek Blacksher, former McNeese Baseball player, told his faith story by sharing his 5 G's to growing in your relationship with Christ. The River Church Band, representing 5 schools and 5 different sports, played prior to the event as athletes and coaches arrived. Larry Duhon, Barbe FCA, shared his faith story. Grant Ashford, Barbe FCA, shared what having a consistent FCA on campus has meant to him and Maleigh Guillot, Lacassine FCA, shared how attending FCA Leadership camp spurred her spiritual growth. The Barbe Blue Belles, McNeese Football, Soccer, and Volleyball teams were on hand to welcome schools as they arrived. Trey Vondenstien, McNeese FB, served as our MC for the event. Special thank you to Trinity Baptist for hosting the event, SWLA FCA Board for serving alongside us, and all the sponsors who financially support FCA Day of Champions for making the event a success afternoon!
On the weekend of January 6-8 Louisiana FCA hosted our annual College Athlete Retreat just outside Woodworth, LA. Universities from Louisiana and Texas attended. The purpose of this years CAR was to prepare out FCA Student/Athlete Leaders to lead their teammates using the FCA E3 Discipleship Model ... Engage, Equip, Empower. We, McNeese FCA, had 16 athletes, 2 Character Coaches, and SWLA FCA staff attend! Thank you, Twin Lakes Camp, for hosting the event, our cook staff who providing 5 meals awesome hot meals for our athletes/staff, and Louisiana FCA for providing this opportunity as well as our Sponsors who provided financial support so that our athletes could attend.
20 Schools, 125 FCA Student Leaders, 25 Huddle leaders. This September SWLA FCA hosted our annual Huddle Leadership Training day at Trinity Baptist Church. The purpose of the training was to give student leaders the tools for their school huddle to be student led this school year. FCA would like to THANK the huddle leaders for bringing their leaders, Trinity Baptist Church for hosting the event, Lake Charles Toyota for providing lunch for our attendees, and all our FCA Sponsors for their financial support throughout the year to make this event possible.
