Since last summer, Club Sports student-athletes have seen busy and fruitful seasons of outreach.
Women’s gymnastics, Georgia
Lady Flames gymnasts welcomed members of the Clarkston, Ga., community to clinics in an area church.
The women’s gymnastics team spent the last week of their Winter Break running clinics for youth in Clarkston, Ga., a sanctuary town of 15,000, mostly refugees from foreign countries, considered the most diverse square mile in America.
“Even though it was a suburb of Atlanta, it felt like walking into another country,” Lady Flames Head Coach Jessie Lowe said. “It was a beautiful and colorful town to be introduced to for a week.”
The team hosted four gymnastics clinics at a local church with assistance from Push the Rock ministries. The clinics drew an average of 50 children, ages 3-14, many unchurched or from different religious backgrounds.
“It was neat to use the sport of gymnastics to break the barriers for kids to come to church and hear the Gospel,” Lowe said.
Men’s lacrosse, Puerto Rico
Liberty men’s lacrosse players lead a clinic for Puerto Rican youth during their trip to the U.S. territory in December.
From Dec. 9-15, 21 members of the Flames’ reigning MCLA Division I national championship men’s lacrosse team helped run the 2025 Pan-American Lacrosse Association Sixes Cup and a lacrosse clinic for Puerto Rican youth.
The international tournament attracted men’s and women’s teams from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Haudenosaunee (formerly known as Iroquois Nation), Mexico, Peru, and the host team.
Miguel Lozada (’14), a former Flames player who is the co-founder and president of the Puerto Rico Lacrosse program, said the Flames reflected the light of Christ in all their words and deeds.
“They were able to interact with almost every nation that was there and to minister to youth in the community,” Lozada said. “They were an example of what Christ’s love looks like, through their unselfish, untethered, and sacrificial service.”
DI men’s hockey, Finland
Flames sophomore forward Mac Ratzlaff prays with a Finnish player after a game against the FCAA All-Stars.
The Flames Division I Men’s Hockey team traveled to Hämeenlinna, Finland, over Winter Break, facing some high-level competition on the ice while also engaging with the community.
The team worked with the Christian organization Kingdom Sports Hämpton and played hockey with area youth, spreading the Gospel through their sport.
This was the team’s third trip to Finland. Four members of the team were baptized on the trip.
Multisport trip, Vietnam
A multi-sport team led a youth camp in a remote mountain village in Vietnam, teaching ultimate frisbee and pickleball.
A group of student-athletes from a variety of teams traveled to Vietnam June 11-22. The purpose of the trip was to support the growing sports ministry there and to give Liberty students a chance to see how sports ministry can have an impact.
Approximately 20 children made decisions to follow Christ during a two-day sports camp that drew over 100 youth to a church in a remote mountain village. The students introduced pickleball and ultimate, two sports that are gaining traction in Vietnam as tools for community engagement and ministry.
Reese Braband, Club Sports’ athletic director for holistic development, said the trip not only energized the ministry efforts in Da Nang but also deeply impacted the student-athletes.
“This was our first-ever multisport trip, and it broadened their vision for using sports as a vehicle for ministry and cross-cultural connection. There was a lot of stretching in their faith and challenging them to step up and lead in ways they hadn’t before. Lord willing, every three to four years we’ll offer more opportunities like this, partnering with local missionaries in Malaysia and continuing this partnership in Vietnam.”
Disc golf, Finland
Members of the disc golf team witnessed the world’s best professional players in their element as they offered volunteer assistance at the PDGA World Championships July 30-Aug. 3 in Nokia and Tampere, Finland.
They also served with the disc golf ministry Eagles Wings and helped with a Vacation Bible School at Hämeenlinna International Christian Fellowship.
