Ministry with a College Basketball Player

Late last summer our men’s basketball team received a player who transferred from a community college. He is two meters tall, Canadian, talented, and athletic. He is also already the most vocal leader among his teammates. As preseason preparations continued, he was limping on his surgically repaired knee. After a lot of treatment with the athletics trainers (physios), and consultation with a surgeon, it was determined that he should have meniscus repair surgery. It was anticipated he would miss four to six weeks, and then return to play.

After the surgery was complete, his head coach told me the damage was much worse than expected. It will be a four to six month recovery and rehab timeline. I spoke with the player as he attended practice with his leg immobilized and on crutches. He stayed fully engaged with his team from the sideline, and was still a strong encouragement to them.

As the scholastic semester was coming to an end, he told me his mother and sister were traveling to see his father in a central African nation. He was quite ill. We prayed together for his father while at practice and another time after shootaround prior to a game. I had prepared a couple of prayers on paper and gave them to him prior to that day’s game. I also sent him text messages with suggested prayers for his father. As that week progressed, his father’s condition grew worse, and one day as practice was starting an assistant coach told me his father had died and the player would be traveling to his home in Canada to be with family.

I sent him more prayers via text message to help him through the grieving process. He was quite thankful for the correspondence, and asked that I continue to send him more. I began sending him scripture and prayer every morning via text messages. That correspondence has continued for several weeks now, and as school begins tomorrow, I expect to see him back at practice to renew our relationship in person.

I could not imagine the pain, alienation, and helplessness he must have experienced as his father was an ocean away, desperately ill, and he could not be with him. Further, the pain of grief and mourning while hobbling around on crutches. While my efforts to comfort and to encourage seemed remote and weak from my end, they were eagerly and gratefully received.

This has been the shape of ministry in COVID-19 season. Awkward in timing, occasionally remote, and often counterintuitive, but oddly effective. Please don’t be deterred by its awkwardness, take action on your hunches, pursue relationships however you can. Use any and all resources at your hand to communicate with those in your charge. Love extravagantly and serve selflessly.