August 6-13 Sports Reach led a basketball mission trip to El Salvador with college basketball players. It was our first trip to the smallest country in Central America by square miles and we absolutely loved it!
Longtime Sports Reach Coach Tom Schuberth helped bring about the opportunity and coached the team this year. One of his long-time coaching friends, Sergio Rouco, now serves as the El Salvadorian national team coach, and he organized the inaugural Volvano Classic, in which we were one of four teams to participate. McNeese State University is on their foreign tour, along with our Sports Reach team, the El Salvadorian national team, and Metapan, the pro league champions from El Salvador. Due to some conflicting information from the NCAA, McNeese and Sports Reavh decided not to jeopardize any eligibility issues and not play each other, so instead of playing each team once, we played one team twice while playing the other non-NCAA team in the Classic. Sports Reach also played a local club team and the U23 national team leading up to the Volcano Classic. The facilities were first class and our team really enjoyed the opportunity to compete and use their talents for God’s Glory!
Overall, we went 3-2 through five games. While losing the two games, we were a bit shorthanded due to players being a little under the weather for each of these games. We got to represent Christ, pray together, and give out over 1200 wristbands with our message of God’s Glory to many fans. We had three seven-footers on our trip, and we drew the attention of people everywhere we went. Our guys were excellent at interacting with and loving the El Salvadorian people. Many pictures were taken, and many stories of who we were and why we were there were shared about playing basketball and sharing the love of Christ!
In addition to playing the 5 games, our guys led a clinic in what was once considered one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in all of El Salvador. Through many years of civil war, unrest, and gang violence these people have endured constant hardships and fear. The peace that is there now is palpable, and several players and I had several conversations about how you could just feel the peace and freedom these people were now experiencing! El Salvador has moved from the most dangerous country in the world with a murder rate of 38 per 100,000 to now the second safest in the western hemisphere with only 2 murders per 100,000 people, second only to Canada now. All in just four short years under the leadership of their President Nayib Bukele.
We also attended church and worshiped at La Red El Tunco Beach church, which is about 45 minutes southwest of San Salvador. This started as a surf church as it sits along the Pacific Ocean coastal town of El Tunco Beach, where major world surfing competitions are held yearly. The pastor is a former journalist and surfer and followed God’s leading to start a church there 13 years ago. They use surfing and surfing camps each year to share the gospel with surfers and the youth of the community. We are excited to partner with them in many future opportunities from surfing to sowing, and basketball to soccer, and other sports.
The guys also got to experience El Salvadorian culture and terrain by zip-lining, hiking a volcano, and taking surf lessons!
We loved El Salvador and are looking forward to returning in the future with many more opportunities! We hope you will be a part of some of those as well! God’s Glory!
