Psalm 139:14 (NASB) resonates with the deepest parts of humanity, created by a God who was intentional with His handiwork:
“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Female athletes tend to stretch themselves thin balancing life as a woman in the athletic realm, and can often feel disconnected and isolated while navigating locker rooms and the outside world. FCA staff are working to create opportunities to connect and equip females in their spheres of life, whether it’s high school or collegiate athletics, coaching, or as a coach’s spouse.
This year, local FCA area events offered space to breathe, away from the confines of comparison and pressure in athletics, and celebrated God’s design of females.
For Cape May Atlantic County (N.J.) Director Laura Matera and Frederick County (Md.) Director Denise Ginsburg, that took the form of the Remarkable Girls Conference, a safe place where middle and high school girls gather for laughter, dinner and games. The event also featured a Q&A with current college athletes and a message from role models such as former Olympic softball player Leah O’Brien-Amico and former WNBA athlete and current FCA Seattle area representative Shanna Zolman.
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In 2015, Matera and fellow Cape Atlantic FCA area representative Carly Witherow attended Ginsburg’s conference. Caught up in the environment and the movement of God in the hearts of girls, they were encouraged to host their own event.
“Laura and I were partners in crime,” Ginsburg said. “We were encouraging one another back and forth like, ‘You got this!’”
Ginsburg and her daughter met with Matera’s team to discuss how the conference was operated and to brainstorm for Matera’s.
Their desire was for the Remarkable Girls Conference to be a venue to gather together as a community and be encouraged to live as their true, God-created selves. It was to be a place of connection and shared memories with other girls.
“We wanted to make it a special event,” Matera said. “We’re hoping Remarkable Girl will be part of someone’s testimony and can be part of her story.”
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Meanwhile, in Florida, Volusia County FCA Area Director Kim Boyce hosted the Women in Sport Retreat, a time of fellowship, worship, teaching, renewal, recreation and refreshment on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.
At this event, attendees let their guards down to receive the grace and love of God, strengthen camaraderie with old friends, while making some new ones along the way.
Boyce has a heart for females in the sports world and felt a need to offer a time of rest and renewal for coaches, athletes, staff, volunteers and others who share the love of sport and competition.
Held at a resort in Daytona Beach, Fla., the Women in Sport Retreat is designed as a time of fellowship, worship, teaching, and renewal. It is a place of refuge to slow down and savor away from the high demands of the regular routine and a place to draw women to a deeper relationship with Jesus.
“It’s really nice to be able to get together with other women who share that same love of the Lord, competition and sport,” said Boyce. “There’s always that unique dynamic when women are worshipping together.”
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Developing future opportunities to minister to young women and female coaches is something that is both exciting and necessary for Matera, Ginsburg and Boyce.
“The more that we can do to minister to our female coaches and coaches’ wives is going to be better and better for FCA and overall ministry,” Boyce said.
If you’d like to build women’s ministry in your area, but hosting a retreat or conference is too hefty of an undertaking at the moment, Boyce suggests simply gathering a group of women to attend an event already happening in your area.
No matter the length, depth or breadth of women’s ministry dreams, Matera says you simply need to feel it out and trust God to put the details together.
“Catch a vision,” she said. “Go to an event similar and see what it would be like in your area, and provide it as an option for ministry.”
As Ginsburg says, the key is to let God loose in the lives of His daughters.
“There are so many girls who have no idea what their purpose is in this life and that they were created by Somebody who loves them. These girls really need Jesus.”
For more information on these conferences, visit Volusia County FCA and FCA Mid-Atlantic Women.