The impact of a coach is catalytic. Just ask FCA Grenada Area Director Bevin Stanislaus. He was so impacted by his secondary school javelin coach’s investment into his talent and character, he has dedicated his life to creating that same passion in coaches throughout his country.
“My coach saw something in me that I didn’t see, took an investment in me, and cared,” Stanislaus said. Deeply impacted, Stanislaus went on to compete at the national level in javelin following secondary school. He took with him an understanding about a coach’s leverage with his or her athletes.
A new passion
An injury took Stanislaus to Canada for rehab and a stay with his aunt. While there, he evaluated his future and decided that when he returned to Grenada, it would no longer be as an athlete. He was feeling called to serve the Lord full-time. He and his wife became missionaries for four years, and as they began to discern what was next, he couldn’t shake sports from his system. When a friend mentioned FCA, Stanislaus’ interest piqued.
“Something in me started leaping,” he said. “My passion for people and my passion for sports—here, they were coming together.”
Forming a plan to introduce coaches to 3D Coaching
Stanislaus began following his passions with a visit to the FCA Support Center in Kansas City. While there, he gained a deeper realization of the influence of coaches, and that didn’t only authenticate his personal experience, it fueled his passion to get involved. Through conversations with Caribbean International Region Vice President Dan Bishop and International 3D Coaching Coordinator Mark Hull, the three men formed a plan to influence coaches in Grenada with training, availability and service.
In November 2019, Stanislaus led FCA Grenada in hosting its first 3Dimensional Coaching workshop, a three-day training for 40 coaches focusing on the holistic growth of athletes through the body, mind and spirit.
“Grenada has many good coaches here, but they are sometimes missing the characteristics that take them beyond sport,” said Stanislaus. “Ten percent of coaches are doing 3D Coaching but they are not formally trained. The rest are just coaches by profession. We want to give coaches the opportunity for awareness and awakening of influence for the Kingdom of God.”
Five-year plan goals
Connections have already been made with major influencers in the country’s athletic world. Guided by a five-year plan, Bishop and Stanislaus met with the Grenada National Director of Sports, the former Permanent Secretary of Ministry for Youth, Sports, Culture and the Arts, and a junior coach in the Ministry for Sports to discuss establishing a strategy for coaches to complete the 3D training in Grenada.
The memory of Stanislaus’ javelin coach going the extra mile for him fuels his goal of placing a certified 3D Coaching leader in each of Grenada’s seven parishes. He believes this will multiply effective ministry.
“I came alive when I heard about 3D Coaching, thinking, ‘Wow, that is what it’s about, what’s important, and what God is doing.’ I am prepared to do all I can with His help and direction to see my coaches graduate into this certification and see the significance of coaching from a place with God.”