Lady Lions minister in Bahamas
Thoughts of a winter holiday in the Bahamas brings visions of sun, sand and the beach. But for members of the Lady Lions basketball team, their pre-Christmas missions trip was much more than fun and games.
Coach Matt Bollant and the Lady Lions spent five days and four nights in the Bahamas on a basketball missions trip just before Christmas. And although they played basketball, “mission” was central to the experience.
Team members and Coach Bollant spoke in a church on Sunday morning, then visited two orphanages on Monday and Tuesday between their basketball games.
Coach Bollant said he believes the team members profited far more than from the lessons they learned on the basketball court. “We played two stronger teams, Concordia (Austin, Texas), and the University of North Florida,” losing both contests. “As a coach, the biggest thing I wanted was for our girls to be thankful for what we have. I think the girls went home with a deeper appreciation for their parents and for what they have. The trip gave them another taste of missions and of being used by God.”
Ministry opportunities included speaking in attending church on Sunday morning, where senior English literature major Talor Armstrong spoke about how God has used basketball in her life to teach her and help her grow spiritually. Coach Bollant told the Wilma Rudolph story to illustrate his point that “anything is possible to those who believe.”
Talor said the trip was “a life-changing experience, not just life-altering. I have been looking for direction in my life, asking the Lord, ‘What do you want me to do?’ It seems like God said, ‘This is what I want you to do.’ I felt the Lord showed me I have a heart for missions.”
Liz Bole, a freshman liberal arts major, said the trip “was a great idea for team-building and to minister to people who are a lot less fortunate. Seeing smiles on the faces of the kids was the best part.”
Getting to know children in the two orphanages they visited had a great impact on team members’ hears. “I could tell the kids were starved for attention,” Liz said. “They weren’t shy; they came right to you. I could spend time with kids like that the rest of my life. The Lord has blessed me to grow up in America, but I learned there are a lot of kids that don’t have what we do.”
Talor echoed that sentiment. “They loved you from the minute they saw you. The hardest thing for me was realizing that I have so much and they have so little, and that I take what I have for granted.”
She said the children even drew out some of her teammates who seem shy in their college setting. “It was neat to see the shyer girls on the team get out there and love these kids, to see everyone running around and laughing so hard. And the coaches were amazing with the kids. Coach (Corey) Mullins must have swung kids around forever. And Coach Bollant was out there giving tips for basketball. They love basketball.”
While the players were thrilled to spend quality time with the children they met, they realized that that effort took a toll on their performance on the court. “It was like we gave a piece of our heart (to the children), Talor said. “It was hard to go play basketball after that. They were not our best games; we were kind of tired after all that, and I couldn’t get (the children) off my mind. We didn’t play well in either game, but I feel like our purpose for being there was met, maybe not on the court, but in the kids’ lives and in our lives. I felt we learned so much.”
Coach Bollant acknowledged the physical toll spending time at the orphanages took on his team, but said the true benefit of the trip was illustrated in one government official’s comment to the tournament director. “He told the tournament director what a blessing our team had been to the people of the Bahamas, and that he hoped we would come back again.”