The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, also known as FCA, is a ministry that looks to strengthen the relationships of coaches and athletes with their faith. The group tries to instill values of integrity, serving, teamwork, and excellence by engaging, equipping, and empowering its members. FCA teaches “through [affiliated] coaches to their fellow coaches, teams and athlete leaders,” according to the FCA website. Don McClanen founded FCA in 1954 in 1954 in Norman, Oklahoma and has grown to now include 17,783 certified huddles in 84 countries. Huddles are one of the methods the group uses to reach its members at the coach, community, and campus levels; they also hold several camps throughout the year. Bowling Green High School features a campus huddle, which the website states is a “small group bible study/devotion for coaches and athletes.”
Anatomy and marine biology teacher and softball coach Katherine Whitt took over leadership of Bowling Green High School’s FCA chapter this year. She meets with the club’s leadership team every Wednesday morning to plan huddles. BGHS huddles occur every Friday at 8 A.M. in the auditorium and generally consist of an ice-breaker game, a guest speaker, and prayer. Every meeting features a new game and speaker. FCA also hosts several events throughout the year, including See You at the Pole, where members meet at the flagpole to pray.
Sophomore Rachel Harwood became involved with FCA in middle school. Bowling Green Junior High did not have an FCA chapter, and in her seventh grade year, teachers that knew of her faith recommended that she help start one, which still meets today. She continued to be participate in FCA as she transitioned into high school. FCA gives Rachel the opportunity to see “all the people that [she] see[s] everyday and being [sic] able to share the gospel with them.” As a member of the leadership team, Rachel contacts and organizes speakers and students to talk and share their testimony in front of the group on Friday mornings. Speakers the group has featured include Kristen Tinch, who teaches English and Spanish classes at BGHS; Austin Hayes, WKU Track team member; and Brittany Vaughn, WKU Softball alumni.
Josh West, a junior, is also a member of the FCA leadership team. Josh is a black belt in taekwondo at Jeremy Black’s Taekwondo Academy. He runs the club’s social media accounts, leads the icebreaker games along with Quintin Hawkins, and is in the process of designing t-shirts. Even though he is part of the leadership team, this is Josh’s first year as a member of FCA. He heard about the club last school year and “just decided it was something he wanted to do.”
There are currently around 30 to 40 FCA members at BGHS, but the club is still looking to grow. Even though the organization is geared towards athletes, as the name would imply, it is not meant to deter any students. Prospective members do not have to be an athlete or even Christian; FCA is welcome to any student attending. Faith Vantrease, who does not play a sport at BGHS but plays in the band, says, “FCA is a great place to come in school because you have nowhere to talk about Jesus but you still have FCA that is a safe place to talk about God,” and she enjoys “the friendship” that FCA brings.
By Emma Kate Widener