Football Ministry Update

HiS PRINT Football Camp Update!

Greetings from Kraljevo, Serbia! What a wonderful small town tucked away in the hills of southern Serbia! Since my last update, we have held camp in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Novi Sad, Serbia! We are conducting our last day of our football camp tour today, Thursday, July 12th, in Kraljevo.

All I can say is WOW! God’s provisions and blessings always exceed my own human expectations! From Croatia to Slovenia to Serbia, God has provided great weather, traveling mercies, and most importantly, great people all along the way. In Ljubljana, Vicky Korelc, Devin Lee and the Ljubljana Mustangs football club took very good care of us, from accommodations to food to a great practice facility and some great Balkan hospitality. We had 16 campers and two great days of camp! Jamar Mitchell did a tremendous job sharing and pouring love into these young men’s lives, as did all the other coaches.

After Ljubljana, we made a short visit to HiS House to grab some rest and recharge our batteries with hugs, handshakes, smiles and laughter. It was just the fuel we needed to head into Serbia! Our first stop was in Novi Sad! We had an awesome three days of spending time with the Wild Dogs and a few other players from other clubs. Vukasin Simonic is a gracious host and his high expectations and tremendous respect for HiS PRINT made for a fantastic camp. We held two practices each day as well as meeting time in the classroom! We also sat together and watched the Serbian Super Bowl of their first league. The Wild Boars and Wolves had a spirited game and it was a great opportunity to share football strategy and just spend time with the campers and coaches. We had 25-30 in attendance counting coaches and visitors! Hasse Hellan and Bobby Rosario from Florida, who played for the Indjia Indians stopped by to help out! We also had some help from Nikola Davidovic, AKA big Johnny, and Allan Ramsey from Florida. Hasse played for Coach Mark in Norway! We also had dinner with the president of the SAAF as well as Nikola Davidovic, the SAAF Secretary, and were able to sit and discuss American football in Serbia and beyond!

The highlight of our time in Novi Sad was brought to the forefront by a player, Alexander Coka Bogdonavic, who also attended our camp last year had a special request! He asked if each time we “broke” our team huddles if we could like we did last year. I would yell out “He Did It!” and the team would respond “Let’s Do It!”. It literally sent God chills up and down my spine. And we did exactly what Aleks requested! What a blessed time!

We were also able to spend some quality time with Vukasin Simonic, club president for the Wild Dogs! His heart of service and the passion he has for helping young men(and women) to participate in and grow American football in Serbia is astonishing! Keep up the good work, Vuk!!

Stay tuned for updates from Kraljevo!