Complete Champions
Complete Champion Approach calls student athletes to a higher purpose
LANGLEY, BC—Recruited to Trinity Western University (TWU) for her skill on the volleyball court, Royal Richardson lived for her sport. This meant that in her first year, her faith took a back seat.
“I grew up in a Christian family, I went to church every Sunday but I didn’t fully understand what being a Christian was until I went on a mission trip to Paraguay with my team,” Richardson says.
However, on the trip she was forced to analyze herself and came to a startling conclusion.
“The trip brought up things that I was dealing during the school year that I repressed. I felt like I was an unloving and selfish person and that I didn’t deserve half of what I had because these kids were so needing love,” she says.
At that point Christy Taylor, a member of Athletes in Action (a Power to Change ministry), noticed that Richardson was upset, and confronted her. Taylor asked her to fully accept Christ into her life.
“I had never prayed out loud at this point, but I realized that I needed something more than the superficial life that I had been living,” Richardson says.
Surrounded by her teammates, she prayed, “It felt like a dark cloud lifted off my heart,” Richardson says. “I could finally open up to people for the first time in my entire life.”
Richardson’s story is one example of TWU’s Complete Champion Approach (CCA) in action. The CCA develops five main areas: leadership, athletics, academics, spiritual, and personal. But Spartans women’s volleyball coach Ryan Hofer says it’s not just the CCA that helps athletes grow.
“It’s TWU and the environment,” he says of the supportive faith-infused atmosphere students dwell in. “When we add the CCA to that, it creates a whole new layer to how we’re investing in athletes’ lives.”
Spartans Strength and Performance Nutrition coach Adrienne Friesen says that, at its core, the CCA is about showing the athletes how to honour God in every aspect of their lives.
“If your coaches and coaching support staff make it a priority to really serve God and honour Him in all areas of their lives, the blessing that comes forth from that is amazing,” she says.
It has paid off for TWU. Many of its athletes have gone on to coach at the collegiate level and play at the national level. The CCA has also produced top ranked teams that win national championships—seven in the past 10 years. For a small private university competing with universities four times its size, this is truly an achievement. Still, the explanation for these wins is simple—it’s God.
The CCA has been instrumental in helping Richardson stay focused on her goals for the future. After graduation, she hopes to play on the national team or become an athletic therapist. She now works summers at Snap Fitness in Surrey, B.C., helping people realize their fitness goals by applying what she’s learned at TWU.
“I’ve had clients tell me they can see I’m a compassionate person by the way I act,” Richardson says. “It’s cool that what I learn at school, I can take to the public sphere.”
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