The Lord has provided Uncommon Sports Group with an excellent year thus far! We have had the opportunity to invest in nearly 40 new participants through the USG Academy, along with pouring into our present members through a variety of fully-funded conferences and opportunities!
We have had three Academy teams so far this year and eight member opportunities. In this blog, we will highlight what the Lord has been able to do through this ministry so far in 2022.
Academy Graduates
Over the first half of this year, 37 participants have graduated from the USG Academy across three cohorts. It was an honor for us to have each of them go through our program and we are praising God for the work He did in each of their lives during the eight-week Academy. Take a look at each of our cohorts below:
Team 28: Daniel Beavers, Ryan Brown, Kyle Donohue, Grace Flowers, Joel Gray, Harris Hale, Kyle Kempton, Jack Mulkey, Jason Prill, Emma Prillaman, Josh Roberson, Frank Sheets, Sarah Stapleton, Cody Taybron.
Team 29: Antoine Brown, Erin Castle, Jackson Cumpton, Alex Kaiser, William Manson, Katherine McConnell, Elijah McKim, Payne Moses, Faith Padgett, Nathaniel Schweitzer, Ashton Whitman.
Team 30: Adam Albert, Thomas Biddle, Paul Conner, Dominic Ferrucci, Brady Flynn, Ian Hazzard, Mike Herrington, Hallie Kirk, Kennedy Moore, Mallory Odell, Steven Soule, Rusty Watson.
Impact Weekends
Each of our Academy graduates attended an Impact Weekend with USG! Our Impact Weekends are an opportunity for our Academy graduates to experience Christ-centered community and practice applying what they have learned during the eight-week virtual Academy. This year we have had two Impact Weekends, one in New York City, New York, and the other in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Hear about what we did at each below:
New York City Impact Weekend: Our participants had the opportunity to spend a weekend in the Big Apple. We enjoyed fellowship in Times Square over bowling and food. We heard from powerful guest speakers including Brooklyn Nets General Manager, Andy Birdsong, and a group of USG members from St. John’s University! We were able to serve the local community through evangelism and outreach in Central Park. Lastly, we had the opportunity to cap off the trip with an exclusive tour of Madison Square Garden.
Minneapolis/St. Paul Impact Weekend: Our MSP participants had the opportunity to experience an awesome weekend of professional and spiritual growth! We spent time in fellowship over a Minnesota Twins baseball game, and heard from some incredible guest speakers including Minnesota Timberwolves VP of Fan Experience, Jeff Munneke, the Event Manager at the Target Center, and USG Member, Elijah Gill, the Director of Basketball Operations with the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team, Ryan Livingston, and the Athletic Director at the University of Northwestern- St. Paul, Matt Hill. We also had the opportunity to tour the Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball facilities, the Minnesota Gophers football stadium, and the University of Northwestern- St. Paul’s athletic facilities. From a spiritual growth perspective, we had the opportunity to fellowship over morning Bible study, do an evangelism outreach event in downtown Minneapolis, and close the weekend with a commissioning session at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Member Opportunities
USG has been able to fully fund a total of eight member opportunities thus far in 2022. It is a great joy for our organization to be able to provide full funding for events that help our members grow both professionally and in Christ. Here's a list of our events through the first half of the year:
AFCA: January 9-11, 2022
NACDA Convention: June 26-29, 2022
We would like to acknowledge our Clean Out For A Cause program and all of our donors who make these fully-funded conferences, events, and opportunities possible for our participants!
Are you interested in taking part in our Academy and membership opportunities? Apply to join our community of Christ-centered leaders in sports here!
Do you have questions about our ministry? Fill out a contact form here!