This past weekend, Uncommon Sports Group hosted an Impact Weekend in Dallas, Texas, for ten attendees. Each attendee spent eight weeks walking through USG's virtual Academy opportunity, providing faith-based and professional development for participants. The Impact Weekend experience is a required in-person opportunity that each Academy participant attends to provide them with a more hands-on development experience and a chance to build Christ-centered relationships within the college and pro sport industry.
After a long day of travel on Friday, February 16th, the weekend began that afternoon with a short kick-off activity and a Gallup CliftonStrengths activity that allowed each participant to understand one another's strengths better and build connections.
After the Strengths activity, we visited with the Director of Athletics at the University of Texas at Dallas, Angela Marin, on campus for a short tour of the Comets athletic facilities and a time of Q&A with Angela. During the Q&A session, Angela talked about her journey to becoming one of five NCAA Hispanic and female Athletic Directors, what she looks for in candidates through the hiring process, and how she lives out her faith in her role.
We wrapped up Friday night with a social event at Pinstack that included dinner, bowling, and fellowship amongst the group. A group of present USG members in the Dallas area also joined the Impact Weekend group during the social event!
The weekend in Dallas continued on Saturday, beginning with a morning group Bible study through Acts 2:42-47. The participants were divided into three smaller groups to discuss the Scripture in the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) format.
After Bible study, the group headed to the Dallas Baptist University campus to hear from two guest speakers from the Patriots athletic department and receive a campus tour. The two guest speakers were the Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Ryon Phillips, and the Student-Athlete Success Coordinator, Riley Unger. Ryon spoke to our group about having an eternally focused mindset while working in the sport industry, specifically walking the group through Philippians 3:10-16. After Ryon's encouragement, Riley spoke about DBU's discipleship focus through athletics. Our time at DBU concluded with a wonderful tour of their beautiful campus!
After our time at Dallas Baptist, we headed to our service activity for the weekend with Mercy Street, a local Christian organization. The mission of Mercy Street is to cultivate mutually transforming relationships with inner-city youth through Christian mentorship. A part of Mercy Street's work is done through the vehicle of youth sports, and they have an awesome facility located near downtown Dallas that has state-of-the-art baseball, soccer, and football fields. Our group served with Mercy Street by helping clean and prepare two baseball fields for the upcoming season! The majority of our work included removing pesky rocks from the warning track and disposing of those rocks.
Our group enjoyed lunch and a short break before heading to our next professional development activity with the Guest Services Coordinator at AT&T Stadium and USG member Hannah Conlisk! Hannah provided our group with an in-depth tour of AT&T Stadium, including the various concourses, the field, and locker rooms. The tour wrapped up with a time of Q&A with Hannah to learn more about her role and how she lives out her faith in the industry.
Saturday rounded out with dinner, a commissioning activity on the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), and passing out USG Academy completion certificates to the ten attendees!
Our final activity of the weekend was attending Watermark Church in Dallas! One of USG's core values is living connected, and a part of that includes being involved with a local church. We hope that prioritizing the local church during our Impact Weekends will encourage attendees to do the same in their communities.
Each participant is officially a member of Uncommon Sports Group because of their completion of the Impact Weekend, and we’re encouraged by the ways that God grew each individual throughout the weekend.
We incredibly appreciate our Clean Out For A Cause donors' generosity and making events like these possible. As we send these new USG members out, we’re confident they are prepared and equipped to be Christ-centered leaders within the college and pro sport industry.
Learn more about the USG Academy, Impact Weekends, or membership! If you have any questions, contact a USG staff member here!