FCA prepares for All-Star game

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is set to host the 2018 FCA High School Softball Classic on Monday, June 11 at San Marcos High School. 

Alongside the all-star game, FCA is holding a banquet on Sunday, June 11 at First Baptist Church in San Marcos, and youth clinic on Monday. 

Pat Ford, FCA Central Texas south/southeast director, said the FCA all-star softball events will provide a great opportunity for FCA.

“This is an amazing opportunity for FCA to come in and do three things,” Ford said, “to highlight the central Texas softball talent that’s going to be a lot of fun to see these girls. We have about 34 girls committed to play, and I think we had maybe 12 or 15 committed to play in college, so the talent should be nice. The second thing we want to do is this is going to be a ministry event. We’re going to have some great speakers, the banquet is going to be amazing with Rich Garza coming from the (San Antonio) Spurs chaplain. He’s a national communicator, so that’ll be Sunday night and we’ll have other youth pastors share with the girls throughout the weekend. So, it’s going to be a great ministry event.

“And then, the third purpose of this event will be to generate revenue for our local staff and resources that we need throughout the year. That’s the purpose of why we’re doing this.”

Additionally, the all-star event will be a chance for FCA to continue to grow its name in the San Marcos and surrounding areas. 

“We’ve got to get the name out there,” Ford said. “We’ve got to let people know that FCA, not only do they have staff in town, but they have a board in town. It’s a brand new organization and business in town. We’re trying to grow our ministry. We’re trying to reach our vision of adding staff in this area.”

Ford, who has been responsible for developing this first-year event, said it will be rewarding to see the ministry part of the all-star events. 

“One of the aspects of the event is it is a ministry event,” Ford said. “We’re not going to hide from that. We’re not going to run from that. So, it’ll be very rewarding to sit back and to watch the girls hear college girls, to hear high school girls, to hear our speaker, hear how God can change lives. That’s going to be very rewarding to see that part of the weekend unfold. Just to see lives being changed. That’s what it’s all about.” 

The all-star game will feature a nine-inning contest. Ford hopes to have a big crowd and said 300-400 spectators would be great in the event’s first year. 

Each event is open to the public. Ford said it’ll be good to interact with the community and get FCA’s name out there. 

“It’s going to be three great opportunities,” Ford said. “The banquet on Sunday night, the youth clinic and the youth clinic will lead right up to the game time for the girls to stay, and then we’re going to have a great opportunity at the game to see our local girls, area girls play. It’s just a great opportunity to support FCA. We are new in this area as far as having a staff in this area. So, it would be great to connect and meet with new people just to come out and support our local area.”

Registration for the FCA youth clinic is still open. Call Pat Ford at 806-681-6409 or email him at pford@fca.org to register.