PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

S P O T L I G H T

‘DOING SPORTS GOD’S WAY’ At Peoria’s Christian Center, athletics is about way more than winning

BY KIRK WESSLER PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

H all of Fame basketball coach Bob Knight was typically blunt about the notion of friendly competition. “You have competition, you take out good will,” Knight said during an inter view with a young reporter 40 years ago. The folks who run the youth sports programs at Christian Center in Peoria beg to differ. Their philosophy might be best summed up by the title of their discipleship and development program for coaches: “Doing Sports God’s Way.” More than 2,200 boys and girls, ages 5-18, will participate on a Christian Center sports team this year. They’ll practice and compete in T-ball, base ball, softball, soccer and basketball, learning more than basic fundamentals of each sport.

their kid not just athletically but spiri tually, with focus on the kid versus focus on wins and losses. It’s about Jesus loving you and you loving your neighbor, who happens to be a teammate or maybe someone on the other team. “Hopefully, we are Jesus with skin on to these kids.” As for Knight’s take on competition? “The word competition comes from the Latin ‘competere,’ which means to strive together,” said Joe Monah an, director of coaching and program development at Christian Center. “To day’s culture seems to strive against, but competition should be more about making each other better. I bring my best to help bring out your best, and you do the same for me.”

“Parents want somewhere to go where they feel it’s not just all about winning,” said Chad Bailey, Christian Center man aging director. “It’s about developing Chad Bailey of The Christian Center holds the Bible and talks with young players before their baseball games

66 OCTOBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE