On June 27th, Director of Wrestling Wynn Michalak ran the first ever SportsLife Wrestling Camp in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in partnership with Fayetteville Christian School. Populated with several current and former military families, the school recently launched a wrestling program where Michalak has been mentoring the leadership.

“Some of the people I’ve been working with in that community didn’t feel like they were fulfilling what God was calling them to do,” he explained.

“They needed some confidence and the understanding that God doesn’t always call the qualified but He always qualifies the called.”

Michalak organized the camp in two months and was pleased to see 19 athletes and five leaders attend. Most of the wrestlers were between 10 and 15 years old and new to the sport.

“One of the parents asked how many kids we needed to have attend for us to still run the camp,” Michalak recalled. “I told them we’d run the camp with at least five kids, but honestly, we would have run the camp with two kids because impact is much bigger than scale.”

Michalak worked on fundamentals of the sport with assistance from Mike Machhiavello, a North Carolina native who won an NCAA Championship at North Carolina State. Both men shared their testimonies with the attentive audience.

“I had some kids that came up to me and expressed that they struggle to meet their parents’ expectations,” Michalak said. “I also had a 10-year old thank me afterwards and then he told me he had committed his life to Christ and asked Him to be his savior. That was pretty special. It’s huge if we can get truth into these kids rather than the lies that the world’s been telling them.”

Although the camp was small, Michalak was happy with the turnout and hopes to double attendance at next year’s camp.

“Doing a wrestling camp is great because you can give back to the sport and prepare young athletes for future success on the mat,” he said.

“But when you can have an eternal impact on these kids, that makes the effort so much more meaningful.”

In the days following the event, Michalak couldn’t help but look towards the future in other communities like Fayetteville where the opportunities to reach young athletes and sports leaders are vast.

“Sometimes I have to slow myself down because being a part of camps like this makes me want to jump in do more,” he said. “But I also have to realize it’s in God’s timing and He has a perfect plan for how all of this is going to play out. I’m really excited for the growth we’ve already had and how much God is moving through us to change lives.”