Cottonwood has a sort of “accidental” soccer team.
A couple of years ago, I was with a few women after Bible study, talking about all the land the church owns, land we bought to build on, but have not used. We thought it would be great to put in softball fields, soccer fields, picnic tables, things to make the vacant land useful. We got very excited about it, and I shared with the rest of the staff the idea. Since Scott and Chance were planning a soccer camp for the kids, they went to work creating a soccer field, which they used a few weeks later.
That is really all that happened with the land. Eventually, we noticed a group of Hispanic men playing soccer on the field a few times. They were members of a local team, using our field for practice. Someone spoke to the men and told them that we were happy to have the field used and they were welcome to practice there any time. A few weeks later, the men asked if our field could be their home field, to play games on regularly. With that, they became our soccer team. Their shirts have “Cottonwood” on the front.
The team plays in other small towns in the area, and continue to use our field as their home team. Last year, the team won second place, and gave the giant trophy to the church. Well, today, the team was invited to come to church, where they were introduced. We clapped and cheered for them, and we prayed for them. They stayed for the worship service, using our headphones for Spanish translation, since most of them do not speak English. It was good to have them with us. I hope that they felt welcome and at home with us.
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