By Nick Morgan, Sports Editor
In 2015, a group of Asbury men’s soccer players realized that there are people that go all over the country to serve on missions trips, but there are also people in need right here in central Kentucky. That’s when senior Austin Baker founded Lex Sport Outreach, a program completely led and maintained by Asbury student athletes that seeks to allow kids in inner city Lexington to have a chance to play soccer and also hear the gospel.
Lex Sport Outreach utilizes Coolavin Park on the north side of Lexington for its ministry, known as West 6th Street Soccer Ministry. The volunteers walk around the neighborhoods knocking on doors and asking kids if they want to come play soccer in the park. The children get to play soccer for about 30 minutes and hear a message given by one of the volunteers. The volunteers then walk the kids home.
The West 6th Street Soccer Ministry, now led by sophomore soccer player Joe Harper, has about 30 kids on average come out to play each Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. In 2015, there were five volunteers from Asbury, but there are now anywhere from 15 to 20, mainly from the men’s and women’s soccer teams with a few from the volleyball team as well.
Another part of Lex Sport Outreach was founded last spring at Winberg Middle School in Lexington, where there was a lot of interest in a soccer team. Noah Welch, a junior on the men’s soccer team, took over the role of head coach at Winberg. “We have practices every Wednesday after school, and last year, we even got to play a game against Lexington Christian Academy, which we won,” Welch said. “Going every week is such a blessing, and you get to see the impact you have on kids’ lives and the joy we can put in their lives through God. That’s what keeps us coming back.”
