Key Dates:

Registration Begins:  October 19, 2008

Evaluation Dates:  November 15th (8:00am - 12:00pm)

                      and November 17th (5:30pm - 8:30pm)

Where:  Damon Vaughn Center, Airline Baptist Church

Practices Begin:  December 8, 2008

Games Begin: January 17, 2009

Season Ending Celebration: March 8, 2009

We need your help!

UPWARD sports is a fantastic opportunity to bring people to our church to hear God's word as well as enjoy fellowship and sports.  At Airline Baptist Church, we are committed to keep our focus UPWARD by:

  Uplifting our league in prayer.
  Presenting the Gospel and the Scripture.
  Wanting every child to know Jesus Christ.
  Actively developing leaders.
  Reinforcing Christ as the character role-model for our coaches and referees.
  Delivering a fun experience to each participant.

If you'd like to be a part of what God is doing through the UPWARD ministry at Airline Baptist Church, take a look at the opportunities available below.  We have a place for everyone!  If you would like more information on any of the volunteer opportunities listed below, please contact us!

League Director:  Scott & Shelly Parson will be Airline's League Directors this season.  They can be contacted via email @ scott@airlinebaptist.com. 

Prayer Commissioner:  The prayer commissioner's focus will be to build a prayer team to commit to praying for our league throughout the season.

Advertising Commissioner:  The advertisting commisioner's focus is to saturate the community with information abour our UPWARD ministry.

Division Commissioner:  Division commissioners will help recruit coaches and coordinate practice schedules for your respective division. (Basketball & Cheerleading)

Game Day Commissioner:  The Game Day commissioner will be in charge of Game Day setup and cleanup.  They will do this by recruiting and scheduling volunteers for pre-game setup, concessions and cleanup.

Referee Commissioner:  The referee commissioner recruits, trains, schedules and oversees volunteer referees.

Devotions Commissioner:  The devotion commissioner will be responsible for ensuring a short devotion occurs at half-time of every game this season.  They will recruit volunteers and schedule them for each game.  You may have one person do the devotion for all games on a particular day or have several different people per day. 

Follow-Up Commissioner:  The follow-up commissioner will recruit tream members to follow up on those who make a commitment during the season or at the UPWARD Awards Celebration.

Coaches:  The role of the UPWARD coach is to uphold the values of UPWARD.  In UPWARD basketball and cheerleading, the success of the coach is not determined by wins and losses.  Their success is determined by how he or she conveys Christ in action and attitude both on and off the court.  Coaches have the greatest opportunity to positively impact the lives of palyers and their families.  Coaches will develop a relationship with players and parents that may result in a openness to hear the gospel. 

Coaches do not need basketball or cheerleading experience.  UPWARD provides a training PowerPoint presentation, a playbook, and a training DVD.  If you'd like to positively impact the life of a child, volunteer to be an UPWARD coach!

Referees:  In UPWARD basketball, refereeing is a ministry position.  Referees act as an extension of the coach as they teach and encourage players while officiating.  All referees must attend a Referee Training sesion.  As an UPWARD referee, you will set the tone for each game by leading the teams in prayer.  You will know the rules unique to UPWARD basketball and call and explain all violations.  You will also be an "on the floor" coach by talking to players and helping them to avoid violations.

Referees will receive and UPWARD Referee Handbook, a Powerpoint Training session and Referee DVD to provide visual demonstations of required referee skills.