Upcoming Soccer Camp Aims to Unite Fort Wayne Families Through Faith, Friendship, and the Beautiful Game
- Morgan Koepp
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
This July, local families will have the opportunity to experience more than just a week of soccer. Iglesia Avalon and Surge Soccer International are partnering to host a youth soccer camp from Monday, July 13 through Sunday, July 19, inviting children entering first through sixth grade to come together for a week centered on teamwork, community, and fun.
The camp will run daily from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and costs $15 per child.
Throughout the week, campers will participate in skill-building activities, games, and team development before wrapping up the week with a soccer tournament on Saturday. Children will be grouped into teams representing different countries, allowing them to build friendships and work together throughout the week. The week will conclude on Sunday with a combined awards ceremony and bilingual church service from noon to 2 p.m., followed by a World Cup watch party beginning at 3 p.m.
While the camp promises plenty of soccer, its purpose extends far beyond the field.
For Alessandra Ryan, who helped bring the camp to life, soccer has always been more than a game. A lifelong player, former collegiate athlete at Huntington University, and former coach, Ryan has spent years investing in young athletes. However, it was a sports ministry trip to the Dominican Republic last year that completely changed her perspective on what soccer could accomplish.
“My eyes were super opened to see how God was using soccer as a way to reach people, how to bring communities together, and how to not stay stuck in poverty,” Ryan said. “It was a really cool way to be able to bring people together and unite around one thing.”
That experience introduced Ryan to sports ministry and revealed the unique ability sports have to connect people across cultures and backgrounds.
“There’s been multiple times where I’ve played with people, we don’t speak the same language, but we all know how to play soccer,” she said. “Then we become friends after. It’s so fun. There’s just a different level of connection. There’s not too many things in this world that can bring people together like that.”
Ryan says that belief in soccer’s ability to unite people actually began long before her experience in the Dominican Republic. Growing up, some of her favorite memories were playing pickup soccer with her dad in their neighborhood.
“We used to play soccer all the time just for fun,” Ryan said. “People would come out from their backyards when they saw us playing and ask if they could join. By the end, people who started as strangers were leaving as friends. That was one of the first times I saw how soccer could truly bring people together.”
Ryan credits her father with inspiring that perspective from an early age.
“I can’t thank my dad enough for showing me that,” she said. “He taught me that soccer is about so much more than the game itself. It’s about creating community, welcoming people in, and giving them a place to belong.”
When Ryan and her father recently stepped away from coaching after many years she suddenly found herself facing her first summer without a team.
“I’ve always been coaching,” Ryan said. “This was the first summer that I wasn’t doing anything, and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t like that.’”
Rather than stepping away from the sport entirely, Ryan began thinking about ways she could continue serving local families and investing in the community.
“We were like, ‘Okay, well, what if we have something locally, like a camp, for our own community?’” she recalled. “A way to bring people together.”
Knowing the impact sports ministry had on her own life, Ryan immediately thought of Surge Soccer International, an organization she has worked alongside that uses soccer to share hope and build relationships around the world.
When she approached her church, Iglesia Avalon, with the idea, the vision quickly became a collaborative effort.
According to Alessandra, the partnership has allowed each organization to contribute its strengths.
“Surge brings a lot of things to the table,” she said. “It’s really been a partnership.”
Ultimately, Ryan hopes the camp offers children and families something increasingly difficult to find: genuine connection.
“I thought this soccer camp would be a great way to give back to our community and bring families together,” she said.
In a world that often feels divided, Ryan believes soccer still has the power to unite people. And this July, local families will have the opportunity to experience firsthand why the sport is often referred to as “the Beautiful Game.”
