The Suffolk News-Herald had the privilege the last couple weeks of heralding the arrival of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Suffolk schools.

The FCA is an organization that ministers to coaches and athletes to help them create a positive impact on their sports communities for the kingdom of God. Whether it’s a coach’s kind words to a player after a rough match, opposing teams praying together after the game or the wordless witness of a hand offered to help an opponent get off the ground, Christians can make a powerful statement in the wide world of sports.

With more than 44 million young people under the age of 18 participating in organized sports in America, it’s clear that sports ministry is one of the best ways to reach young people.

As the largest Christian sports organization in the world, FCA works on the professional, college, high school, middle school, youth and recreation league levels stressing integrity, serving, teamwork and excellence. It has groups — called “huddles” — at thousands of colleges, high schools and other organizations, runs Christian sports camps throughout the summer in a variety of different sports and runs community ministries as well.

There also are a number of sport-specific ministries, including in such unconventional sports as skateboarding, surfing and motocross.

Having been involved in two sports at my Christian high school, I can definitely say that being involved in sports created a dramatic shift in my life path. For me, cheerleading was character-building, and basketball was life-changing. And again, it wasn’t so much the sport, but the people involved as teammates, coaches and opponents, that created the change.

Though we didn’t have an FCA huddle at my school, I sometimes attended those of other schools and saw the positive effects the group was having. I’m glad to see FCA coming to Suffolk and to see the football coaches, especially, becoming heavily involved from the get-go. I think it spells good things for Suffolk.