Back in 1953 when D. Ray Hostetter initiated the Brethren in Christ Sports Tournament at Messiah College (Grantham, Pa.), there were a whole lot fewer opportunities for recreational athletes to get in the game than there are today. But ready access to sporting opportunities hasn’t cut into participation in the annual inter-church competition, which is going strong and growing as it celebrates its 55th anniversary.

From an original five-team basketball competition in 1953, the 2008 tournament will include 34 men’s basketball teams (a few women also play), 32 women’s volleyball teams, 30 coed table tennis teams, and 20 coed indoor soccer teams. Almost 40 churches within a two-hour radius of the college send athletes to the tournament, which takes place over the school’s spring break in mid-March.

Dennis Weller, this year’s tournament coordinator, explains that “the tournament’s early goals were to have people [visit] Messiah College and to provide a place where people could practice being like Christ in the crucible of competition.” These same goals remain at the heart of the 2008 tournament. As athletes forge friendships with their teammates and with players from other teams, they also discover a “sense of being involved in something larger in the kingdom,” Dennis comments.

Cumberland Valley BIC Church (Dillsburg, Pa.) is one of the churches that will field teams in this year’s competition, including a women’s volleyball team pulled together by coach Debbie Rutter. She decided to form a women’s team because of her love for the sport and her desire to “bring together women of the church that don’t necessarily know one another.” This year’s team is composed of 12 women from a broad age-range, with one player having been a participant in the tournament in 1980! The women have dedicated themselves to the team and the Sunday afternoon practices that began in January. Practices have been well-attended and the players are looking forward to some good competition. “The chemistry of this team is good, and we have worked very hard to be a strong team. I think over these final weeks, we will refine some of our playing and will ‘bring the heat!’” she reports.

More information on the BIC Sports Tournament and its schedule can be accessed here.