UTC athletes complete Golgotha, a mile-long trek through the Colorado mountains. (Photo courtesy of UTC/Athletes In Action)
For college athletes, their summer is typically consumed by committing to their summer training packets. Their level of diligence and devotion to these workouts will determine how prepared they are when they return to school for their run test, weight test, and in-game sport skills. Coaches give athletes these workout packets to ensure their players are strong and conditioned, ready to execute even when they are fatigued.
While the physical preparation of an athlete’s offseason is essential to their sport, the mental and spiritual side of an athlete’s game is what will determine how they play when uncontrollable adversity strikes. Knowing this, Athletes in Action has found a way to help athletes connect their faith to their sport and understand they cannot stand on their own strength.
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If you or someone you know is a college athlete, add AIA’s Ultimate Training Camp to next year’s summer bucket list.
Last week, nearly 300 college athletes from 73 different schools gathered together at Colorado State University to learn how to integrate faith and sports into their lives. Throughout the week, the athletes heard from wise speakers, took diligent notes in seminars, met in small groups with each other, competed in volleyball labs, and jumped up and down during worship nights.
UTC athletes on the Colorado State football field. (Photo courtesy of UTC/Athletes In Action)
There are five principles taught at UTC:
1) Audience of One: Who or what do I worship?
2) Inside the Game: What motivates me?
3) Holy Sweat: How do I grow?
4) Better > Bitter: How do I deal with suffering?
5) Victory Beyond Competition: How do I live from God’s Kingdom instead of my kingdom?
The goal of these principles is to help the athletes find freedom and purpose in their sport and life beyond. These principles prepare athletes for a 20-hour physical competition called the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Scriptural Principles + Exhaustion = Confidence In Almighty Lord).
This S.P.E.C.I.A.L. — “oooooohhhhhh” (as all the athletes HAVE TO say anytime the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. was mentioned) — is a series of workouts, team challenges, and obstacle courses that pushes them to truly rely on Christ. During these intense 20 hours, athletes cry, laugh, fall, carry each other, pray, cheer and surrender. They have sharpied reminders all over their bodies of who they are in Christ: “I am accepted,” “I am worthy,” “I am forgiven.” Genuine friendships are created through this raw and vulnerable experience because athletes learn to walk by faith through the struggles they share. The hope is for athletes to encounter Jesus in the brokenness of sport and competition, allowing God to strengthen them and redeem it for His Kingdom.
The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. concludes with a mile-long trek through the Colorado mountains called Golgotha. Athletes carry a wooden plank across their back to represent the journey of Jesus with the cross. This is not a scored event, but rather a final moment of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. to have time alone with the Lord and reflect on their last 20 hours. Some run, some walk, some cry, some cheer, but all smile. All throughout the S.P.E.C.I.A.L., 2 Corinthians 12:9 is seen as athletes chant phrases like “God is good, all the time, God is good” and “the Lord is my strength.”
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9
While photos show a physically intense Ultimate Training Camp, the real transformation is within. Athletes have not only gone through battle during the S.P.E.C.I.A.L., but have prepared themselves for the battles to come on and off the field when back on their campuses. A summer bucket list item like this carries into the rest of their lives.
Michigan State football player Quindarius Dunnigan posted after his time in Colorado, “The people that You placed in my life have been nothing short of EXACTLY what I needed and meeting everyone I did on this trip was the breath of air that I didn’t even know I was grasping for.”
Iowa soccer player Kellen Fife shared, “I am forever grateful for another LIFE CHANGING experience at UTC and to be humbled before the Lord. He walks beside us abounding with grace and mercy, guiding us to godliness through faith.”
The Colorado camp that just concluded isn’t the only one this summer. A second one held in St. Paul, Minnesota, is set for June 15-21. More information can be found on the UTC website.
Check out the recap reel from 2025 UTC Colorado.
And keep an eye out this summer for “What’s Up” podcast interviews where I dive into the UTC experience with multiple athletes who attended this year’s camp in Colorado!
>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<
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