Current Seahawks assistant women's soccer coach John Bratcher, in 1982, led his soccer team from Cornerstone University (then Grand Rapids Baptist University) to Montego Bay, Jamaica for a mission trip. There, they played matches against local club teams and Fairhaven Baptist College. During that time they also helped build a church and participated in local church services in Montego Bay.
Eighteen mission trips later, Coach Bratcher's program in Montego Bay has expanded from traditional volunteer work to include running soccer clinics for neighborhood clubs and outfitting local soccer teams with training equipment.
The growing success and impact of Coach Bratcher's mission trips is greatly thanks to a partnership with Montego Bay local, Leasa McKayle. Leasa is the manager of the Hilton Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay and runs the Worldchanger foundation that supports the education and development of local girls. Leasa was the key to Coach Bratcher's successful soccer clinic in 2014, which had 85 participants from four area high schools.
At the conclusion of this clinic, several coaches asked for tips on how to train their teams in the same manner that Coach Bratcher and his staff were training the participants. This interest led to the idea for a coaches' training course in 2016, where local coaches would learn about the importance of education for players and how to implement the NAIA's Champions of Character five core values in their practices.
To solidify dates and objectives for this new coaches' event in 2016, Coach Bratcher recently took a trip to Montego Bay. Three weeks before he left, Kristin Gillette, NAIA Champions of Character Director, alerted Coach Bratcher to company called Uncharted Play, a company that distributes energy-generating play systems to kids in developing areas. One of Uncharted Play's products is the SOCCKET II, a soccer ball that charges a lithium-ion battery housed inside the ball when it is rolled, dribbled, kicked or bounced. The ball also doubles as a lantern when an LED light stem is attached to it. After an hour of play, the SOCCKET II stores enough energy to power three hours of light.
The NAIA purchased a SOCCKET II and sent it with Coach Bratcher to donate to Leasa's Worldchanger foundation. Her girls used the ball to play their "net ball" game, which is similar to basketball, but without a backboard attached to the basket. The next night when the power in the area went out, Leasa used the SOCCKET II to give off light. The girls also tried out the PULSE, a specially-designed jump rope with handles that can be used to charge a cell phone or as an LED flashlight.
Uncharted Play developed the SOCCKET II to help meet the needs of 1.2 billion people in the world that have no electricity or unreliable electricity. Their products come with a one-year warranty and are entirely self-sustainable. The ball and jump rope can only be charged through activity, so exercise and fitness for children and adults is the byproduct. Uncharted Play also uses its Think Out of Bounds curriculum in partner schools to inspire invention and creative confidence and encourage students to see themselves as thinkers, inventors, and innovators for a better future.
Coach Bratcher's mission trips to Montegro Bay and his work with the Worldchanger foundation and Uncharted Play have opened up opportunities to help widen the reach of Champions of Character servant leadership through athletics.
