History

Sports Servants started from an idea in March of 2005 when director Zac Hood (Nashville, TN) took a one-week mission trip to Corozal, Belize. While falling in love with the Belizean people and culture, he discovered a deep need for structured activities for Belizean children. During that trip, he realized the powerful role sports can play in empowering children and communities and, later that summer, drew up a plan for starting organized sports programs in Belize.

Sports Servants came into existence in the fall of 2005 as a result of partnerships with The Belize Project, Mission to the World, and the YMCA of Belize. After a planning trip in March of 2006, the first summer trip was taken by 8 volunteers over a span of 8 weeks in June and July of 2006. With few expectations but high hopes, the summer resulted in valuable experience and strong relationships within schools and villages. The first programs offered were a series of one-day coaching workshops and six week-long soccer camps in 6 different villages.

In the past four years, Sports Servants has sent 87 volunteers from 12 states and 4 countries to serve a total of 186 weeks in Belize. More than 160 Belizeans have participated in our workshops, and more than 700 children have attended our camps. In 2009 and 2010, we are targeting the entire Corozal district – 327 teachers from 41 schools who serve an estimated 8,000 children. While our programs are for boys and girls, a significant portion of our progress has been in the founding of a Girls Camp in Cristo Rey Village. Over 100 girls have attended girls camp and the potential for positive growth with girls programs is significant. In 2009, the first intramural school program started in San Narciso which has paved the way for a larger school program model to be built out as a means to seeing Sports Servants reach the entire country of Belize.

Now with four years of experience and trust built in Belize, Sports Servants is leveraging the experience, relationships, resources, and volunteers from the first four years to build a full-scale model for the development of organized sports programs throughout the entire country. It is the hope of Sports Servants that the model can be used in other countries within the next 2-3 years.

An important note is the manner in which Sports Servants has evolved. For the first three years, all volunteers, including the founder, did not receive any compensation for their work. Volunteers have either raised support or paid for their own expenses for all trips to Belize. The organization currently has an estimated 95 helpers who serve within the areas of strategic planning, fundraising, program development, volunteer coordinating, and marketing.