Loughborough Lines...

It was good to get up to Loughborough last week - the first time in 2010. I'd missed my contacts and work there, especially as my previous planned visit 2 weeks beforehand was cancelled at the last minute due to the heavy snow between both here and there as well as 'en route'. I had a busy, enjoyable and varied 3 days, only some of which I mention here.
One major part of my work there was spending time with the university's cricket centre of excellence squad during their main Wednesday training session. This is almost a chaplaincy within a chaplaincy in that I've been invited to be chaplain specifically to this squad as part of my overall work at the University. As well as meeting various players and getting to know the coaches better, and so help relationships to develops, I found it a fascinating afternoon seeing how specific drills and activities help develop certain cricket skills.
On Thursday I had an introductory visit to the new SportPark. Part of the the University, over the next few months this will become home to a number of national and regional sports governing bodies. As my role is not just to offer sports specific chaplaincy for University staff and students, but to do so for all on campus connected with sport, this new facility will be somewhere to add to my visits in future.
Thursday also saw me spend time in the University library researching resources for a discussion evening I'm due to lead in April for the chaplaincy under the heading "Winning at all costs....?"
A fourth major aspect of my visit to Loughborough this time was to join in with Wednesday's Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations. A group from the University, and also from Loughborough College, walked in procession to a park in the centre of town where we joined in a act of commemoration. This was very moving. One of the main speakers was a Jewish lady many of whose family perished in the Warsaw ghetto, and in an amazing turn of fate she is now married to the son of a former SS officer. What a powerful story she has to tell........ As well as taking part in this for its own sake, it was also good whilst walking to see several sports-connected staff and students, and for them to realise that although sports chaplaincy is important to me it is not the only thing I am concerned about.
The work of a sports chaplain is certainly a mixture of the specific and the more general, wider picture, just as life is for all of us.