Semoball

Jackson athlete keeps her focus narrow and on the right things

Jackson High School junior athlete Olivia Ward instructs young athletes Tuesday at the SEMO FCA Power Camp at Cape Central High School.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

This is the third in a three-part series regarding the Semo FCA Power Camp that has been held at Cape Central Junior High this week.

Olivia Ward isn’t a complicated young lady.

That isn’t to say she isn’t busy, but the Jackson High School junior keeps her focus on what is important in life and isn’t easily distracted from those priorities.

This week, Ward dedicated herself to those two pursuits, which had her volunteering as a “huddle leader” at the SEMO FCA Power Camp at Cape Central Junior High School for a couple of days before heading to Branson, Missouri for a volleyball camp Thursday.

While 160 young people filled the junior high athletic facilities learning the nuances of eight different sports earlier this week, Ward was caught up in the middle of a swarm of kids taking part in the basketball portion of the camp.

“This is basically my life,” Ward said. “It’s sports and then it’s the Lord. Those are the two biggest things that I could ever need and that is what I thrive off of every day of my life.”

Ward was working in the gym with young people who had spent the earlier part of their day hearing worship and then taking part in small groups (“huddles”), where teens such as Ward helped the kids understand the message that was delivered earlier.

Ward is particularly gifted to do something like this, because not only is she a devoted athlete (she plays basketball, soccer, and volleyball for the Lady Indians), but she is also a devoted human being.

“I’ve grown up in a church,” Ward explained, “so I’ve always been a Christian, but my freshman year it really hit me hard that (following Christ) is really what I needed to do and this is why.

“All of these signs led me to the Lord even harder than I was when I was younger.”

Being a teenager may look easy with hours spent on Snapchat and following on YouTube the latest happenings in Emma Chamberlain’s daily existence, but there actually is a lot of pressure put on young people such as Ward and even the most disciplined kids can step off the proper path momentarily.

“There is nothing more challenging for us,” SEMO FCA Area Representative Mike Litzelfelner (Litz),” said, “than kids trying to fit in. They want to be popular. Now they have social media and it is always about how am I going to look good.”

Ward exhibited wisdom beyond her years when she explained her advice to the young campers on dealing with that issue.

“It’s almost the cool thing to be different and to be into things that you shouldn’t be into,” Ward said. “But when you dive deeper in with your friends if you have people around you that want to be into the Lord also, it helps. (The negative influences) don’t really bother you as much as they would if you were just standing alone.”

Litz had young athletes such as Ward, and many others, helping with the camp, not only for organizational purposes, but he believes smart, talented and gifted young people – like Ward – will make an impact that reaches much further than the three days of a Power Camp.

“Part of my passion,” Litz explained, “is that (the athletes) are going to leave and be influencers, so we catch them now. We’ll get them in junior high, in high school, and college-aged students, and we do our best to just share the Truth with them and trust that God is going to do his work.”

That “work” is being done and Olivia Ward is a great example of that.

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