Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Darryl Webb
Fitness Challenge Builds More Than One Community at GCU
12/10/2015 9:10:00 PM | Sports Performance
The shirt says it all:Â "22 sports, 1 team."
It's more than just a guiding principle to bring together student-athletes who make up the backbone of the Grand Canyon Athletics Department. It's a way of providing a well-rounded college experience for the Lopes.
Â
GCU teams routinely show support for their fellow athletes. Many times, it's easy to see when the softball team comes into the soccer stadium, or the basketball team shows up at a volleyball match. It's not as obvious to the fans, however, where those bonds started to form. Maybe it was in the athletic training room or a class, but many times, it started in the weight room.Â
Since he joined the department in 2009, Director of Performance Athletics Chuck Howard has made sure his staff does its part to build a cohesive bond between as many student-athletes as possible. As he puts it, his goal was to "bring community" to the athletic teams.Â
"Our goal is what's on the back of that t-shirt," Howard said. "That concept of 'one team' is something I've worked with since 2010 when we did our first Fitness Challenge. We brought the teams together in their offseason with the purpose to compete against each other, but more importantly to give them a chance to get to know each other. We let them develop relationships within an athletics framework."
The GCU Fitness Challenge is a twice-a-year event that consists of a laundry list of athletic contests. Pro-agility sprints; shuttle runs; a one-mile, two-person relay; vertical jump. Those are some of the nine events in total. The times and distances are recorded, and all the while the chatter is non-stop. Cheers, jeers, encouragement and taunts all can be heard with the common end goal of creating a unified voice for the student-athletes.
That voice grew louder on Wednesday, Dec. 2, when the 2015 Fall Fitness Challenge included more than 200 student-athletes. Each Lopes team selected two players to participate in each event, and the combined results of the two became the score that counted.Â
The event also gives athletes a chance to showcase other talents – often most notably a number of willing singers and musicians – but more importantly to Howard is the opportunity for these young adults to take another step in their spiritual journey.Â
"As a Christian university, it is important to us to provide opportunities for athletes to embrace their faith," Howard said.
Â
After the competition, athletes can give testimony of their faith, an important part of what makes GCU special, according to Howard. In many cases athletes volunteer to commit their life to Christ. At the most recent event, 25 Lopes announced their commitment to their faith.
Â
In effect, they joined a team bigger than all the rest, one that Howard and his staff is most proud to help grow.
Â
It's more than just a guiding principle to bring together student-athletes who make up the backbone of the Grand Canyon Athletics Department. It's a way of providing a well-rounded college experience for the Lopes.
Â
| Fall Fitness Challenge (top three teams) | |
| Men | |
| 1. | Soccer |
| 2. | Volleyball |
| t3. | Baseball |
| t3. | Tennis/Golf |
| Women | |
| 1. | Volleyball |
| 2. | Softball |
| 3. | Soccer |
GCU teams routinely show support for their fellow athletes. Many times, it's easy to see when the softball team comes into the soccer stadium, or the basketball team shows up at a volleyball match. It's not as obvious to the fans, however, where those bonds started to form. Maybe it was in the athletic training room or a class, but many times, it started in the weight room.Â
Since he joined the department in 2009, Director of Performance Athletics Chuck Howard has made sure his staff does its part to build a cohesive bond between as many student-athletes as possible. As he puts it, his goal was to "bring community" to the athletic teams.Â
"Our goal is what's on the back of that t-shirt," Howard said. "That concept of 'one team' is something I've worked with since 2010 when we did our first Fitness Challenge. We brought the teams together in their offseason with the purpose to compete against each other, but more importantly to give them a chance to get to know each other. We let them develop relationships within an athletics framework."
The GCU Fitness Challenge is a twice-a-year event that consists of a laundry list of athletic contests. Pro-agility sprints; shuttle runs; a one-mile, two-person relay; vertical jump. Those are some of the nine events in total. The times and distances are recorded, and all the while the chatter is non-stop. Cheers, jeers, encouragement and taunts all can be heard with the common end goal of creating a unified voice for the student-athletes.
That voice grew louder on Wednesday, Dec. 2, when the 2015 Fall Fitness Challenge included more than 200 student-athletes. Each Lopes team selected two players to participate in each event, and the combined results of the two became the score that counted.Â
The event also gives athletes a chance to showcase other talents – often most notably a number of willing singers and musicians – but more importantly to Howard is the opportunity for these young adults to take another step in their spiritual journey.Â
"As a Christian university, it is important to us to provide opportunities for athletes to embrace their faith," Howard said.
Â
After the competition, athletes can give testimony of their faith, an important part of what makes GCU special, according to Howard. In many cases athletes volunteer to commit their life to Christ. At the most recent event, 25 Lopes announced their commitment to their faith.
Â
In effect, they joined a team bigger than all the rest, one that Howard and his staff is most proud to help grow.
Â
| Â 2015 Fall Fitness Challenge - Top Varsity Sports Results | ||
| 5-10-5 pro agility | ||
| Sky Engleman, men's volleyball | :04.36R, :04.44L | |
| McKenzie Cook, women's soccer | :05.01R, :05.14L | |
| 20-yard sprint | ||
| Tom Lerouge, baseball | :02.52 | |
| Laney Gomez, softball | :02.77 | |
| 300-yard shuttle | ||
| Kyle Miller, men's volleyball | 1:01 | |
| Shea Smith, softball | 1:04 | |
| 1-mile relay run | ||
| Jared McDonald/AJ Franks, baseball | 4:15 | |
| Sierra Smith/Taylor Kaye, softball | 5:08 | |
| Suicides | ||
| Nick Jackson, men's soccer | :27.76 | |
| Shannon Dugan, women's volleyball | :29.54 | |
| Vertical jump | ||
| Brick Paskiewicz, baseball | 35 inches | |
| Shannon Dugan, women's volleyball | 28 inches | |
| Broad jump | ||
| Cullen Mosher, men's volleyball | 10 feet, 0 inches | |
| Emilee Erichsen, women's volleyball | 7 feet, 0 inches | |
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