Local coaches spreading the 'football' gospel in Portugal

GAINESVILLE -- On the field, East Hall's Bryan Gray has seen just about everything you can imagine as a football coach.

But what he saw two years ago in the town of Maia, Portugal, as part of what has become an annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) American Football Mission to the European country not only shocked him, but changed his perspective on the sport and his life.

"I heard about football being played in Portugal and it seemed interesting and I wanted to see it for myself and help if I could," Gray recalled. "But I wasn't expecting exactly what I saw."

As a high school coach Gray admitted he was thinking youth or teenaged players. Not so.

"They were grown men who had never played before," he said. "It was like watching junior league players in a grown man's body and then trying to communicate in a foreign language. I was a little taken aback. It was the biggest challenge I've ever had as a coach."

However, they had him at "Bom dia." ("Good morning" in Portuguese.)

"It was a fantastic experience. It changed how I looked at the game from a fundamentals standpoint and how to communicate that. It also changed how I looked at the world. You saw passion for a sport they knew very little about and their dedication to try and learn it was amazing."

But for Gray and more than a half-dozen other area coaches and FCA staff, it was more than just about teaching a sport to a new set of fans and participants. It was about trying to bridge the gap between two different cultures.

Clint Fair, a full-time FCA Missionary and former Johnson High standout in football and baseball, has been the organizer of the trip every year since 2013.

But in 2012, Fair had just become a full-time FCA staff member and ran into Chris Orr, the worship pastor at Riverbend Baptist Church at the time. Orr mentioned he was going to Portugal on a mission and that he wanted Fair to tag along and meet someone.

Little did he know how his own life was about to change.

"Chris was going to Portugal and asked me to come and when we got over there he introduced me to Andy Milam, who was trying to teach a group of people about football," Fair said. "I had never experienced anything like it. Andy didn't know much about football but you could see that he was making some progress with getting to know people and developing some relationships.

"But these were grown men who either couldn't play soccer anymore or were too big or what have you. But they wanted to play sports. Football seemed liked the perfect avenue for them."

Portugal over the past few decades has felt the sting of a bad economy, turmoil in its politics, and the younger population, according to Fair and Gray, seemed to be suffering from a crisis of faith. The country has a long history of being majority Catholic with governmental ties to the Catholic church.

"We had been looking at a way to develop some relationships in the country," Fair said. "The government was very strict about letting people in. We saw an avenue with football that has allowed us to start developing those relationships.

"The younger generation in particular (the 18-to-35 crowd) seems very open and wanting to explore new avenues of their faith and their culture. This was my fourth time to travel over there in three years and already I have seem changes in the people we know and in their communities."

But football? Portugal is widely known as a soccer nation.

Soccer is their official national sport. There are no professional American football teams left from the now-defunct NFL Europe and there are no football fields in the entirety of Portugal.

"I learned that back when there was NFL Europe there were a lot of fans of the sport in Portugal," Fair said. "They would watch on TV and about 10 years ago a couple of groups of players started trying to play. They would watch the games and then go out and try to copy what they were doing."

Enter Millam. He had been in Portugal, and according Gray and North Hall football coach David Bishop, who went on the latest mission for the first time, Millam knew little and welcomed the help of Fair when the FCA arrived for the first time in 2012.

"Andy told me he knew little about football himself and was asked by the people over there to help because he was the only American they knew and figured because of that he knew all about the sport," Bishop said. "He did pretty good considering, from what I was able to see.

Now, in 2015, the initial pair of groups who first learned about football from watching TV broadcasts of NFL Europe has grown into a full-fledged 10-team Euro Players American Football League spread throughout the country.

And the annual FCA mission, which consisted of just Orr and Fair, has grown right along with it. This year they sent six coaches and three FCA staff members.

Among them were Flowery Branch coach Chris Griffin (third year), Morris Bingham (East Hall assistant, third year), Matt Stowers (Johnson Athletic Director), and Rabun Gap coach Dale Earnhardt (first year).

The FCA All-star Classic, held at the end of the high school season, helps fund the mission. Proceeds from the game go to help coaches cover the costs of travel and other expenses.

But, it doesn't cover everything.

"I'll go every time I'm invited, if I can," Gray said. "It's something I feel strongly about. The money isn't an issue. But of course it's always nice to get some help."

What the group saw was pure commitment for the pure enjoyment of doing something they enjoy.

"These guys all had full-time jobs and then would go home and be with their families and then practice from around 10 p.m. til after midnight," Bishop said. "That said a lot to me. It made me think about my own commitment to things.

"They do this purely because they love it. And they knew they weren't as good as they could be and that's why they wanted to practice and learn; to get better. It was powerful."

They would line fields with masking tape -- by hand -- and use PVC pipe for goalposts.

"It definitely made me appreciate what we have over here with our programs. I wouldn't want to have to do that every Friday," Bishop said.

Bishop said he was asked to help the Maia Mustangs, who like to employ a wishbone offense.

"It was interesting at first," he said. "They just didn't have the instincts you need to run it but that's why we were there to help them. We worked on the fundamentals and how to read things. I think by the time we left they were understanding it a lot better. It was a lot of fun."

Gray said he has seen a noticeable change from his first trip to his third trip earlier this month.

"I saw that football was starting to take hold over there," Gray said. "The fundamentals have improved; the local coaches we have worked with have improved; and we saw fans coming out to watch. It was quite a sight."

Gray said perhaps the biggest change was that for the first time the FCA was given permission to pitch the game to a local middle school and high school. They introduced them to flag football.

"It's a start," Gray said. "That was really a big deal because, like I said, the government had been very restrictive of some things. Things are starting to open up over there, which I think is a good thing for everyone."

But for Fair, Gray, and Bishop, what they feel the best about has been the relationships they have developed and nutured over the years.

"That was the goal of the mission all along; to develop relationships and open doors," Fair said. "Portugal has been a place on a lot of radars because of the turmoil and strife and the seemingly lack of spiritual faith. Our goal has been to try and rekindle that. That's why we go over there.

"But Billy Graham always said that the two most powerful words in sports are: 'Coach says.' We have tried to use that as a bridge for both football and the different cultures to show that in the end we are all alike. It has been a learning process for everyone involved on both sides of the ocean.

"And we are eager to return and continue developing those relationships and help to be a wedge to open doors for everyone."

For anyone wanting to give donations to help the group on its next mission to Portugal, they can go to ghcfca.org. You can make designated giving to the Portugal trip.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/3/286921