Athletes in Action's new sports complex opened this spring, which has led to many "firsts" for the organization. The most recent milestone was the opportunity to host the first international team, a Bulgarian basketball squad.

The 10-member team, made up of players from Bulgaria 's professional basketball league, arrived in Xenia on June 2 and departed on June 19. AIA President William Pugh and International Acceleration Director Judy Kirkpatrick were thrilled to have the Bulgarian basketball squad come to AIA.

"This is hugely significant because in building the World Training and Resource Center our desire has always been to host and train teams from around the globe and to train them physically and spiritually to send them out to impact others," says Bill.

"This is definitely one of the ways we envision this property being used to bless the nations." says Judy. "The Bulgarian players coming, mostly not followers of Christ yet, is so significant and the beginning of more to come."

While in Xenia the team stayed in the dorms at AIA headquarters and played games against the AIA team heading to Mauritius, an AAU team from Cleveland, and Cedarville University. They also helped at AIA's Little Dribblers basketball camp, spent time on the AIA ropes course and went canoeing.

"We had a really good time at AIA and the [sports complex] is a great place for people to train," said team member Veselin Veselinov.

The second stop on the team's trip was Bristol, Tennessee, where they stayed with host families and played games against a local tri-city all-star team and participated in a community tournament. Bristol was the team's second destination, because Larry Sharrett, one of two American-born players on the team, grew up there.

In Tennessee, the team also attended a blue-grass concert and visited Bristol Motor Speedway, but according to Veselinov, time spent with their host families was the most memorable part of the trip south.

"The [host families] accepted us as if we were part of their family and their hospitality was really good," says Veselinov. "You don't see that everywhere."

Before leaving, the team spent a weekend in Cincinnati , as they were hosted by families from Faith Bible Church. The coach of the team, John Jakus, is the youth pastor at the church.

Besides the basketball games, another key element of the trip was the daily "team time" that occurred. The theme of the time was the importance of developing into the total athlete, which includes physical, spiritual and mental maturity. The leaders of the time delved into the Bible and emphasized how God wants to be a part of our lives both on and off the court.

"During team time we really looked at how God, life, and sport come together and we continually tried to emphasize a personal relationship with Christ," Sharrett said.

Brooke Rollins, an AIA staff member who served in Bulgaria from 1993-2001, often led the time and along with Sharrett came up with the idea of a Bulgarian team coming to the U.S.

"Bulgaria is a very orthodox country and anything foreign connected with religion is often called a cult," says Rollins. "This trip is another attempt of ours to make headway in the world of sports in Bulgaria and be considered a legitimate [organization], not one with ulterior motives. We did everything we could to make this a positive experience for the players and leave them with a good taste in their mouths."

Yuliyan Radionov ("Yuli") also played a very important role in having an entire team of Bulgarians come to the U.S. Last summer, Yuli, a member of the Bulgarian national basketball team, came to the U.S. to participate in an AIA Ultimate Training Camp and then toured with an AIA basketball team in the Philippines .

"Yuli was a key first step for us in getting the respect and confidence of the Bulgarian Basketball Federation, because they were very skeptical about him coming over here. But he went back and could not have been more positive," says Rollins. "Before the team came this summer, Yuli sat down with them and told them what to expect, not to be nervous, and that they will have fun."

Sharrett believes that this group of Bulgarians will not be the last to come to AIA headquarters.

"Hopefully this is something that will happen again next summer and the guys from this team will spark interest for more people to come," says Sharrett. "God really seems to be on the move in Bulgaria and developing a lot of momentum."