Ben finds success on the floor through superb ball handling skills and shooting ability. His teammates will all agree he can knock down a tree while being covered by a defender, a clutch situation, better than anyone else. Ben’s dominance on the basketball court has been well noticed, and he plans on continuing his skill into college. As for school selection, Ben says, “I’ll just let it play out, and see what God brings to me.” He definitely wants to continue to play basketball in college. “It’s my passion—what I love to do.”

Ben has been playing basketball since he was a little kid. He has always loved it, and all the practice as a kid really contributes to his natural shooting ability and sense for the game. If there is one thing he takes seriously, basketball is on the list, and he works extremely hard at getting better. Either going to practice early in the morning before school or staying late in the gym working on his shot, Ben puts an immense amount of time improving and making his game even better!

Meet Ashly Kershner, originally from Harper, a small town in Texas. Ashly recently transferred here to attend Calvary’s Oceans Edge School of Music, and in her free time she coaches the Junior Varsity cheerleading squad. Ashly started cheering when she was in sixth grade and hasn’t been able to put her poms poms down ever since. She has been in over fifteen competitions and has attended nationals twice, placing second one year, and third on another.

Although Ashly is the youngest coach at CCA, she’s a natural. When she cheered in high school, her competition coach offered her a coaching job as a freshman. Ashly explained, “It was pretty difficult to coach girls who were sophomores, juniors, and seniors when I was a freshman. They didn’t really always like the idea of a younger classmate telling them what to do, and a couple of them were my friends too!” Today, Ashly’s age doesn’t seem to affect her coaching at all, on the contrary, she sees it as bonus,  because she can relate to the students much better.

 Perhaps being a full time student at Ocean’s Edge and a coach part time could be overwhelming, but Ashly seems to be doing just fine, taking both tasks with ease. “It’s a gift from God that I’m here so I’ll make the best of it,” she says.

God has certainly worked through Mr. Ridenour’s past and rooted him here at CCA for a specific purpose in this place and time. In addition to attending UCLA, Ridenour played professional baseball for ten years, and was drafted by the Yankees during the 16th round. Ridenour accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior in June of 1987. A few months later, the team chaplain later informed Ridenour that he could bring his desires to the Lord in prayer, and on one Friday night in 1987, Ridenour asked God to bring him a girlfriend. In was no coincidence that three days later, Ridenour sat in front of his wife-to-be while attending the First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale–a wonderfully precious example of God’s continual direction within Ridenour’s life.

After completing his baseball career, Ridenour spent 14 years in restaurant management, where he learned the “art of leadership.” He has now been a part of the CCA community for seven years, and has three children all enrolled in CCA: Adam (11th), Allison (8th) and Aaron (1st).

Last summer, Ridenour began conversing about working with the CCA Athletics Department, while Coach Michael Yannotta temporarily took over the position of Athletic Director after last year’s director, Pastor Tom Crenshaw, moved from South Florida. God has now provided Ridenour to take over this position, and Ridenour will be combining his superb management experience with his appreciation for the discipline of athletics to summit this next challenge as Athletic Director.

Although the position is demanding and involves managing all 15 or so CCA teams, along with coaches, staff, schedules and the coordination of facilities, Ridenour has been called to a much higher purpose. “It’s a called position–to be a coach and be leader,” Ridenour states, further explaining his calling to “[invest] in the character of the coaches and the athletes” for discipleship, so that when students leave CCA, they will continue to train and teach others.

Ridenour’s purpose is to pursue what he calls the “Ministry of Reconciliation.” He references 2 Corinthians 5, in which verses 18 and 19 state, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

“That Ministry of Reconciliation is what I want to be known for. I want to reconcile others…[and] make sure their relationship with Christ gets back on track,” Ridenour explains. He wants students to understand that they are accountable for the gifts God gives them and desires the athletics department to be a program that is “spiritually set apart, that attracts people to the school so we have an opportunity to bring them to Christ.”

For Ridenour, the practices and games are certainly the means: but the goal is Christ. He even finds similarities between athletics and faith, explaining that the “disciplines required in sports are most related with our relationship to Christ.”

Ridenour has a myriad of encouragers at the school, including Elementary Media Specialist Mrs. Mary Kavanaugh, who told him, “Just remember to start on your knees.” And that is the role of the athletic department: to begin on their knees in prayer, and run onto the field to win–that is, win for Christ’s Kingdom.

Two years ago, Darian joined the CCA volleyball program, bringing with her a new and vibrant spirit that permeated throughout the team. She transferred to Calvary from Zion Lutheran, where, as captain, she carried her varsity team to states as a freshman. Darian’s successful volleyball career began in the third grade year with volleyball camps coached by her father, Daniel Weppner, a CCA P.E. teacher and volleyball coach.

Darian’s first school team was in fifth grade at Zion, and she has been playing in volleyball clubs since she was twelve years old. “It started as a social thing. My dad coached and my friends all played,” said Darian, who obviously had a natural knack for the game.

As the years went on, she became more and more driven to go above and beyond. “If I can be better, I don’t want to settle at where I am.” Her family remained a strong foundation throughout the years and they supported her “in every way: my dad helped coach, they came to my tournaments… sometimes it’s overwhelming but they were always there.”

As her physical volleyball skills have grown through the years, so have her leadership skills. Today, as captain of CCA’s Varsity Volleyball team, Darian has been recognized as a leader on and off the court. “It [her ability] forced me to take on a leadership role, just because it came to me easily so people looked up to me physically and it helped me to be a better leader spiritually,” explained Darian, who won the Eagle award for volleyball her senior year, representing her spiritual leadership and growth throughout the season.

But Darian’s efforts go beyond CCA’s gymnasium. During the summer of her ninth grade year, she was sponsored for the junior Olympics beach volleyball tournament in which she competed against age groups between 16 and 18 – girls two and three years older than her! She was also picked for 1st team all-county for 1A – 3A her 9th, 10th, and 12th grade year. Though it is a joy, such devotion to this sport is also a sacrifice. Darian admits that, “it takes up so much time and sometimes I don’t get to do other things, but it’s been such a big part of my life that it would be weird without it.”

Her goal after high school is to play competitively in college, but she has no desire to pursue a professional volleyball career after college. Right now, Darian is looking at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, and awaiting news on a potential volleyball scholarship. She will be majoring in Biology and plans on becoming a doctor, which is no surprise to those who know her well. Her tenacity and drive for life is simply contagious.