One of the fastest ways to meet a group of students is through the natural communities that already exist on campus. Sports teams, especially, offer tight-knit connections where students already trust each other, spend time together, and listen to shared voices. That’s why team talks are one of the most strategic and fruitful ways to reach students with the gospel.
A “team talk” is a short motivational message delivered to a high school sports team, usually before or after practice. It’s designed to encourage the team, serve the coach, and open a door to a second, voluntary meeting where you can talk more openly about faith. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Talk to the Coach
Coaches are the gatekeepers. Your first move is to build trust with them. If possible, have a student, parent, or teacher introduce you. Ask the coach what their team needs most. Let them know you want to serve, not sell. Offer a quick, 10-minute motivational talk on a topic like leadership, teamwork, or perseverance. Mention you’ll also invite students to a second, optional event where they can explore faith.
Step 2: Give a Team Talk
The goal of the team talk is to encourage, inspire, and connect. Keep it short (5-10 mins), keep it helpful, and keep it non-spiritual—you’re earning the right to be heard. Bring popsicles or Gatorades for everyone, respect their time, and speak to the challenge the coach mentioned. You don’t have to be an expert speaker, just prepared, clear, and sincere.
Step 3: Invite Them to the Real Party
At the end of the talk, invite students to a pizza party or hangout later that week. That’s where the real conversation happens. This event is optional, held off-campus or at a student’s house, and it’s your chance to share the gospel and build relationships. Make sure the details (who, when, where, what) are ready before the team talk so students can RSVP on the spot.
Respect the coach, serve the team, and trust God with the rest.
Step 4: Host the Outreach Event
Here’s a sample flow:
- 0:00 Welcome and intro to Cru
- My name is __________, and I am part of a group called Cru. Cru is a national high school organization dedicated to helping students develop positive values, leadership skills, and a personal faith that impacts every area of life. Today we are going to start by finding out if you have two qualities that make good athletes great athletes. Are you smart, and are you tough?
- 0:05 Play sports trivia with candy prizes
- Quiz students over trivia related to their sport. (Put together about 10 questions – just google “sports trivia.”) Ask a question and throw candy to the first person to answer correctly.
- 0:10 Funny competition (e.g., clothespin contest)
- Bring up four or five guys who think they are the toughest in the room and have another student come up and place as many clothes pins on their face as they can in a minute’s time. Then have the spotter remove and count up the clothes pins. The person with the most wins. Take pictures!
- 0:20 Why we are here
Every student is looking for fulfillment. To find it, a balance needs to be established in the three major areas:
- Mental: The school helps you to develop mentally – through teachers, classes, homework, and some extracurricular activities.
- Physical: School also helps you develop physically – with coaches, through P.E. classes, sports, and other activities.
- Spiritual: The school isn’t designed to help you spiritually. That’s where Cru High School comes in. We are designed to help you and other students help each other in the spiritual area.
To develop spiritually, an individual needs to understand two things:
- How to start a relationship with God
- How to grow in that relationship with God
Today we are going to look at this first area, how you can start a relationship with God.
- Note: Check out the Triangle Diagram Video at gotothecampus.com to see the above content explained.
- If you have a student involved and prepped to share their testimony, here would be a good place for them to do it.
- 0:25 Share the gospel
- Have students share the Connecting with God booklet, or have a speaker share the gospel.
- 0:40 Comment cards and invite to next step
- Have the team fill out Comment Cards, and then invite them to a 4-week challenge. Give the time and location of the study. Make sure anyone interested in the study is directed to put that on their card, with contact information.
- 0:45 Eat pizza and hang out
- 1:00 Clean up and celebrate
Take note, the entire meeting lasts no longer than an hour. There’s genuine fun involved, and great face time with those who will do the follow up. Students are given a chance to receive Christ and to fill out a comment card. The students know when and where the next touch point will be – make sure it’s no longer than one week into the future.
One team talk can do more than a semester of tabling.
Step 5: Keep It Going
Follow up quickly with interested students. Start a study, grab lunch, show up at their games. And don’t forget to text the coach to say thanks. They opened the door. You’re building trust for future talks.
Did you see what you just did?
You just:
- Shared the gospel with a number of students who had never heard it.
- Showed young believers how to share their faith.
- Gave a few Christian leadership students an opportunity to lead spiritually.
- Showed non-believers that Christians are loving and can be real.
- Built relationships with teenagers on your campus.
- Began building a relationship with a coach.
AMAZING!
This one event has done so much to move forward the work of the gospel on your campus. Have you ever had a more spiritually impactful couple of hours? What a day! Now go grab a coffee or ice cream to celebrate and start thinking of your next steps to follow up these students!
Next Step
Want to host your first team talk? Start by identifying a coach or student you know. Then head to gotothecampus.com and check out the sample team talks under the LEAD tab.
sample team talks
