On Saturday, November 10th, Mercy Street welcomed 400 athletes from West Dallas and surrounding zip codes to spend a day at the new Mercy Street Sports Complex with Clayton Kershaw. The 7th annual Kershaw’s Challenge Baseball Camp was underway, and the fields were buzzing with excitement.

“We really love what Mercy Street does for the community,” explains Kershaw. “The new fields and the opportunity it gives to kids - we believe in it so much. We are happy to be a part of it.”

When Kershaw arrived at the fields, the campers were eagerly clustered around home base. Lee Jackson, Mercy Street Director of Sports, welcomed kids and parents to the Sports Complex and introduced Clayton Kershaw. After Kershaw high-fived a row of campers and greeted the crowd, the campers were divided by age and matched with players from the Dallas Baptist University baseball team.

The rest of the day was consumed with various baseball drills and activities run by the DBU players. Kershaw roamed from group to group, offering tips and encouragement to the enthused campers. Parents flocked around the Sports Complex, watching their children participate and chatting to one another.

Kershaw’s Challenge seeks to “empower people to use their spheres of influence to impact communities positively and to expand God’s Kingdom. [They] believe that God can transform at-risk children and neighborhoods through the benevolence and impact of others.”

Kershaw’s Challenge Baseball Camp is representative of what Mercy Street Sports strives to offer: a safe, healthy place for families to gather and kids to play. Mercy Street believes that sports are a place to build upon and strengthen the fabric of our community. The hundreds of West Dallas families that were gathered on Saturday are a testament to the unifying nature of the Sports Complex, where sports leagues are made accessible to all young athletes in West Dallas.

To learn more about Mercy Street Sports, please visit www.mercystreetdallas.org/sports/.