Youth Events

Child’s game draws 200 teens for ‘tournament’
 
St. Paul's-Newnan hosts 'first annual' 4-square competition

NEWNAN, Ga. - - More than 200 teens from a dozen Episcopal churches across North Georgia met in Newnan Sunday, Sept. 27, to do battle on eight foursquare courts in what was billed as “St. Paul’s First Annual 4-Square Tournament.”
 
The competition was really more about fun since the rules didn’t call for anyone to be eliminated or lead to any sort of playoff. Instead, the only scoring was for some silly prizes for style, or lack of style, and proceeds from the $5 per-player admission fee went to the Episcopal Charities Foundation that makes grants to charities across North and Middle Georgia.
 
The object of the simple, child’s game is for four players to stand, each, in a square and bounce the ball toward one another. A player gives up a square if the ball bounces twice before hitting in the square or if it is hit out of bounds. But instead of being eliminated, players who must give up a square merely go to the back of the line to wait for another turn at the game.
 
What makes foursquare so popular with teens from Episcopal churches in North Georgia is the pair of foursquare courts at the summer camp many of them attend for the Diocese of Atlanta, Camp Mikell in Toccoa. Campers play non-stop whenever they have a moment between activities.
 
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newnan hosted the tournament, and its rector, the Rev. Matt Greathouse, blessed the proceedings with a tongue-in-cheek benediction he penned.
 
“We come together today to celebrate the gift of creation by honoring the forms God created from the beginning: the earthly square and the heavenly sphere,” he said. “In this game of foursquare, we honor the energetic kinship of that square and sphere, signifying to the faithful the dynamic relationship between the earthly and the divine, the relationship between humanity and God.”
 
To set the playful tone, Greathouse sprinkled holy water as he prayed and finished by spraying the competitors with holy water from a Super Soaker squirt gun.
 
After the competition, the players ate hotdogs and hamburgers grilled by parents from St. Paul’s and then jammed into the sanctuary for the simple, evening service of Compline.

The eight-member team from Church of the Ascension, Cartersville, took home the trophy.
 
Other churches fielding teams included four players from St. Peter’s of Rome, 19 from Christ Church of Kennesaw, 14 from St. Bartholomew’s of Atlanta, seven from St. Julian’s of Douglasville, 12 from St. Margaret’s of Carrollton, 23 from St. Matthews’ of Snellville, seven from St. Nicholas’ of Hamilton, 19 from Saints Peter and Paul’s of Marietta, six from Emmanuel’s of Athens, 11 from St. Columba’s of Suwannee, 10 from St. Anne’s of Atlanta, 32 from St. Paul’s of Newnan and nine from Rome’s First United Methodist Church.

Go to the Diocese of Atlanta youth webpages. >>