Crossover International Launches 2011 Worldwide Tour
Basketball ministry prepares to send collegiate teams overseas
Lakewood, CO – May 31, 2011 – Basketball Ministry Crossover International, a Christian basketball ministry, is getting ready for its annual summer tour. This year the organization is running two, three-week tours of U.S. collegiate teams to Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, and France. There the teams will compete with professional basketball clubs and minister to local youth through basketball camps.
These camps, which will see around 250 youth between the ages of six and eighteen, are completely free and train these young people both in basketball and in the Gospel. The tour’s busy schedule keeps players moving, but churches and host families have opened their doors to the Crossover Team.
The ministry was founded in college by Jonathan Barnett and his friend, Nonzo Azubuike. Both shared a love of the game and decided that, even though neither would turn pro, basketball was always going to be a part of their life. Finding inspiration in John 5:24, a verse that refers to “crossing over” from death to eternal life, the two young men began working on a basketball ministry designed to mentor and train young people throughout the world. Every year since 2003, they have gathered young athletes who can compete and become positive role models to the campers they meet.
Both share a strong drive to see Crossover grow every year. Jonathan Barnett even founded his national carpet cleaning company, Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning®, in part as a means to support Crossover International. The company was founded in 2006 and has more than 220 franchises in 45 states.
Now, in 2011, the two have begun a new phase for Crossover – the Crossover Basketball Academy. This program is designed for the benefit of children throughout the United States. The program takes at-risk youth and offers mentoring, life coaching, basketball training, academic tutoring, SAT/ACT preparation, and character/spiritual development. Instead of short, time-specific interactions, these mentors and their students build year-round relationships in weekly sessions. The academy exists primarily in Denver, but plans are in the works to expand it throughout the nation.
About Crossover International®:
Crossover International was founded in 2001. The organization’s mission is to use basketball as a platform to mentor and build relationships with youth around the world. Crossover International is nondenominational.
About Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning®:
Using innovative products and technology, Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning®, one of the nation’s fastest-growing carpet cleaning companies, offers oxygen powered cleaning, which cleans all the way down to the bottom of the carpet pile, transforming carpet right before customers’ eyes. Starting with just one Denver carpet cleaning franchise in 2006, Oxi Fresh currently has over 200 units throughout the United States, with more than 50 locations in development. For more information, or to find Oxi Fresh carpet cleaning coupons, visit www.oxifresh.com.
Media Contact: Sheryl Bass, Fishman PR, 847-945-1300 x 236, [email protected].
