God's High Performance Instruction Manual

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain

Hello!

God led me into fulltime Christian ministry back in 1999. My passion is to share my love of Jesus through speaking, writing, coaching, and directing the daily aspects of the ICTA.

Feel free to use this article as a Christian tract to give to people at tennis tournaments. Together we can make a difference for Him!

After feeling God's call... I founded the ICTA in 1999, and have enjoyed watching God bless this tennis ministry indeed.

How did I go from an ordinary guy to the founder of a sports ministry? Well, it started when a friend bought me a really sharp looking Bible.

I began reading it, and my life began changing.

So,what is the Bible and how do you study it?

Well, God gave His Word through 40 different men over a period of 1500 years. They wrote down what He guided them to write. The Bible is God's words for you and for me. It's His advice for living.

40 guys focused on getting the job done. 40 guys like you and me being used by God for His will. 40 guys guided by Him to prepare the world for Salvation through Jesus.

I find that pretty neat.

He did this in three different languages as well. Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. God preserved the Bible down through the centuries by dedicated copyists who meticulously copied it by hand.

40 guys, 1500 years, 3 languages. Awesome.

And I thought the 2006 US Open this year was impressive.

F.B Meyer wrote… “Read the Bible, not as a newspaper, but as a home letter. If a cluster of heavenly fruit hangs within reach, gather it. If a promise lies upon the page as a blank check, cash it.

If a prayer is recorded, appropriate it, and launch it as a feathered arrow from the bow of your desire. If an example of holiness gleams before you, ask God to do as much for you. If the truth is revealed in its entire intrinsic splendor, entreat that its brilliance may ever irradiate the hemisphere of your life.”

That’s a lot to chew on, huh? He starts of pretty easy with the newspaper thing, then gets really cool with the whole… intrinsic… brilliance… irradiate…thing!

As a tennis coach, I know I always work hard when working with my students to make things sound easy for them. When I begin teaching a new technique for their game, we go slowly and I make sure they have a really solid grasp of what we’re going to work on.

Then, we begin adding more and more until the have mastered their new stroke!

Same goes for Bible study…

Let’s start with some mini tennis…

When reading the Bible for study and interpretation, I’d like to give you a few important definitions to think about:

Revelation- God’s disclosing to man things about Himself that man could not know otherwise.

Inspiration- God’s unique “breathing” of His words into the human writers of Scripture.

Illumination- God’s teaching the Christian truths of His Word.


Not too hard to understand, eh?

Although we have the Holy Spirit as our teacher, He cannot guide us if we don’t read God’s Word. Your tennis pro can’t do much if you don’t practice, either. See the connection there.

The Bible is simple enough so all Christians can understand it.

If you want to really be a good tennis player, you pretty much have to practice hitting tennis balls. There is no way around it. In my Christian Tennis & Missionary Academy here in beautiful Palm Coast, Florida, my students hit a large amount of tennis balls in different drills usually twice a day!

Makes sense doesn’t it? Yet, they don’t just practice. They practice with a purpose, smart with perfect technique, focusing intently… and having fun.

Learning to read and study your Bible is just the same. Read it. A lot. Yet, read it with a purpose. The Bible is God’s high performance instruction manual. My life has been completely changed through my focused Bible studies over the last 10 years.

And hey, I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed either. When I have to learn something by reading, it can take me a while. Yet, I love a challenge. Joshua J. Marine said, “Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” That is so right on.

In Bible study, let me give you a few thoughts as advice…

1. Be persistent
2. Make it personal
3. Let it purify you.

What do these three things mean for you? Well, apply it to tennis to help you understand.

1. Be persistent… work hard… work daily… be consistent… work when others wouldn’t.

That’s what I had to do when I decided to take the International Christian Tennis Association from a far-fetched dream in my heart to a solid international sports ministry which was named a top 100 recognized sports ministry last year by the International Sports Coalition on MSNBC.

2. Make it personal… find the way that works for you… your style… your way.

Listen, this is your relationship with God, not mine or someone else’s. You need to discover what type of Bible study works for you. Everyone who is successful with their Bible study has a plan.

Martin Luther said, “I study my Bible as I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest fruit might fall. then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf.”

At a normal rate of reading it will take the average person 3 hours to read the Gospel of Luke, 4.5 hours to read Psalms, 52 hours to read the Old Testament, and 19 hours to read the New Testament, and less than 72 hours to read the whole Bible.

Do it your own way, but do it in a planned way. Let God seep into your being through His word as you daily allow it to marinate in your life.

3. Let it purify you… like a water filter cleanses water… restructuring the way you view life.

The Bible has a wonderful way of cleansing our minds and motivating us to think like God Himself.

You know, my life has grown deeper and deeper in Him since I became a minister of the Gospel. First, I spent a lot of time in personal ministry with myself as God cared for my old wounds and extended His grace over my life.

Then as I felt stronger I stepped out in faith taking God at His word as written in the Bible.

It worked! Now I’m here writing this to you!

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” Thomas Jefferson

Let God help bring you the right mental attitude through the daily study of His Word.

40 guys, 1500 years, 3 languages!

God’s high performance instruction manual designed specifically for you and me.

Wow!


May God bless and keep you,

Scott Paschal
www.christiantennis.net

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Paul in Galations 2:20

Female Sexual Abuse in Junior Tennis

Hello!

This is Scott Paschal, Director of the International Christian Tennis Association, www.christiantennis.net. Thanks for dropping by and welcome to our ICTA Abuse Recovery Ministry.

To assist our efforts, please feel free to make copies of this article and hand it out at junior tennis tournaments worldwide.

This article can serve as a Christian tract. You can greatly help influence the direction of tennis in a positive way by becoming proactive with our Christian tennis ministry.

Click here to print copies!

Yes, you can make a big difference. Print 50 to 100 copies of this article and give them away to every junior, parent, and coach that you know or meet at tournaments.

If 1000 of you make 50 copies a week and pass them out, well, 50,000 copies will be in circulation each weekend.

Do the math... and well over 2,000,000 people will be reached by this powerful message. Please let your church and youth group join your efforts.

You can even email a link to this article to everyone in your email address book, or add the link as your email signature. Thanks so much!

My small Christian Tennis and Missionary Academy in beautiful Palm Coast, Florida is here to help you as well.

Much love for helping me make a difference...

Coach Scotty

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This blog is written for those of you who have been, or know someone who has been, sexually abused while a junior tennis player.

I've written a lot of info here. This is not the blog for a quick read. Yet, I assume you don't mind. You know you are here for serious stuff.

I feel called to bring accountability to the unaccountable masses of tennis pros worldwide who have been getting away with destroying the lives of their young female tennis students through abuse, particularly sexual abuse.

In May of 2006, I personally began a focused look into the darker side of competitive junior tennis. I have learned of too much to just continue passively waiting for the USTA or ITF to do something to protect the kids.

And even today, I watched a terrific girl play in a tournament here in Florida. As I sat with her mother and father, I watched her fight it out on the tennis court. She played great. Yet, only a handful of us knew the pain she was forced to endure...

You see this preteen girl had been sexually molested by a pedophile tennis pro for months.

The sick pedophile tennis pro was finally caught and is now in prison. Though the thought of him in prison makes me glad he's off the tennis courts, I do get pretty angry when I think about the pain she has been forced to endure each day as she struggles to understand the world she lives in.

I'm grateful for the friendship of her parents and I look forward to watching God turn her pain into happiness for His glory as she heals and finds her comfort in Him.

You know, as abusers like these end up in prison, things will change. Men in tennis worldwide will know someone is ready to hold them accountable.

Sure, some of them will get angry with me. Who cares. I don't get intimidated easily. And I don't back down to those pedophile cowards threatening me or slandering my ministry.

Sexual pedophile abusers are generally control freaks. They feel they are unaccountable to anyone and prey on innocent children who look up to them in respect. I look forward to knowing they will be put in prison one at a time.

Abuse comes in many forms:

1. Sexual
2. Physical
3. Mental
4. Emotional
5. Financial
6. Spiritual

Sexual abuse among junior girls ages 10 to 14 is rampant.

One of my former students, who was the #5 G16 in Russia, shared with me her sexual abuse of her coach when she was 13.

She stated nothing could be done about it as there are no serious penalties for this type of behavior from tennis coaches in Russia.

Russia, USA, Australia, Spain... I have visited with people worlwide who are dealing with the effects of sexual predators posing as tennis teaching professionals.

From a current 10 year old female junior in Florida who was recently sexually assaulted on a months-long basis by her tennis pro- to a 22 year old top 100 WTA player who was sexually abused at 14... male tennis pro sexual abuse by within the sport of tennis is out of control.

And the current governing bodies of tennis are doing nothing about it!

I say it is time for them to get involved or be held responsible for hiding the facts!

If the United States Tennis Association, the Professional Tennis Registry, the International Tennis Federation, and the United States Professional Tennis Association are going to develop and host tennis programs, as well as certify tennis pros, the public has a right to send their children to a safe environment to participate in these programs.

The International Christian Tennis Association has developed a ministry to log and track all tennis teaching pros/coaches who have been convicted of sexual abuse against a minor.

The program the pro was involved in teaching, the club/facility that hired him, and the organization which certified him will be logged.

I fully expect this ministry to grow to become an international force in holding tennis pros/tennis academies/ tennis teaching certification associations/national tennis federations accountable for who they place on the tennis courts.

Here are a few of the stories from people I have spoken with this year...

• One of my former students
was the #1 B14, #1 B16, and #1 B18 junior in Greece. He was abused by his former tennis coach when he was 13 years of age and living isolated with the coach. I will leave the type of abuse alone for now. Suffice to say this young junior's life has been forever changed.

• An ICTA member and a friend of mine is a doctor . He and his wonderful wife have twin girls. One of the twins had been sexually molested for months by a local tennis pro who trained the girls at their house. The pro is now in jail. The family is learning to cope with the after effects of this sick tennis pro's behavior. I now know who this man is, and which prison he is in.

• Earlier this year, I spoke with a famous female tennis player. She shared with me how she was sexually abused by her tennis coach starting when she was 14 years of age. He took most of her prize money, sexually assaulted her on a regular basis, then slandered her reputation so few would listen to her. I know who this man is and where he is currently working.

• A top tennis coach at a famous tennis academy in the USA sexually molested a 14 year old girl from California for over a year. This tennis pro was in his 40's, married, and has children of his own. I met the girl when she was 16. Her life was devestated. Her father was in terrible emotional pain as he spoke to me. The tennis coach is still working at this famous tennis academy.

• A famous tennis coach from Australia who owned a popular Australian junior tennis academy was convicted of sexually molesting a 14 year old girl at his academy. He is now in prison. The girl's life is in turmoil.

• Jan - March of 2006, I coached a famous female tennis player.
She shared with me that her tennis coach of 2 years had a "revelation from God" in which God told him she must lose her upcoming main draw Wimbledon match to a famous Christian tennis player. After she lost this match, she sank into a deep depression and became suicidal. The coach is now working with another young female.

• In Texas, an up and coming male junior tennis player with unlimited potential was sexually molested by a male caregiver. The boy eventually quit tennis, became addicted to drugs...

The International Christian Tennis Association is becoming known worlwide as a place tennis families can come to for support.

We are becoming known as a place God uses to rebuild the lives of junior tennis players harmed by the abusive manipulations of others.

Here are true stories for you to read. God used this first situation to plant a seed in my heart several years ago...

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Article #1 Florida's West Coast

In this article I will share a difficult story of sexual abuse towards a top female junior tennis player by a married pedophile tennis coach as told to the International Christian Tennis Association by her parent…


I will never forget meeting the dad. This man, so big and so seemingly strong, shaking as he spoke, tears welling up in his eyes.

The date was October 23, 2001. My small Christian tennis academy had journeyed to El Paso, Texas for an ITF Grade 5 junior tournament.

As he spoke, I was standing with two of my academy students, Rachel Snelen, and her twin sister, Melody Snelen, both 18 years of age and listening intently, while standing next to this shaking man’s daughter.

As Stan settled down and began speaking more clearly, he began to describe what had happened, a bit more in detail.

His then 13 year old daughter, Dana, was a promising tennis player from Southern California. She was tops in her age group and division. Stan felt it would benefit Dana greatly to travel to Florida to attend one of the top tennis academies in the world.

Who wouldn’t? The academy promised Stan great things! Stronger hitting partners, strength training, safe housing, many top tournaments. It all sounded so good.

Stan and Dana spoke with the entire family, then they prayed for God’s guidance, and it was decided Dana would leave for Florida.

For 2 years Dana trained hard. Her tennis improved.

Yet, her dad began sensing something was not right.

During Christmas break in 2000, Dana came home with a cell phone on her hip. Stan didn’t purchase it for her. It usually rang late at night and Dana refused to explain who was calling or even how she got a cell phone to begin with. Back in 2000, remember, cell phones for 13 year olds weren’t the norm.

After much discussion, Stan then began asking his daughter why she has lost so much weight. Dana often refused to eat dinner with the family, then, the rare time she did, she would quietly walk to the bathroom. Dana’s mom and Stan become highly concerned.

As the new academy semester rolled around, Stan told Dana she was not going back to train there. Dana exploded.

Stan held his ground. After a few days, Stan took Dana’s cell phone and called the one number it held.

The person answering the phone was one of the top coaches in the world. Stan knew this famous tennis coach was married, and had a family of his own.

Stand slowly closed the phone. For two days the family searched for a psychologist who could see them on such short notice. Finally, they found one.

The next week unfolded a story of sexual abuse from a married man with children towards a 13 year old girl.

Stan contacted the police in Florida. The police began an investigation. Stan contacted the academy. The academy refused to investigate.

As time passed, the police did not have any DNA evidence to link Dana to the tennis coach. It had been to long since he had raped her, and then established a sexual relationship with her.

It had been to long for a semen sample to be found.

Dana, then 16 when I met her, had been sexually and mentally abused by one of the most famous tennis coaches at one of the most famous tennis academies in the world.

She was fighting bulimia and anorexia brought on by the abuse. Her tennis game was gone. Her once promising talent, destroyed by a pedophile tennis coach.

The situation took its toll. The mom divorced Stan. The entire situation had destroyed the family. Dad lost his job. He couldn’t work… he slid into a depression and felt like an utter failure.

In fact, Stan lost about everything he had. He simply couldn’t believe he placed his daughter in such a dangerous position. He blamed himself.

Because of that disgustingly perverted pedophile tennis coach, Dana lost her home… her family structure… her physical health… it’s all gone.

So, there I was in El Paso, Texas on a windy day, listening. Stan hugging me and crying. Dana watching, the tears no longer able to flow.

I could do nothing for their situation, except pray and be a friend. The past is the past and I wanted to help facilitate the future for them.

I could never understand their pain, but God can and what Satan uses to attempt to destroy us, God can use to grow us for His glory.

I know who this tennis coach is. I'm watching him intently.

Honestly, I have had days when I actually hated the pedophile. I work hard to be a good Christian when I see this loser.

He is still coaching young, teen girls. Parents still send their kids to that academy, unknowing of Dana’s story. Dana and her father have simply been called “a disgruntled former student and parent.”

Though Dana can describe every inch of that man’s body, though Dana can thoroughly tell intimate details of how that tennis coach dislikes his wife, though the cell phone was in the pedophile’s name… though a young 13 year old girl has lost her family, though Dana’s body was destroyed by eating disorders, though Dana’s dad is battling depression…

Though all of this has happened, God is still in control.

Yes, sin attacked Dana’s family. Satan gained a stronghold. He did. That’s a fact.

Yet, now God has an opportunity to rebuild. Much like the tragic events of 911 hurt our country, God has used that tragedy for His glory as a spiritual awakening began nationwide.

The Bible says… “Our love must not be a thing of words and fine talk. It must be a thing of action and sincerity (1 John 3:18).”

Through any difficult circumstance Jesus asks us to lean on Him. Dana and Stan can get through this.

Are you going through a difficult time? Trust in God to see you through. Read your Bible, pray, fellowship with other believers. Read your Bible, then do what it says, so you can learn to be like Christ.

I have many stories like these God has brought into my life. As a person who stands up for Christ in a Godless sport, I tend to hear from a lot of people and learn a lot of things.

Because of Dana and Stan, the International Christian Tennis Association has formed a tennis ministry specifically dealing with child abuse. You can visit the ICTA at www.christiantennis.net.

Oftentimes, when I stand up to an abuser, I myself get abused by them.

These abusive cowards often threaten to harm me, either physically or by slander, so they can once again live their life of abusive behavior.

That’s ok.

God is in control.

I pray this story has touched your heart. Please pray for Dana and Stan, as well as for their entire family. Please pray as well for the pedophile tennis coach at the famous tennis academy in Florida.

Stan was such a big guy. Strong and seemingly secure…. to this day I have his memory etched in my thoughts…

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Article #2 Phoenix, Arizona

Internationally published article...
Sept 2006

Alina (not real name) will arrive in Daytona Beach on Delta this afternoon. She is safe.

The married predator tennis pro who sexually molested Alina is over 2000 miles away. For now, he can do her no physical harm.

The International Christian Tennis Academy missionaries who helped rescue Alina from her tennis prison, Melody Snelen and her twin sister, Rachel Snelen, are currently flying to Mexico City from Atlanta.

Upon arrival, Melody and Rachel Snelen, will meet a woman at the airport. She is a Godly person, a Christian missionary embedded in Mexico City with her husband. They plant Christian churches.

The missionary woman’s name is Robin. She is the mother of one of my fulltime Christian tennis academy students, a 15 year old named talented junior named Mark.

Rachel and Melody Snelen, along with the entire ICTA Women’s Pro Tennis Team, will travel with Robin to her house where they will gain much needed rest from their very difficult mission trip to Juarez where God used them as His vessels to rescue one of His children, Alina, from the married child molester tennis pro who controlled her.

I will pick Alina up from the airport and bring her to the safety of ICTA’s Abuse Recovery Ministry, while in Mexico City God will use His female Christian tennis missionaries as He needs.

Godly women of great character are amazing.

The Bible agrees…

In an Old Testament filled with rebuke towards women for being superstitious and wishy-washy, we find Deborah given a place of honor.

She was a ruler, a judge of the Israelite people, a prophetess and a poet (Judges 4 & 5).

Deborah led an army of 10,000 troops into battle along with a man named Barak.

Even though she prophesied that the Lord would deliver the enemy up, Barak refused to go unless she went with him.

Deborah's answer can be found in Judges 4:9 (NASV)…

"And she said, I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera (commander of the opposing army) into the hands of a woman."

What an amazing woman!

God has truly blessed the International Christian Tennis Association with women of great character acting as leaders within our ministry.

Tremendous women like Melody and Rachel Snelen whose Godly actions have led others to Christ and to safety, while also leading incredible female Christian mentors to have a heart to grow and develop Rachel and Melody.

Great women of Godly character will be the vehicles God will use to change the world.

Alina will arrive soon. She has begun to understand God did not forget her.

Jesus says in the Bible as Recorded by Luke…

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”

Originally, ICTA had no plans to send our Christian tennis missionaries to the ITF Pro Tournament in Juarez, Mexico. It was a last minute thing.

I like how God works.

It’s really interesting and fun to know he truly uses His people for His will to be done.

I’m glad for Him to use us as He sees fit because the sexual predator tennis pros stalking young, female junior tennis players are dangerous. The demonic activity possessing or oppressing these men is a powerful force of reality currently dominating women’s tennis worldwide.

I have felt Satan’s wrath before when I protected other female teens from sexual abusers.

Satan’s demonic foot soldiers fight dirty and they have no rules.

I have received threatening phone messages, my name and my ministry have been slandered, my family has been verbally assaulted, my students have been hunted by these sick pedophiles in their attempts to shut me up and shut me down.

Yet, even though, these men are control freak cowards, I have no anger towards them. In fact, I pray for them as I pray for the recovery of their victims as we work hard to restore their health.

Satan knows a truly Godly woman at the top of professional tennis could have an immediate, world reaching impact against his lies.

Just one woman can alter the course of history.

Godly women, like Melody Snelen and Rachel Snelen, are amazing.


God bless,

Scott Paschal
Ministry Director
International Christian Tennis Association
www.christiantennis.net