30 Years of Athletes in Action in Poland
In the world of competitive sports, where every second counts, it is easy to forget about the intangible. For three decades, an organization has been operating in Poland, proving that a medal around your neck isn't everything. Athletes in Action (AiA), part of the MT28 movement, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. These years are a story of passion, breaking barriers, and a good God stepping onto the courts, mats, and stadiums.
It started with astonishment.
It was 1993, Stuttgart, the World Athletics Championships. Among the crowd of fans was a young Polish student, Zbigniew Masewicz. As a former soccer player looking at sports through the prism of competition, he noticed something that changed his perspective forever.
"To my astonishment, I discovered that athletes could be believers, involved in evangelism and discipleship," recalls Zbigniew Masewicz, the founder of AiA in Poland, years later.
From a spark, a vision was born, which took official form in 1996. Masewicz and his wife Katarzyna moved to Warsaw to live next to the University of Physical Education (AWF). While he built relationships within the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl) and served as a chaplain at the Olympic Games, she reached the hearts of basketball players at the School of Sports Championship.
A Hospital and a Changed Life
Step by step, the ministry among athletes began to bear fruit. One of them was Piotr “Papi” Paprocki, a basketball player for Legia Warsaw. On a freezing day, lying in a clinic after knee surgery, he gave his life to God.
"Zbigniew visited me in the hospital and shared the gospel. For the next year, various moral issues hung over me until I realized that if I wanted to see the fruit of a relationship with God, I had to change my life," Piotr remembers.
Piotr's character began to change. His teammates, surprised by his transformation, started asking questions about God, and he answered as best he could. An opportunity arose for a scholarship to the USA. Piotr matured spiritually there for four years, returning to Poland in 2008 with his wife Heidi as a full-time AiA missionary.
A Breakthrough on the Mat
While Piotr left for the USA, God was preparing something special – the transformation of Dariusz Jabłoński, an outstanding wrestler, World and European champion, and Olympian.
In 2004, during the Athens Olympics, Dariusz considered himself a decent man, but deep down, he felt an emptiness. He also had no idea that his national team colleague, Radosław Truszkowski, had been praying for him for some time. He was also the one who arranged a meeting with Zbigniew.
"I was open to dialogue, but beneath the spiritual facade of a 'cool guy' lay the question of why I kept returning to the same sins," Dariusz recalls of that time. "The whole situation was resolved one evening when I read the booklet 'The Four Spiritual Laws' and was left with a probing question asked by Zbigniew: 'Dariusz, is Jesus your Lord and Savior?'. That's when I fell to my knees. I saw myself in a swamp of sin and gave my life to Jesus."
What happens next, Dariusz describes as "spiritual hunger." He began reading the Bible before and after every training session.
"Without hesitation, Zbigniew took me under his wing. He would come to training camps just for me, along with Łukasz Bujok or Piotr Paprocki," the wrestler recounts with gratitude. "With Piotr, we had a Bible study at the Okęcie airport when I was flying out for matches in Germany."
For Dariusz, faith became "pure doping." He says he imagined Jesus running ahead of him, which gave him the strength to "tear up the asphalt." The transformation was so profound that he went from a shy person to a bold evangelist who prayed with athletes before matches and preached the Word of God even in the closed Olympic Village in Beijing.
From Student to Leader
The aforementioned Łukasz Bujok was at that time a student at the Katowice University of Physical Education and a soccer player in Ruda Śląska, who was drawn to Zbigniew’s vision.
"Zbigniew encouraged me not to give up sports, but to be a testimony while practicing it," recalls Łukasz. "That's how my involvement and trips to Moldova, Romania, and Germany began. Every year a different country. It was a time of building the foundation for something much bigger."
In 2004, Łukasz became an official AiA staff member, and six years later he took over the leadership baton.
"It was a demanding time, the birth of children, new responsibilities, and the question: how to continue this work while giving it new momentum?" Bujok recalls his beginnings.
Between Dublin and Ekstraklasa
Under Łukasz's leadership, AiA began knocking louder on the doors of professional soccer. Allan Nickson, a UEFA Pro licensed coach from Ireland, turned out to be a key figure. His presence made even the Polish Soccer Association (PZPN) look at AiA with interest.
"Coaching conferences with Allan at the Warsaw AWF attracted coaches, including names like Rafał Ulatowski (Polish soccer and coach)," Łukasz says. "Thanks to Allan's authority and mentors like the 80-year-old Dick Helm, who came to us from the USA, the doors to Ekstraklasa clubs opened for us: Korona Kielce, Górnik Zabrze, Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała, and GKS Bełchatów."
AiA appeared on television, and journalists' questions about Bible meetings in club locker rooms ceased to be an exotic novelty. Players begin to see that a chaplain is not just an office, but a living person ready to respond to their spiritual needs.
A Proving Ground for Faith and Character
In parallel with the work in clubs, AiA developed basketball and soccer camps. In Istebna, Łochów, or Solec Kujawski, under the watchful eye of American coaches, young athletes went through a real school of life. Through developing the ministry among female basketball players, a young athlete from the School of Sports Championship, Iwona Zagrobelna, gave her life to Jesus. A few years later, she also joined the AiA team.
Piotr Paprocki became a networking master, recruiting coaches from the USA attractive to young athletes. Programs "Desert Storm" or "Team Time" were created, which integrate sports with the gospel.
"It was a great environment for volunteers and AWF students," Łukasz recalls. "Many people converted, and besides, it was a time of great sowing. We learned how to be close to the athletes in their everyday lives."
Work at AiA is not just about successes. Piotr recalls a situation that taught him to rely on God. They invited an Olympic runner-up from the USA to the AWF Sports Academy in Warsaw – a huge advertising campaign, and only two people showed up for the meeting.
"We quickly learned that God is not about relying on stars. We understood that it's not about being fans of people and admiring them for their results, but building relationships with God and the athletes," emphasizes Piotr.
The Relay Continues
Over the years, leaders at AiA have changed. Starting with the pioneer – Zbigniew Masewicz, through Łukasz Bujok (from 2009) and Piotr Paprocki (from 2017), up to the current leader Marek Marcinowicz.
"The culture in sports is focused mainly on physical and mental development," says Marek. "I dream that the spiritual side would also be an inseparable accent in working with athletes and sports people."
The current AiA leader focuses on modern tools, such as releasing a New Testament for sports people with athletes' testimonies (several thousand copies have already reached the hands of Olympians and coaches). He wants to develop online Bible groups for football players and record podcasts with athletes.
Marek is also a co-organizer of a conference that took place in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland - "Sport with Values", where athletes and officials gathered to speak openly about God.
Currently, Marek is holding talks with the Legia Warsaw Academy to introduce the "Sport Life" training there – 25 topics combining an athlete's challenges with a biblical perspective on life.
New Blood
A new person on the AiA team is Marta Lisiecka. She joined last December and says she doesn't know how long she will stay yet. Marta grew up at basketball camps, and Iwona Zagrobelna (former basketball player, now an AiA missionary) became her mentor.
"My path was natural," says Marta. "From a camp participant, through a volunteer, to the team. As an introvert, I break my barriers during public speaking, but leading discipleship among young female athletes gives me great satisfaction. I desire that girls my age would come to know God and deepen their bond with Him," she shares her dreams.
30 Years of Running for Victory
Thousands of people have passed through AiA. Over ten thousand heard the gospel from the lips of legendary NBA coach Dick Helm, who regularly visited Poland. Today, AiA is a professional support platform aimed at athletes – from chaplains at the Olympics, through substantive training in clubs, to the individual mentoring of athletes.
Although leaders have changed, the foundation remains unchanged.
"The greatest joy is seeing how sports becomes a platform for God, and relationships built on the field turn into lifelong friendships," concludes Piotr.
With a New Testament in hand, a podcast online, and a presence in the best football academies, AiA continues the race, in which the most important thing is not the medal, but the One who waits at the finish line and is alone Worthy of Glory.
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