By mid-morning, the campus is loud with laughter and running footsteps. Kids crowd around Foursquare courts. Parents talk along the sidelines. Volunteers help organize soccer games while younger students chase each other underneath a giant parachute stretched across the field.

Now, it feels full of life.

But it did not start that way.

“Those first couple of months were pretty rough.”

When Brady first moved to Fresno with his family, he barely knew the city. He had experienced Saturday Sports during a visit before moving and immediately connected with it.

“It was actually one of the first things I did when I came to Fresno,” Brady shared. “Immediately fell in love with it.”

So after moving here, he started showing up every Saturday morning to help run the program.

At first, almost nobody came.

For nearly two months, Brady kept arriving at an empty school campus, waiting to see if any kids or families would eventually walk through the gates.

“Those first couple of months were pretty rough,” Brady shared. “I was just coming out here in the rain… no kids, just sitting out here by myself, just waiting for somebody, a family, somebody to walk up.”

It would have been easy to stop showing up. Easy to assume it was not making a difference.

Instead, Brady came back the next Saturday. And the Saturday after that.

“I knew that this was God’s calling for me,” he said. “I just had to be faithful.”

Eventually, one family came. Then another.

Now, 50-60 kids gather at Hidalgo Elementary each weekend. 

“You can just see it week by week,” Brady shared. “These kids get more comfortable, they have more fun, and then they just eventually grow.”

That slow growth is what Brady loves most about Saturday Sports.

“I think something as simple as Saturday Sports matters so much because it’s giving these kids… a place to go and just feel loved,” Brady said.

The movement began to spread

Over time, Brady’s consistency started influencing other people too, including his friend Noah.

The two met while working together in an after-school program, and Brady invited Noah to come help with Saturday Sports.

“When Brady asked me, I just did not hesitate,” Noah shared. “I was immediately like, yes, let’s do this.”

Now Noah leads a Saturday Sports site of his own in another Fresno neighborhood.

“It’s not just two hours of recess,” Noah said.

As Noah spent more time with students each Saturday, he began realizing how much the space mattered to many of the kids attending.

“It’s great, but also heartbreaking at the same time,” Noah said. “When you’re there for two hours, and the kid says, ‘Oh, I don’t want to leave here.’ …you hear a lot of mental issues, stuff at home. You never know what they’re truly going through.”

For many students, Saturday Sports becomes a place where they can step away from stress, pain, or instability and learn what it’s like to build healthy relationships with trustworthy adults. This consistent connection can change the trajectory of childrens’ lives. 

Children who are our city’s next generation of leaders.

Faithfulness will lead to Fresno’s transformation 

Brady’s story is about consistently choosing to care for people, even when the work feels ordinary or unnoticed.

A 21-year-old working coffee shop shifts during the week, new to Fresno, unlocking school gates every Saturday morning before kids arrive.

Week after week, Brady kept showing up before there was momentum, before there were crowds, and before he knew what the impact would become.

Over time, those small acts of faithfulness created something meaningful. Kids began trusting the space, families started returning, and other young adults stepped in to launch the program in other neighborhoods!

Every Saturday, volunteers like Brady across Fresno help create spaces where students can play, build relationships, and experience community right in their own neighborhoods.

Don’t underestimate the value of faithfully showing up. 

Learn more about Saturday Sports and how you can get involved through the button below!