MACON, Ga. — These days, the Central High School girl's basketball team doesn't really need help from anybody; at 20-1 on the year, the Lady Chargers are clearly one of the state’s best in Class 2A, with no signs of them slowing down.
But support is exactly what the Lady Chargers have gotten this season, and it comes from maybe an unexpected source.
When Jon Beck isn't leading worship at Tabernacle Baptist Church, you'll probably find him and his wife, Sharon, cheering on the Lady Chargers.
In his words, it’s a team they “adopted” at the end of last season with the goal of making one thing clear: your community is proud of you.
“I tell people all the time I wear different hats, but there's only one gospel,” Beck said. “Listen, this is bigger than where we stand, our skin color, our race. We can forget all that and the noise of the world and just come together.”
Attending games, prepping meals for the road, and pregame prayer are all part of what makes this connection special -- so special, that the team even recently joined Pastor Beck for church at Tabernacle.
“Everyone is latching on,” head coach Tamara Bolston-Williams said. “It's kind of giving everybody a better understanding of their personal relationship with God and how we can bring that together as a team.”
At this point, Jon and Sharon might as well be a part of ‘C’s House’ – even if it takes a little getting used to a pastor being in the crowd.
“We’re like good Baptists, we all have assigned seating at the games,” Beck said. “I have my spot, everybody else has their spot. We have a lot of fun. Being a pastor, sometimes people want to be on their best behavior. When the game gets a little tense you can see some of the mamas and daddies trying really hard. I think it breathes a sense of hope and community into our church life so we're thankful for the relationship.”
But that goes both ways because this might just be Central's new secret weapon – as if they needed one.
“When situations get tough you always have those two or three people that's going to uplift the team and maybe say something positive that they learned,” Coach Williams said. “So at the end of the day the more of us that know it, you always have that sister that pulls you and reminds you of the message and things that we're learning.”
And for a team that's lost just once this year, it means something else, too.
“Most importantly it's taught us to not only pray when things are going bad,” Williams said. “But also when things are going good for us.”
For the Lady Chargers, things are going real good. The team grabbed their 20th win of the year over rival Northeast on Saturday night, and they have every intention of going much further than last year's Elite 8 finish.
“We're hoping we can ride this out this year and wind up at the Coliseum cutting down some nets,” Beck said.
Central resumes action Tuesday night with a home game against ACE Charter. The 2023 GHSA Girls State Basketball Championships begin on February 21.