SCORE International hosts Liga Teresa Duran

Teresa Duran and David Conrady after win at Bryan College

SCORE International was blessed to host a team of women basketball players from the Dominican Republic. The team was comprised of ladies from all over the country, several of which play on the "National Team" and ranging in age from 17-45. They came to Chattanooga to play some of the area colleges and have a chance to experience the "Scenic City". The team was led by the most decorated female athlete in the history of Dominican Republic athletics; Teresa Duran. Teresa played on the National Team for 23 years. She played her first game at the age of 15. She has been a part of three World Championships and six Central America Championships. She has been Dominican Athlete of the Year 19 times and was voted Player of the Century in 2000. Duran scored 61 points against Puerto Rico and was the top scorer in 25 international tournaments. Today, she is a great ambassador for women’s sports all over the world and is a member of the Dominican Republic National Sports Ministry.

"This is the first time SCORE has hosted a team in the United States. We are very excited to have played a part in bringing this exceptional team to our area and for them to have the opportunity to experience our culture first hand" said the founder of SCORE International Ron Bishop. "For over 27 years SCORE has taken teams overseas. One of the exciting things about this group is the fact that they have all played against our teams while we were down playing in their country. So they know who we are (SCORE International) and what we are about".
National Basketball Director David Conrady said the goal of this trip was twofold. "Obviously we wanted to give these ladies the chance to experience the game in our country as well as our culture, but our main purpose was to show them the Gospel "lived out". Through playing against our teams in the Dominican they have had the opportunity to "hear" the life changing message of Jesus Christ. We really wanted them to "see" what that looked like on a daily basis. One of my favorite quotes says to share the Gospel each day and when necessary use words. They have heard the "words" of Christ; we wanted to show the "love" of Christ".

The team played 6 games going 4-2 against Bryan College, Covenant College, Chattanooga State, Motlow State, Truet McConnell and Tennessee Temple. When not playing or practicing the ladies had the chance to experience some of the best Chattanooga has to offer. With Gene Fitzgerald as the trip leader, they visited the Tennessee Aquariums, the IMAX Theater and Rock City, they watched practice at UTC and Lee University, they took in the UTC vs. Furman football game, they watched the Lady Mocs and Mocs exhibition basketball games, they attended Chapel service at Chattanooga Christian School and Temple University, they visited New City Fellowship Church and White Oak Baptist on Sunday, and they shopped. On November 2, each team member was recognized by Hamilton County in a special ceremony during the County Commissioners meeting.

Each day we provided the team with a devotion speaker. Each speaker was able to speak Spanish. "It was important for us to get people in front of them who could communicate directly to them, without the use of an interpreter" explained Conrady. SCORE was able to provide each team member with their own copy of the New Testament in Spanish. Gene Fitzgerald commenting on the trip said “I don't see how it could have gone any better. God really did a work in the hearts of these exceptional ladies. When I gave them the New Testaments there wasn't a dry eye in the room".

This trip would not have been possible without the support of Tennessee Temple who provide rooms for the ladies, New City who provided the vans for transportation and White Oak Baptist who provided the use of their bus, the Coca-Cola bottling company for providing assistance with drinks and tickets to area attractions, several area restaurants who provided discounts to meals, and Gene Fitzgerald for his tireless work putting this trip together.