Chaplain Dan praying with the KW Titans team. Photo: Dan Congdon
By Rev. Marty Levesque
LET ME TELL YOU a story about a guy and twelve friends.
A community partner, Camino Well-Being, reached out to the SideWalk Community Centre in the spring of 2024, wondering if we could help one of the pro basketball players from the KW Titans with a location for skills development camps. The Rev. Dan Bowyer arranged the meeting with forward Anthony Lee Jr. of the KW Titans, who plays in the Basketball Super League. A partnership formed, Anthony began teaching youth basketball skills in the gym at the SideWalk Community Centre and became fast friends with All Saints’ Waterloo.
But as Dan reminds All Saints often, one community connection often leads to another and opportunities for ministry. The Basketball Super League emphasizes chaplaincy to support their players who come from diverse and sometimes difficult backgrounds. Through Anthony, Dan learned that the Titans were looking for a team chaplain. Dan’s eight years of chaplaincy experience with the Stratford Warriors of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League proved to be an asset. “I didn’t anticipate God integrating team chaplaincy into my wider ordained ministry once, let alone twice. I now see that through my time as a chaplain with the Stratford Warriors, God was preparing me for chaplaincy with the Titans” Dan shares.
Dan began his role as team chaplain of the KW Titans at the start of the 2024/2025 season. He formed quick bonds with the players, praying before games, dropping off snacks for the players to assist in breaking their Ramadan fast and being a supportive presence to the players to help keep them grounded through the ups and downs of the season. “Walking alongside professional athletes pastorally requires a particular skill set as the ministry context is very distinct,” Dan says. “I am the team chaplain for the whole team, so I need to meet players who share my faith, practice a different faith or are of no faith where they are at. It is incumbent upon me as a Christian to love my neighbour as myself”. Kate Schooley, one of the team’s owners, remarked early on that Dan was “the missing piece we didn’t know we were missing and needed.”
Point Guard Antoine Mason says, “It's a good spirit to have, especially, you know, me taking my religion seriously, somebody that I could lean on and just ask for references, and you know, guidance during certain times in the season. You have ups and downs, and it's good to have somebody that, like I said, has positive energy and insight.”
Shooting Guard Devon Baulkman attends the monthly character-building sessions based on scripture offered by Dan. “Once a month, we all get together, and I’m all in. We’ll have a topic for the month, and I believe they help us come together, even off the basketball court. People go through stuff, and, like, life happens, and we come together as a team to understand everybody's feelings, and I think it brought us closer as a team.”
Shooting Guard Dee Barnes remembers how instrumental having a chaplain at school was for him. “It was always good having someone around who keeps the Word heavy on your heart and heavy in your life. It's good having Dan around when you're away from home. You can lean on him and kind of just get the Word.”
James Robinson, the Lead Assistant Coach for the Titans, remarked, “Having Dan around helps with building team unity. Honestly, having Dan as a secondary safe space for the guys outside of the coaches gives them another voice or another person they could come to who is unbiased, so that way, it keeps their emotions under control and keeps their mental game sharp.”
Additional duties for Dan as the team chaplain are to assist with player appearances and connect with the broader community. SideWalk has been fortunate to welcome the Titans to our own Youth Basketball initiative in North Waterloo. Watching these young men run drills and mentor youth is manna for the soul.
Dan’s presence with the team is captured by members of the Titans in a few words: unique, easy-going and honest. It’s a ministry of grace, love, and acceptance that is transforming the lives of the players and has made Dan quite the basketball fan. It is the ministry of one man with 12 friends. And it is good to see Dan in the right shade of blue and white.
Rev. Marty Levesque is the Rector of All Saints', Waterloo.