SEYMOUR — Danny was attracted to an old bent basketball rim nailed to a garage at Tim and Sally Goodpaster’s home in Seymour.
The young boy often came by to shoot hoops.
Tim and Sally were the Sunday school teachers at First Baptist Church at the time and tried several times to get Danny to come to classes. Tim knew Danny’s parents had divorced and he wound up in four different homes in a month.
“None of those sets of caregivers or family members were excited about bringing him to Sunday school,” Tim said.
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That all changed when Tim opened up the church’s gym one Saturday a month to have Christian athletes speak to kids and allow them a chance to play basketball. Danny’s family brought him, and other kids regularly attended, too. Tim also gave them a Bible and shared the Gospel.
A year later, one of Tim’s pastor friends encouraged him to start a basketball league.
That’s how Enter His Courts started in 1988.
“Boy, it was like a light bulb went off, and that was like a word from the Lord,” Tim said. “We had 132 kids the first year and then 168 the next year, and then I got out of God’s way, and man, it began to grow. It was like 432 and 532, and most of those 30 years now, I’ve run 800-plus kids.”
Tim estimates they have served between 15,000 and 20,000 boys and girls through the years.
“I’ve got kids this year that Mommy and Daddy played. That’s how long I’ve been doing it,” he said.
Enter His Courts continues its teaching, encouragement and love through basketball leagues that share the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with players and their fans. The league takes the “crush-kill-win-at-all-cost” mentality out of basketball and allows young people to enjoy competition while developing relationships with other young people.
There is a short devotional before each game, and players are required to follow the rules and display good sportsmanship during the games.
This year, about 500 boys and girls ages 5 to 22 are involved.
“Travel basketball has become so intense, and as we watch, it seems like I really have the lion’s share of them until they get to be about second grade,” Tim said. “Then second grade, it seems like a lot of them will go away and play travel ball for a year or two, and they come back.”
In the early years of the league, Tim said he paid more than $85,000 to rent gymnasiums at 10 elementary schools for games.
“All I did in those days was just run from gym to gym supplying people, equipping people, getting them going so they could make it happen,” he said.
Now, games are played on six Saturdays in January and February at Cornerstone Community Church, Seymour Christian Church, Central Christian Church and The Point in Seymour, and Brownstown Church of the Nazarene in Brownstown.
Ellie Burbrink, 8, said she has played in the league for a few years. Being a student at St. John’s Lutheran School White Creek in Columbus, she said faith is important to her, so she’s glad to be a part of a league where she can share that.
“You get to learn about Jesus and play basketball,” she said.
It’s a bonus that she gets to learn more about basketball, meet new people and play together on the court.
Eli McAfee, an eighth-grader at Seymour Middle School, said this is his second year playing in the league.
“I know everybody, we all have great chemistry and we’re all great friends,” he said of his teammates. “We all cooperate. We’re all best friends here.”
At the end of February, players receive trophies during a special celebration.
“Look at the value of a 10-, 12-year-old kid or a 5-year-old kid getting up in front of 800 people — or back in the day in front of 3,000 people — and you’ve got that many people applauding you getting a trophy,” Tim said. “You tell me that isn’t an encouragement, I say, ‘You don’t know the path that I’ve walked for 30 years because I’ve watched it. It impacts kids.’”
Once the Goodpasters became established, word spread about the league, and other sites inquired about starting their own. A league has been at Hanover Baptist Church for 24 years, and leagues also were formed in Georgetown and Frankfort.
There also was a league in Tucson, Arizona, for seven years, and missionaries from St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Columbus once conducted a weeklong camp as outreach in Alaska.
Eighteen years ago, the Goodpasters added a Men’s March Madness League in Seymour that consisted of six games, a single-elimination tournament and an all-star game with dunk and 3-point contests. That league is for ages 16 and up, but boys who are younger and on a high school basketball roster are allowed to play, too.
Tim said he has had several college basketball players participate. Plus, he has sectional-caliber referees working the games and college-level officials working the tournament.
“Usually, we only have 80 to 85 men playing, but it is big-boy basketball. You better bring your A game,” Tim said. “It’s just another way for me to reach another group of folks with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
With Enter His Courts being around for 30 years, the Goodpasters have had former players give back to the program by providing a scholarship so a child can play or volunteering to coach or help on game days.
Their daughter, Maggie Fox, is among that group. She grew up around Enter His Courts.
“I got to play in third or fourth grade. It was just fun,” she said. “Every Saturday, we got to go out and play. Mom usually picked us up McDonald’s, and we made a whole day of it. Then when I was too old to play with high school, I refereed the entire day, I kept score if I wasn’t playing. We did it all.”
After graduating from Seymour High School, she continued her basketball career at Columbus State University in Georgia.
Now, she finds herself involved with the league coaching her three daughters’ teams.
“I’m busier now, I thing, lugging them around, coaching two teams,” Fox said.
But she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“They are getting the exposure and the experience in a safe environment,” she said. “It’s fun, and kids are encouraged, and it’s not a league that you’re going to get out for blood. You can actually take the time to learn, and so you’re learning to be kind and a good teammate. Obviously, we’re sharing the love of Jesus, as well.”
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For information about Enter His Courts, call Tim Goodpaster at 812-498-0249 or visit enterhiscourts.org.
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