“[AO1] was a motto I picked up early in my career, and I finally put it on my body as a constant reminder to live with the Lord as my only audience.”
In addition to people with physical challenges, those underserved and military veterans in the Midwest are invited to join in these experiences. A third main service that highlight’s Carson Wentz’s faith is the foundation’s service to underprivileged youth through providing shelter, food, and educational opportunities. The Carson Wentz AO1 Foundation provides both financial support to programs that support these missions, and it works to extend reach by supporting the development of new programs. At the time, he was a quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, and several of his teammates joined together to tweet a video at the creation of this AO1 Foundation in 2017.
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Carson Wentz once said of the AO1 mission, “What does AO1 mean to us? It means that we are playing for an Audience of One. When the lights go on and all the eyes are fixed on us, our eyes are fixed on Him,” Wentz shared. “Jesus, the creator of the universe. It’s not just a slogan, it’s a lifestyle. Living for Him, playing for Him, and giving Him all the glory. Win, lose or draw, I play for an Audience of One. What about you?”
As Carson Wentz has promoted, AO1 isn’t only about how athletes on game day. With the spirit of AO1, athletes have taken all kinds of steps to live in a way that demonstrates the scripture “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” For example, in 2020 men’s track and field champion, Tatenda Dzvokora thought of the needs in his home country, Zimbabwe, and he collected loads of shoes to send to the people in need there. In 2021, Carson Wentz’s team, the Indianapolis Colts raised $10,205 in just one game as part of the ongoing Touchdown Drive to go to people in need. Also, in September of this year, the Carson Wentz AO1 Foundation put on soccer and basketball camps for children in Haiti. At these camps, the kids learned sports skills, as well as received nutritious meals and clean drinking water.
As you can probably tell, AO1 has power. And it’s meant to promote freedom to athletes to do their best, but keep their perspective in check because, ultimately, it is our goal, whether athlete or not, to bring pleasure to Him!