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Carl joined the Athletes In Action Wrestling Team in 1975.  Noreen and Carl were married in 1977 and moved to Europe in 1979 with a small group of AIA wrestlers training for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.  They helped start sport ministry behind the iron curtain. All three of their children were born in Vienna, attended Kindergarten and elementary school in Germany and finished high school in Russia. After more than a decade of covert ministry in Eastern Europe and Russia, the Dambmans lived in Moscow from 1990 to 2010 pioneering the AIA ministry and developing sport ministry partnerships in the former Soviet Union.

AIA has grown and sport ministry has developed across the eleven time zones of Russia and Eurasia. AIA has staff and trained volunteers in most of the former Soviet republics. Carl traveled extensively in the former USSR encouraging sport ministry workers and helping pioneer ministry and develop partnerships. He was on the USA Olympic Wrestling Team  at Montreal 1976 and has ministered at 20 Olympics, serving as an official chaplain at nine Olympics.  Paris 2024, PyeongChang 2018, Rio 2016, Sochi 2014, London 2012 and Vancouver 2010 were the most recent.  His passion is to reach elite athletes with the gospel, train them and equip the church to use the platform of sport to reach their communities. In partnership with other sports ministries, Carl and Noreen served 10-12 weeks a year at an international sports ministry leadership training in South Africa. In the role of "shepherd" Carl led devotions and they mentored the students from across the globe. The 2008 through 2019 classes totaled nearly 280 students from over 90 different countries. Over 200 students from 15 countries of the former Soviet Union have been trained in 2009 through 2019 at the one-month Eurasian Sports Ministry School for Russian speaking leaders.

Noreen served many years on the school board at Hinkson Christian Academy in Moscow. She is hostess to many guests in their home and travels half of the time with Carl. All of the children live in the USA. Elisabeth, Stephen and his wife Erin (married in 2013) and their children Brooke and Blake live near Seattle. David married Kelli McCoy in 2007, they live in San Diego, CA with our grandsons Caleb and Andrew. The Dambmans are now living near Seattle and continue to serve the global sports ministry network with AIA Global Events/Chaplaincy Team.  Carl traveled to Russia 3 times in 2019. During the Pandemic of 2020 Carl has used Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram and even Facebook to stay connected with sports leaders he is mentoring.  Zoom has helped Carl stay connected locally as well as across the globe with ISLS graduates and in Eurasia with AIA staff, sports chaplains, and wrestling coaches.  During the Covid 19 travel restrictions Carl was able to write a Memoir called "In God's Grip" that is published by WestBow Press and available on Amazon.  It tells the story of AIA wrestlers pioneering sports ministry in the former Soviet Bloc.  

Website: http://www.athletesinaction.org