Beyond Soccer

Friday 🌎
Earlier this week you met Issandel, our Youth Delegation Leader. Now meet the rest of our Festival 26 delegation! After arriving together (and a little pre-festival shopping 🛍️), our six youth participants are soaking up every moment.

Their group chat says it all: a visit to the Berklee Performance Center where one of our own performed, a World Cup watch party at the Tall Ships, and today a tournament plus trips to the Prudential and the Freedom Trail, with plenty of teambuilding along the way. ⚽

Experiences like this are only possible because of partnership. Thank you to Boston SCORES and Sport dans la Ville, and to our mutual partner New Balance Foundation, along with every partner who came together for these 400+ youth and leaders.

We’re so proud to be part of it.
⚽🧡💙 Boston Scores Sport dans la Ville New Balance Gives Back

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What a day, Lawrence! Thanks to Massachusetts Youth Soccer it felt like the World Cup came right to our city!

🌎 So many of our players and community members showed up fully engaged all day, and we were thrilled to welcome families joining us for the very first time.

⚽ The field never slowed down... awesome inflatable soccer fields, player card photos, and raffles all day long.

🎨 A special shoutout to tattoo artist Gabby who kept the line going with temporary tattoos. Check out her work!

🇧🇷 And the energy?! The whole field went absolutely crazy when Brazil took the lead.

🙌 A big thank you to the Lawrence Recreation Department and Mayor's Health Task Force of Lawrence for helping bring it all together, and the politicians who showed up, too.

The World Cup may be global, but Monday it was in Lawrence. Mass Youth Soccer Festival 🧡⚽💙

This crew had quite the week! Thanks to a great partnership with Massachusetts Youth Soccer Association, Inc. and the New England Revolution, they got to spend all week at Revs Soccer Academy. Here they are decked out in their Revs gear.

As you can see, there was lots of bonding before they even hit the field with lots of thumbs up. Add in the drills, the scrimmages, and making new friends, and it added up to one unforgettable week.

Another added bonus was Noe, a former player turned summer staffer who got the group to and from camp every single day. The bonus for him? Getting to sit in on training. Noe is probably the best player to ever come out of Beyond Soccer. A great role model and student, too. Again, win-win all around. Thanks to all involved.

And speaking of Mass Youth Soccer, our City is a site for a Mass Youth Soccer Festival tomorrow at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Come watch the World Cup Round of 32 with us and the rest of the community. ⚽🧡💙

with this crew of 22 summer hires and jr coaches!

Yesterday was the official kickoff of our Summer Youth Jobs Program, which includes some teens who have been with us for a decade, and alumni who have returned to assist our very busy summer camp and Summer Nights programming.

They were engaged, listening to Soccer Director Chris and Impact Coordinator Declan, filled out self-assessment forms on the skills they want to work on this summer, and talked through the '10 Things That Are Within Your Control,' such as being on time, being coachable, and doing a little extra.

And of course, in true Beyond Soccer fashion, it included some fun, ending with a Heads or Tails game with Coach Mentor Donovan walking away with a $100 New Balance gift certificate.

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Thanks to The Salem News sports editor Matt Williams for learning about our 15-year journey that started with Stephanie and her mom, for sharing the exciting news of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund grant, and for interviewing our staff and coach mentors, whose stories are woven throughout.

Here are some snippets from the 📰published this week.

Declan Murphy, Beyond Soccer's Impact Coordinator (recent Westfield State University graduate), joined the program around age 12. His sister was part of its first team, so he's basically been around it ever since. "The connection from soccer is so strong that it breaks the language barrier," said Murphy. "That high five on the field? It's universal."

18-year-old Arabella Sseyondo (heading to UMass Lowell for business) has been around since she was 4. "Personally, I always had more confidence on the field than I did in school, so I'm always reinforcing that for our kids. I want to empower them," she said. "I met my best friend in this program, and she's like a sister to me. So it truly is a family."

And it's not just coaching and tutoring that keep people involved. Andy Guzman (Junior at Boston College) started as a junior coach and tutor, then found a way to give back through his other passion, photography. He's been behind the camera assisting with digital media ever since: "I really enjoy looking at those moments, catching those celebrations and high fives so that we have the memories," including 📸 in the article.

Full story here: https://www.salemnews.com/sports/global-force-beyond-soccer-chosen-for-fifa-grant-celebrates-15-years/article_e664cd77-a654-4c48-af2d-4778a3fb3d20.html

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Global force: Beyond Soccer chosen for FIFA grant, celebrates 15 years When Masconomet alum Stephanie McArdle launched Beyond Soccer 15 years ago, she never could have imagined that the men’s FIFA World Cup would come to Boston ... or that her