Stephanie McArdle's Success Beyond Soccer
6/29/2017 1:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Features
For women's soccer alumna Stephanie McArdle (1996-2000), the lessons learned and experiences gained as a Michigan student-athlete helped build a foundation upon which she created Beyond Soccer, a sports-based youth development organization in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
When McArdle graduated from the University of Michigan in 2000 with dual degrees in sociology and psychology, she thought she was destined for a career in law. She could not have been more wrong.
Her father owned a law firm in their home state of Massachusetts, and McArdle began working at his firm and toward her paralegal degree. There were parts of the job she enjoyed, but not enough to make it a career, so she began to follow her heart.
In 2005, she connected with an old family friend who ran a program called the Youth Development Organization in Lawrence, Massachusetts. A low-income city just 20 minutes northwest of her hometown of Boxford, Lawrence was vastly different from where Stephanie grew up.
"Growing up and playing sports my whole life, I was curious to find out what was going on with the students in this very low-income inner-city regarding sports," McArdle said.
After several conversations with the children in that program, McArdle realized that for the majority of them, sports were not a part of their lives at all.
"Having played soccer and basketball, and running track, sports were so important to me -- the friendships, the camaraderie and the travel you do together -- it was really sad to me that those kids didn't have access to those opportunities."
Eager for sports to be part of their lives as well, McArdle gathered a group of girls from the Youth Development Organization and started the first youth soccer team in Lawrence.
McArdle began to laugh as she recalled a story about that first team. She registered the girls for an indoor tournament in New Hampshire and raised enough money to rent a van and transport the team. When they arrived, they were met by established club programs with far greater resources and experience. The Lawrence Wolves, as the girls dubbed themselves, ended up on the wrong end of a 17-0 match, and were naturally discouraged. After the game, McArdle loaded the team up in the van and drove them all back to Lawrence.
"After I dropped them all off, I thought to myself, 'what have I done to these girls and their self-confidence?'"
McArdle thought for sure that first defeat would have scared them away from soccer for good, but the next week she began receiving phone calls from players and their parents asking with excitement when the next game was.
"I knew very quickly that just that experience of being in the van together as a team, getting to wear a uniform, they'd never had that. Even after a lopsided loss, it just rolled off their shoulders and they kept coming back."
The buzz around youth soccer in Lawrence quickly grew and the demand for more teams increased. McArdle recognized the need, followed her heart, and branched off to form Beyond Soccer, a sports-based youth development non-profit organization.
"My own sports experience took me all the way to the University of Michigan, and being part of that university served as incredible motivation to at least give kids a chance to be part of a team."
A self-proclaimed homebody from small-town Boxford, McArdle pushed herself outside of her comfort zone when she chose to attend Michigan. She described U-M as a big school with a small-school feeling.
"I wanted to push myself and grow up a little bit, and I thought the support systems there were unbelievable. You almost can't put the right words to it -- there is something you feel when you step on campus, and it's unbelievable to say you're a part of that."
"I was homesick at the beginning of my freshman year, but that quickly changed because you're so busy training and traveling, and I felt this kinship and camaraderie right away with the coaches and the girls on the team."
The coach she referred to was Debbie (Belkin) Rademacher, the program's inaugural coach who led Michigan to two Big Ten Tournament titles, both during McArdle's career, as well as nine NCAA tournaments in 14 seasons.
From day one, Rademacher stressed the importance of not only success on the field, but taking advantage of the holistic student-athlete experience and representing Michigan and the Ann Arbor community. Regular visits to Mott Children's Hospital, which remain a prideful tradition for U-M student-athletes today, and other community service initiatives are what fueled her passion for social-service years after earning her degree. The extent of Michigan's positive impact on her is still felt today, as the mission of Beyond Soccer is rooted in Michigan values:
Soccer is the means by which we engage Lawrence youth and connect them to new experiences, on and off the field, that build confidence and create opportunities for leadership, healthy living and academic achievement.
"There is a large piece of Michigan here within the foundation of Beyond Soccer."
Building a non-profit from its infant stages has certainly not been easy, but lessons she learned at Michigan helped her through the tough times.
"Part of that commitment that we had to our team at Michigan that 'I'm going to give it everything I have for 90 minutes' is still with me here with Beyond Soccer. There have been many times where I was thinking 'This is too much work, we have to close shop, funding isn't coming through, we're down to two dollars in the bank and we have all these kids that want to sign up for the next season,' and you just find a way."
She compared those tough moments to pushing through an injury, which she did after suffering a knee injury that forced her to miss her senior season and return for a fifth year in Ann Arbor.
When McArdle's collegiate soccer career came to a close on Nov. 15, 2000, after a loss at Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA tournament, she thought her soccer days were over. Reflecting on that day in the Notre Dame locker room, she chuckled as she recalled tossing her cleats in the trash.
"I look back and it's so funny because I'm still so involved in the sport of soccer in so many ways. There's something about that experience that just doesn't leave you."
Through her five years in Maize and Blue, that homebody from small-town Massachusetts has flourished into so much more than a two-time captain and Big Ten champion. McArdle learned valuable lessons and built life-long friendships that have continued shaping her life, long after those cleats were retired in South Bend.
"The Big Ten Tournament championships and all the wins were absolutely incredible to be a part of, but just like that original Lawrence Wolves team with those 12-year old girls, some of the best times were riding on the bus with your teammates, you're exhausted, but you just can't stop laughing."
McArdle has dedicated her life to building this successful program that provides children with that same opportunity for sports to positively impact their lives. Her passion for sports is a product of growing up in an athletic family. Her mother was her youth soccer coach, her older brother, Luke, played football at Georgetown, and her younger sister, Lindsey, played soccer at Boston College.
When Stephanie started Beyond Soccer, that tight-knit, sports-oriented family jumped right on board. Her father moved his law practice to Lawrence to be more available to lend a hand, and still serves on the organization's Board of Directors. Her sister's talents are utilized as Beyond Soccer's health and wellness director, teaching kids about healthy living through hands-on cooking courses, nutrition counseling, fitness training, and interactive during-school programs. Her boyfriend of three years, Johnny, who is a former police officer, is now one of five full-time staff members, serving as the finance and operations manager.
Now in its 10th year, Beyond Soccer reaches more than 2,000 children in the Lawrence area and stresses year-round long-term engagement through its many areas of programming.
"Michigan has so much to do with Beyond Soccer. The percentage of kids that go on to play collegiate sports is very small, but what it's really all about is developing well-rounded student-athletes that are happy, productive, self-confident, good people that are community-minded."
Just as the program's name states, its reach goes far beyond organized soccer. Beyond Soccer also provides 35 hours of programing in local schools per week, focusing on soccer, team building and nutrition education. Children that participate in Beyond Soccer's youth soccer programs are required to hand in their grades, and students that are struggling are paired with tutors and mentors. Students are also offered opportunities to take cooking and fitness classes, and travel to leadership conferences where they interact with CEOs and professional athletes.
As students get older, they can take advantage of Beyond Soccer's junior coaching model and take coaching courses where they work with first-time players. For the youth in Lawrence, Beyond Soccer is not just a travel soccer team or a one-time summer camp -- students remain in the program into high school and college. The program is currently putting more resources into helping students with college admissions and financial aid so those children can fulfill their dreams to attend college just like McArdle. Members of the original Lawrence Wolves team are now in college yet remain in touch with McArdle and connected to the program.
"We want them to feel like they have a forever family at Beyond Soccer and that we're always looking out for them. It's really about year-round long-term engagement."
In the 17 years since graduating from Michigan, McArdle's career path has taken twists and turns, but ultimately things have "worked themselves out."
"Beyond Soccer was not a vision that I had for myself when I graduated from Michigan."
When asked what advice McArdle would give to current student-athletes about following their passions, she responded with this:
"I followed my heart -- and I know that's so scary as a college student when you're worried about finding good jobs and making money -- but I feel like there are so many opportunities to build careers around something that you love."
Once again, her time at Michigan resurfaced as her motivation to start Beyond Soccer.
"I really took advantage of the Michigan student-athlete experience, everything from volunteering at hospitals in Detroit and visiting Mott Children's Hospital -- those are things that really resonated with me. From there, I set myself up and I sought out people that had experience in those areas and they guided me."
McArdle also had one more thing on her side when she graduated from Michigan -- joining the largest living alumni base in the world. Through the years, she has connected with several other Michigan alumni to seek advice or form partnerships that could benefit Beyond Soccer. She also has linked up with many former collegiate student-athletes on her journey and said that they can easily relate to what sports have done for them, making it easy to latch onto the mission of Beyond Soccer. After sharing her experiences and recounting the steps of her professional journey, McArdle is still in disbelief that she is able to wake up each day and use the power of sports to impact so many lives.
"There are so many ways we can be creative with our skills and our passions and not settle for something that doesn't make us get up and jump out of bed every morning."
Tomorrow, McArdle will jump out of bed and make a difference in the lives of more than 2,000 students, all because she chose to follow her heart.
