Adventures Abroad: McCallister Pays it Forward
12/14/2018 2:20:00 PM | Field Hockey
When Ainsley McCallister first headed overseas to continue her competitive field hockey career, she went with a pretty clear purpose. She would work on her skills, improve her overall level of play and return to America for the next U.S. team tryout. But that first experience changed everything, and what she found turned out to be both life and career altering.
McCallister spent more than two years playing abroad, spanning seven different stints with five teams across Europe and the South Pacific. She has buoyed the knowledge and familiarity built from that collection of adventures and brought them to the next chapter of her life -- one focused on helping other athletes have the same transformational experience thing she did.
"When you play overseas, you're not just traveling and seeing locations," said McCallister, "you really get to know the people there, their culture, the way they live and how they think about things. It changes and shapes the way you think, which is incredibly valuable. I feel like I learned so much. I went overseas to keep playing field hockey, but I ended up getting so much more out of it."
An All-American midfielder during her career at Michigan (2010-14), McCallister had spent time with the U.S. Junior National team, with which she competed at the 2013 Junior World Cup in Germany, and it was through that connection that, upon her college graduation in December 2014, she ended up with the Beeston Hockey Club in Nottingham, England.
But instead of returning to America, McCallister decided to move on to play in Australia, and instead of relying upon someone else's connections, she navigated the process on her own. It was a big challenge.
McCallister and fellow Michigan alum Rachael Mack square off in England's Women's Premier Division in 2015.
"It took me months," said McCallister. "You just really have no idea what you're getting into. I knew I wanted to play in Australia. But I didn't know what city to play in, what the leagues were like, what teams were known to be good, and I didn't have many contacts out there or know who to reach out to. So, it really was a jump in the dark."
Frustrated with how difficult the process was and knowing the importance of a supportive club, McCallister started conversations with others about their own experiences abroad and, in turn, started helping teammates find their own playing opportunities.
"It happened organically," said McCallister. "When I was playing in Australia, I started getting a lot of messages from old teammates in the U.S. system and teammates in England who wanted to play there. So, I started talking to some coaches about them, and through that, teams started reaching out to me to see if I knew any other players who might be interested. I started an excel sheet, and that excel sheet got really deep with athletes looking to play and teams looking to hire."
Over time, McCallister learned more about which teams were respected, what to look for and what questions to ask to negotiate the best deal. Upon the conclusion of her own competitive career in 2017, McCallister drew on her contacts and formally launched Uru Sports, an online platform aimed at connecting field hockey players and teams across the globe.
Uru is essentially a database that allows athletes to create profiles and search for open playing positions at clubs and universities across the world and learn about the experience of playing abroad, while teams can showcase their clubs and search for players to bolster their rosters with top talent.
There are currently more than 1,800 athletes and 300 teams from 28 countries on the platform, and so far, Uru has helped place more than 250 athletes, including recent Michigan graduates and field hockey standouts Carly Bennett and Katie Trombetta, who spent part of the last semester playing with the Namur club in Belgium.
Uru Sports launched in 2017 to help connect field hockey players and teams across the globe.
There is a large network of former Michigan student-athletes who have extended their sporting careers all over the globe, like football's Devin Gardner who played professionally in Japan, soccer's Shelina Zadorsky, an Olympic silver medalist for Canada who played in Australia and Sweden, and ice hockey's Luke Moffatt, who has played for six different clubs across Europe and Australia -- to name just a few.
Between her own field hockey club contracts abroad, McCallister often visited with Wolverine classmates and friends and formed new shared memories far away from Ann Arbor. She also consulted with many of them in her research of overseas playing opportunities and found common threads -- some confusion and intimidation with the search process but, if the right fit, it was an extraordinarily rewarding experience.
While field hockey was a natural starting place given McCallister's background and networks, she's now looking to expand and duplicate the Uru Sports platform for use in other sports, particularly basketball, soccer and rugby, based, in part, on her conversations with other Wolverines. She also wants to launch an educational campaign to better make athletes aware of playing opportunities abroad.
It's all about paying it forward for McCallister and a determination to help other athletes find and enjoy an experience similar to her own.
"That's why I'm so passionate about it," said McCallister. "It was the best experience of my life and really helped shape me. My aim is twofold: one, I think people don't really know about the opportunities out there, and two, it is possible to have a bad experience overseas and want to ensure that they don't. I just want to help other athletes have the best time possible. We've got big plans to connect the sporting world and ultimately, break down borders and help unify the world."
