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Steel Sports Spotlights March 2021

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." --John Wooden

Steel Sports LaunchING Safety Month in APRIL

In honor of National Youth Sports Safety Month, Steel Sports is launching "Strong as Steel Safety Month" along with help from Steel Partners! April will be filled with weekly content, interactive panels, tips and tools to promote safety in athletics, in the workplace and overall health. Be sure to follow Steel Sports all April long on Facebook and Instagram for daily content!

TEAM STEEL ROCKS NEW UNIFORMS FOR 2021

STEEL UNITED SUCCESS

Steel United has been making its mark on the pitch this spring with a number of outstanding results. Steel United Washington B04 Elite (top photo) qualified for the NPL West Regional event in Colorado this June! This team was First Division WPNL Champions with a final season record of 6 wins, 2 ties and 0 losses. Steel United California 04B Elite traveled to Arizona to play in the Arizona Spring Classic tournament and came home with the championship. Steel United New Jersey 04B NL defeated the 15th ranked team in the state, 4-0, in the NJ Youth Soccer State Cup. Steel United New Jersey's 2004 Boys Elite and 2005 Boys Premier teams won titles at the Steel Sports St. Patrick's Cup, and three Steel United Pennsylvania teams (2006 Girls, 2007 Girls and 2010 Boys) won championships at the Philadelphia Spring Kickoff! Congrats to these teams and many others for their hard work and accomplishments on the pitch!

(Top) Steel United Washington B04 Elite, (2nd row from left) Steel United California 04B Elite, Steel United New Jersey 2004 Boys Elite, Steel United Pennsylvania 2007 Girls, (3rd row from left) Steel United PA 2010 Boys, 2006 Girls, (4th row from left) Steel United NJ 04B NL, Steel United NJ 2005 Boys Premier.

MERCY AKIDE-UDOH SELECTED FOR FOOTBALL PANEL

With a recommendation from FIFA and based on her extensive football background, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has appointed Mercy Akide-Udoh to its Football Advisory Panel that focuses on broad footballing issues and the sporting aspects of the Laws of the Game. Mercy is Virginia's Assistant Teams Director and had an outstanding professional and international career for Nigeria. Congratulations to Mercy on this prestigious appointment in helping to maintain the universality of the game.

TEAM STEEL FORMING NATIONAL SHOWCASE PLAYER ROSTER

Team Steel has announced the formation of its first National Showcase roster comprised of high school upperclassmen from around the country looking to take their skills to the collegiate level. Players are selected based not just on abilities but also on strong character and leadership displayed on and off the field.

In the fall of 2021, the Team Steel National Showcase team will take its talents and compete nationally, a unique opportunity to travel and display their skills to hundreds of college coaches. The team's focus will be on three prestigious events in New York, Arizona or Las Vegas and Florida.

STEEL UNITED NY HIRES ASSISTANT TEAMS DIRECTOR

Steel Sports is pleased to announce the hiring of Rob Esposito as our new Assistant Teams Director for the Tristate Soccer Region and more specifically Steel United New York. Rob is currently the Assistant Men's Soccer Coach at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY and comes from an extensive soccer background. This is a tremendous hire for Steel Sports and Steel United as Rob believes wholeheartedly in building the player and person for success on and off the field.

Rob has achieved success throughout his playing and coaching career. He was a Junior College Soccer National Champion (2005) and National Finalist (2004) for Herkimer County Community College in New York and was an All-Region and All-Conference performer for SUNY Fredonia. After college, he played one season of semi-professional soccer for the Westchester Flames PDL in 2009. Before joining Marist College in 2016, Rob coached for Dutchess Community College and Mount St. Mary College. On the club side, Rob has coached for Goal 2 Goal Academy, Soccer Plus Academy, and most recently, he was the Director of Coaching at LaGrange Soccer Club for nearly five years.

Steel Sports Podcast

FC Cincinnati's Dan McNally was a successful college soccer coach when an opportunity to start and grow a professional team in the Queen City was presented to him. Now the club's Director of Soccer Operations, Dan joins the Steel Sports Podcast and discusses his leap of faith, bringing a European style fan experience to Cincinnati, the club's path to Major League Soccer and the new soccer-specific stadium opening in May. Once a part of the Steel family, Dan also talks about the life skills and lessons he learned that have helped him succeed as as a coach and with FC Cincinnati.

Staff Spotlights

March's Steel Sports Impact MVP of the Month is Washington's Charles Warren! Charles was integral in planning two social impact events for Washington in March. The first was the collection of soccer equipment, balls and jerseys that were donated to players in need. He also organized a drive where the club collected over 200 bags of clothing that will go to help so many families. Tremendous work, Charles, in being an inspiration to your players on and off the field!

March's Staff Star of the Month is John Steele, Pennsylvania Experience Director! John has put in a tremendous amount of time and dedication into putting on three successful tournaments on consecutive weekends. These tournaments consisted of 152 total teams for our PA and Maryland soccer regions. He also closed out the Steel Soccer PA 5v5 league with 172 teams! The tournaments and league were successful due to the hard work and commitment that was put in. Thank you, John for going above and beyond.

SOCIAL IMPACT UPDATE

Steel Sports' social impact theme for March was Spread the Word: Inclusion. The Steel Sports family was encouraged to make pledges to spread inclusion and help make it a reality for all people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. One of the highlights was Steel United Pennsylvania's Alyssa, Abby, Belle, Lily, Adria, Roberta and Davin -- all on the Athlete Leadership Council -- ran a Zoomba dance party via Zoom with Athletes Helping Athletes, a nonprofit organization that exists to better the lives of athletes with special needs through sports and inclusion.

Steel Sports athletes are beginning to receive Challenge Coins, a new initiative to recognize athletes for exemplifying the core values: Teamwork, Respect, Integrity and Commitment as well as service and leadership. There are tiers within each coin category for athletes to earn, and the coins are attached to a key chain.

Steel athletes earn some of the first Challenge Coins distributed in 2021.