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12/2/09: Starfinder Partnering with YSC
Starfinder Foundation and YSC Academy, two of the premier soccer youth development organizations in the Philadelphia region, have formed a unique partnership to enhance their impact with youth through coordinated programming and synergistic business practices.
Starfinder is a non-profit organization that uses soccer as a hook to engage youth from under-resourced communities in activities that enhance their educational and personal development. Starfinder strives to improve the life skills, attitudes, and behaviors of its participants through academic and soccer experiences that engage, inspire and motivate. YSC Academy is a "club neutral" youth soccer development training center that provides motivated youth players a fun and inspirational learning environment designed to enhance individual soccer skill, knowledge, and creativity. YSC Academy is the Official Youth Development Partner of Philadelphia's new MLS professional soccer team, Philadelphia Union. YSC's Union Juniors program serves as the development feeder program for the Philadelphia Union where top youth players in the region receive world-class soccer training free-of-cost.
Starfinder and YSC will collaborate to enhance the quality of their respective programming and increase the participants that they impact. The organizations will pool resources to establish a corps of exceptional coaches with strong educational and soccer expertise who will work with youth players. Starfinder and YSC will team up to identify the most effective coaching methods and strategies that lead to positive youth development through soccer. The partnership will enable Starfinder to focus its resources on its core mission of building strong character and leadership through soccer programs while making available the resources of YSC Academy to enhance the soccer talent of the high-level players that participate at Starfinder.
On the business side, YSC Sports, YSC's facilities management group, will assume management of Starfinder's Manayunk facility when Starfinder programs are not scheduled. YSC will leverage their significant facility management expertise to improve profitability of facility usage enabling Starfinder to focus more intensely on its work with youth from under-resourced communities. YSC will bring their fee-based Player Development Program to the Starfinder facility offering motivated youth players a fun yet rigorous opportunity to improve their performance. Additionally, Nike, the world's most recognized soccer footwear, equipment and apparel brand, will extend its partnership with YSC Academy to include Starfinder Foundation.
This novel partnership will create new connections and fresh opportunities for both program's participants. Starfinder Foundation and YSC are committed to enriching the lives of all youth through their soccer experiences and continue to look for other partners who share a similar passion for sports-based youth development.
November 9, 2009
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