A Stellar 2023: Reliving the Journey of Space United
RENTON, WA December 31, 2023
Greetings to our valued Space United community!
As we close the chapter on 2023, let's embark on a journey to recap what defined our club's year. This wasn't just a season but a constellation of triumphs, showcasing the unwavering spirit and dedication that make Space United shine.
And now in T minus 3…2…1… here are our 2023 Highlights!
SPACE UNITED | REC CLUBS
Space United Seattle – recruited incredible female athletes to form our first coed side! With the help of these great athletes (and rocket scientists!), our team made an exceptional run and finished 2nd place in the league! #SUFCSeattle
ASHLEY CANTRELL, RIGHT BACK/WINGER
Electronics/Electrical Systems Engineer @ Blue Origin
Space United Seattle Coed Squad @ Starfire Sports
Space United Los Angeles – we added many new faces, including interns at SpaceX, Relativity Space, and other space startups in the area. The team made incredible progress on form and looks strong as we start the 2024 season!
Space United Madrid (Spain) – had an incredibly strong season with 95% of the original squad that kicked off our adventures across the Atlantic! The team is coming back for the 2024 season, and with a few strong additions, is looking menacing as we start a new season in January.
Space United Denver & Cape Canaveral – We hosted several pick-up soccer events and participated in 5v5 and 7v7 indoor soccer efforts that are starting to bring our community out on the field. We are continuing to add to the rosters and establishing a strong foundation for league play in 2024!
And lastly….Space United ALL STARS – we sounded the alarms and our all-star players assembled from across the US at the 2023 Icarus Cup in Philadelphia. Our engineers and student ambassadors worked hard over a fun weekend of soccer and sported our limited edition Space Buzz Kit for the tournament–and now…who is joining the Icarus Cup in 2024?
…and make sure you check out this world-class skill by our very own, Sebastian Tobacia!
SPACE UNITED ACADEMY
In the summer of 2023, we launched our one-of-a-kind Soccer & Space Summer Camp hosted at the new state-of-the-art Family First Community Center! Our summer camp supported over 45 children in our community from kindergarten through 6th graders, as they learned soccer skills, while being introduced to fun space exploration, hands-on STEM activities and even met with astronauts Chris Sembroski, Sounders FC Star Nicolas Lodeiro, and many rocket engineers!
Thank you to our amazing SUFC Academy staff and volunteers and to our program partners at Family First!
GOAL FOR LAUNCH! FOUNDATION
Throughout the year, our foundation group dedicated its efforts to delivering compelling talks to students, launching postcards into space, and disseminating educational resources to youth globally. Here are some noteworthy highlights from the impactful initiatives we carried out:
Keynote speaker at the Michael P. Anderson Memorial Aerospace Program hosted at the Museum of Flight. We were honored to support this incredible effort and saw all the amazing things they are doing to help students in the community learn about space and science.
Awarded over $10K in scholarships for families to attend our Space & Soccer Summer Camp, including making our curriculum accessible in multiple languages for children learning English as a second language.
Attended conferences, and community events to support our community including Yuri’s Night in Los Angeles, Space Happy Hour, and the ERG Leadership Conference in Raleigh, NC.
Hosted the first Guayaki Yerba Mate + Soccer event in Seattle, WA, inviting community members to learn about the benefits of mate tea, and kicked the ball in style with mate and soccer like the big stars Messi, Lodeiro and Suarez among a few :)
We supported Postcards to Space #SUFC style–over 3K postcards are traveling to space envisioning the future of sports in space!
We provided internships and volunteer opportunities as well as career pathway counseling
Partnered up with Apolinauta from Grupo Apolo in Colombia to send a telescope for students in Colombia!
THE WORD IS OUT!
And we even made some local and international headlines getting our story out there!
And here’s to celebrating our successes and hard work and to the end of 2023!
Cheers to you all for 2024!
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Emily Chow, Director of Communications at Space United | [email protected]
Camilo Tobacia, Founder & President at Space United | [email protected]
ABOUT SPACE UNITED
Space United is a sports organization founded by the Tobacia Brothers, Latino immigrants and former professional soccer players turned space engineers. They use the global passion of soccer to uplift and include all communities in the exciting future of STEM. They have a global network of recreational Space United Football Clubs that is made up of space engineer-athletes who connect with students on the soccer field and in classrooms, supporting students with mentorships and career pathways. Space United is working on building their first professional football team for their community, giving them access to entertaining and cutting-edge technology during their game day experiences. Along with their nonprofit, Goal for Launch, Space United has reached over 12k students across the globe.