ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--3STEP Sports, the nation’s largest and most impactful youth sports club and event operator, has acquired BEST FC Soccer Club, adding another elite youth training and development organization to its soccer division.
The seeds of BEST FC were planted in 1996 when Maria Mumby (then Maria Laniewski) was getting her MBA in the Netherlands and put together a business plan for a series of soccer camps in her entrepreneurship class. At the time, her boyfriend and now husband, Paul, was running soccer camps in New England. Three years later when the couple was married and living in the United States, Maria and Paul decided to launch four summer camps in Central Massachusetts.
Paul, who was born in England, ran the coaching and training, while Maria handled all the business aspects. Paul asked a few of his English friends to come over and coach and the name BEST Soccer stuck (BEST stands for Best English Soccer Training). The business grew to year-round training clinics and partnerships with several town soccer programs in Central Massachusetts. In the spring of 2011, the BEST FC club was formed with just one girls team. Almost immediately, that grew to seven teams, and over the years the club has expanded to 30 teams and continues to run recreational camps/clinics as well as town player and development programs throughout the year.
“Our goal was never to be the biggest or the best on the field,” said Maria Mumby. “We’ve always believed in quality over quantity. We treat every player like we treat our two daughters and we take that responsibility very seriously. Paul is a teacher, a successful high school coach and the face of the program. He’s out on the field every day. It’s our job to be role models for all our players and we demand that of all our coaches.”
Paul Mumby is a physical education teacher in the Westborough school system and has been Westborough High’s girls’ varsity soccer coach for the last 16 years. He focuses on values – Pride, Trust, Loyalty and community are BEST FC’s pillars – as much as the tactical elements of the game. Paul and Maria have created a family atmosphere over the years and have worked hard to be an inclusive club rather than an exclusive one.
“We have never turned away a player because they could not afford a program,” said Paul Mumby. “Money shouldn’t be a reason why a kid doesn’t play. Each year, we have allocated $50,000 for scholarships across our programs and we take pride in giving back and being a big part of our local community.”
The 3STEP reach spans 43 states and serves more than 3.2 million athletes across nine sports through industry-leading events, nationally spanning club programs, premier media content and more. 3STEP was founded by David Geaslen, who sought to create better experiences and more opportunities for athletes and their families. The mission of 3STEP is to be the standard of the youth sports experience and create consistency in the industry. 3STEP also partners with the non-profit charity Mission Win, which aims to transform the lives of children through sports participation, leadership training and professional development.
“Maria and Paul Mumby have done an extraordinary job building a transformative organization one kid at a time,” said Geaslen. “By putting the development of the player over winning they have made a difference in so many young lives. We can’t wait to integrate them into our company.”
To learn more about 3STEP Sports, go to www.threestep.com
For more on BEST FC, go to https://www.bestsoccer.org
