Stonehill and Team IMPACT Announce Two-Year Partnership

Skyhawks formalize longstanding relationship with Team IMPACT

Stonehill baseball signed Declan in 2018 (PHOTO BY Denise Archetto/Stonehill Athletics)

EASTON, Mass. (January 6, 2022) – Stonehill College and Team IMPACT announced a two-year partnership today, committing to working together throughout the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, with a goal of further establishing a long-lasting relationship between the two that dates back to 2012.

"We are humbled and honored to recognize our longstanding association between Stonehill athletics and Team IMPACT," said Dean O'Keefe, '94, Director of Athletics at the College. "The relationships our student-athletes have developed with their Team IMPACT teammates over the course of the last decade have been invaluable to their collegiate experience and I am proud that our teams will continue to foster this connection for years to come."

The partnership is centered around each organizations' core values and mission of promoting empathy, resilience, camaraderie and excellence, while providing the student-athlete development experience focused on the whole person. Team IMPACT will position the Stonehill community as a model for other athletic programs around the country as the athletic department continues to proudly identify the College as a Team IMPACT partner, and its student-athletes will be able to identify as both Stonehill and Team IMPACT athletes.

Trinity and Ace on her signing day with the Stonehill Dance Team (PHOTO BY Denise Archetto/Stonehill Athletics)

"The partnership between the Stonehill College Athletic Department and Team IMPACT is a home run for us both," said Rev. John Denning, C.S.C., president of Stonehill. "For nearly ten years, our two institutions have built a relationship rooted in our shared values of compassion, hope, and helping others by providing a student-athletic development experience and serving the community in which they live and compete."

Stonehill has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Team IMPACT, starting with its women's basketball team drafting Lexi Simoes in 2012. The relationship has grown to include 13 Skyhawk teams since, with two new Signing Days for nine-year-old Brayden Tyron of North Attleboro with the football program and women's basketball's second draftee, Ariel Smallcomb of Holbrook, in December.

"We are proud to welcome Stonehill College as an official Team IMPACT partner," said Team IMPACT's Executive Director, Ryan Irwin. "Stonehill's entire campus community has been one of the most dedicated in the region and across the country, signing 24 amazing kids and families to teams over the past 10 years. We seek institutions like Stonehill that truly understand the positive and meaningful influence our program has on everyone involved. This partnership will further embed Team IMPACT into the fabric of the Skyhawk experience, and we're excited to use this moment as a catalyst to expand our work in the Greater Boston area. The Stonehill community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents should be proud knowing the life-changing work their school is providing children facing serious illness and disabilities."

Stonehill Skyhawk Teams with Current Team IMPACT Teammates:

Baseball: Declan
Men's Basketball: Connor
Women's Basketball: Ariel
Football: Brayden
Men's Ice Hockey: Ethan
Men's Soccer: Joey*
Women's Soccer: Alanna
Softball: Claire*
Men's Track & Field: Ian*
Volleyball: Amanda

*-Signing Days upcoming

Men's Soccer, who signed Christopher in 2014, looks forward to adding another Team IMPACT teammate this spring.

Other sports that have signed Team IMPACT teammates include the field hockey, dance and cheerleading teams.

Through the official partnership with Team IMPACT:

Stonehill will maintain or increase its level of participation over the next two years.
Team IMPACT will actively support/maintain two Team IMPACT student-athlete Fellowship positions on campus. Stonehill's current fellows are seniors John Day and Joshua Loveridge from the men's ice hockey team, a program that has featured a number of Team IMPACT fellows over the years.
Team IMPACT will provide exclusive access to student-athlete development opportunities through curriculum-based training on topics such as diversity and inclusion, advocacy and professional development.
Stonehill will actively use its platform to champion Team IMPACT at the conference and national level.
Stonehill will establish/maintain a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for athletes that are currently matched and interested in getting matched.
Team IMPACT will provide opportunities for participation in newly developed fellowship, internship and student-athlete initiatives.
Stonehill will partner with Team IMPACT's marketing team to implement a series of co-branded promotions throughout the year. One such event is a Team IMPACT Awareness Night, at an upcoming Stonehill men's ice hockey to be announced.

"When getting involved with Team IMPACT it's easy to see the amazing results for all of the matches, but what is really special is the huge impact these amazing kids leave on all of us as student-athletes," said Day, a Team IMPACT student-athlete fellow and senior on the men's ice hockey team. "Showing up every day with a smile on their face, the kids from Team IMPACT really put everything into perspective for a lot of us and do so with incredible resiliency. All these friendships and bonds made with these kids will last a lifetime, and it really goes to show just how powerful the Team IMPACT program is."

Women's Basketball was the first Skyhawks program with a Team IMPACT teammate, signing Lexi in 2012.

About Team IMPACT

Team IMPACT is the only U.S. nonprofit that tackles the emotional trauma and social isolation experienced by children facing serious illnesses and disabilities by matching them with a college athletic team. Our two-year therapeutic program complements a child's medical treatment, allowing the child to develop relationships and skills that help them complete the full circle of healing.

Through participation in Team IMPACT's clinically informed program, children experience a true sense of belonging, resulting in increased empowerment, normalization, health promotion, and resilience. Families feel connected and supported as their child achieves individualized goals while experiencing the joy of team camaraderie and inclusion; and student-athletes gain perspective, inspiration, and lessons in adversity and resilience.

Founded in 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 2,300 children with 700+ colleges and universities in 49 states, impacting more than 65,000 student-athletes.

If you know a child or team who may be interested, please visit www.teamimpact.org.

Jake was also an early Skyhawks signee with the men's ice hockey program.

About Stonehill College

Stonehill College, a Catholic institution of higher learning founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1948, is a community of scholarship and faith, anchored by a belief in the inherent dignity of each person. Located between Boston and Providence in Easton, Massachusetts, Stonehill provides students with an array of research and internship experiences on campus and nearby metropolitan areas. Stonehill has earned national recognition for its international study and intern abroad programs, which present students with a world of opportunities. Through its curriculum of liberal arts and sciences and pre-professional programs, Stonehill provides an education of the highest caliber that fosters critical thinking, free inquiry and the interchange of ideas. Stonehill educates the whole person so that each Stonehill graduate thinks, acts, and leads with courage toward the creation of a more just and compassionate world.

Stonehill, an NCAA Division II member that competes in the Northeast-10 Conference, offering 23 sports, boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. Stonehill has won the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup six times, all coming within the last 15 years. The Skyhawks are one of just ten athletic programs nationwide that have received the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement each of the first ten years of the program's existence of honoring institutions with an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90-percent or better.

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