StatoilHydro, Houston Dynamo encourage “heroes of tomorrow”
Mikaila Adams
Associate Editor — OGFJ
For years StatoilHydro has been contributing time, money, and effort to what it deems the “heroes of tomorrow” — extraordinary kids with extraordinary talents in education, sports, and the arts. When the technology-based international energy company put down roots in Houston, it began searching for ways to contribute.
“We were trying to find an association that would include the masses and also the talent. We did a lot of demographics and the first things we saw was that soccer was the number one sport amongst kids in the US because it includes both boys and girls. I’ve been told that 120,000 kids in the Houston area play soccer,” noted Kjersti Torgersen, vice president, communications, StatoilHydro USA & Mexico, International E&P.
Around the time StatoilHydro came to town, the sport was given a major boost with the introduction of Houston’s first professional soccer team, the Houston Dynamo.
In 2008, the company signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the team focusing on the professional soccer team’s player development and youth programs. The sponsorship includes support for the Dynamo Academy, Dynamo camps, clinics and Centers of Excellence, as well as two community programs, Score at School and Soccer Night Out.
Looking back on those initial years, StatoilHydro’s president for USA and Mexico operations, Øivind Reinertsen, noted parallels between StatoilHydro and the Houston Dynamo. “As our business grows in a country the amount of involvement grows with it. Our presence in Houston has grown rapidly and we have achieved much in just few years, being one of the largest leaseholders in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The Dynamo have a similar path, having been in Houston about the same amount of years. We think this partnership is a perfect fit because their goals to go grow even more with community involvement and talent recruitment are very similar to our own goals.”
The Houston Dynamo’s player development system provides area youth soccer players with a platform to develop their skills and a direct path to professional soccer. “The Houston Dynamo has a phenomenal youth academy where they go out to the soccer clubs, find the talent, and offer them training for free,” said Torgersen.
The programs, both Seasonal Camps and the Centers of Excellence, train both elite and recreational players, including boys and girls of all ages. The Dynamo Academy program includes two teams (under 15 and under 18) made up of the top players from South Texas. The program offers the best players the best chance to develop and potentially sign a pro contract with the Dynamo.
StatoilHydro’s collaboration with the Houston Dynamo has also resulted in two community-youth programs. Score at School is an academic achievement program aimed at Houston-area students. The program serves as a tool for teachers and is designed to help motivate students to achieve educational success. Teachers set their own goals for each student. Goals can include anything from not speaking out of turn in class to being on time. “Anything to motivate that one student,” Torgersen explained. Once a student successfully completes three of their pre-assigned goals, they are rewarded with a ticket to a Houston Dynamo game and are recognized on the field on game day.
In October 2008, StatoilHydro and the Houston Dynamo sponsored Soccer Night Out, a series of three community events drawing a total crowd of more than 3,000 children and adults. The events, held in the Houston suburbs (Sugar Land, Spring, and Katy), offered kids and parents the opportunity to have fun and interact with the Dynamo players, mascot, and cheerleaders. All three events featured pick-up soccer games, music, players signing autographs, and other activities.
Reinertsen, commented on the importance of the partnership. “As an oil company the nature of our business encourages us to think long-term, and the coming generation, our heroes of tomorrow, are the foundation for our future growth. They are the talents we need to meet our long-term goals.”