ODS Hires Mary Carpenter as Director of Youth Programs

Mary Carpenter, an ODS coach of soccer and floor hockey programs for 6 years, has been hired to be the Director of Youth Programs for Open Door Sports while retaining her coaching responsibilities. Since she started, ODS’ youth programs and number of children served has continually grown from 15 programs serving 154 children with disabilities and 273 volunteer peer buddies to 44 programs serving nearly 500 children with disabilities and over 550 peer buddies. This 300% increase in programs and 200% increase in children served necessitates a corresponding need for a dedicated role to coordinate and provide oversight of these programs. ODS is extremely fortunate that Mary has agreed to fill this role.

In her new role, Mary’s expanded responsibilities include overseeing and managing ODS Youth Programs, communicating with families of players and peer buddies and of course, time on the field or court coaching. She is a lifelong competitive athlete and former Division I ice hockey player (Colgate University, 1993-1997) and has over ten years of coaching experience. Mary has a personal understanding of the positive impact team sports can have on children's lives. Since 2017, she has been the head ice hockey coach at Stone Ridge and has led the team to two championships and as many undefeated seasons. Mary joined the ODS team as a soccer coach in 2018 and combines her compassion, creativity, and energy to make sports accessible and fun for all athletes.

“I've thoroughly enjoyed working with all of our families, players, and buddies over the past six years as a coach and I am excited to take on a bigger role at ODS as the Director of Youth Programs. It's an honor to be a part of such a positive organization and I look forward to helping grow the programming at ODS!” exclaims Mary.