Former Bishop Guertin soccer standout Meghan Lord, left, and former Londonderry player Emmy Dumerasq have begun a sports management company Sportive Management that will field a 7x7 team in a high stakes national tournament later this month in North Carolina. (Courtesy photo)

A simple near end-of-day walk can do wonders for your future.

Just ask Bishop Guertin High School alum Meghan Lord, of the Cards’ Lord soccer family that also included Hannah and Martha.

While she was at Stonehill, Lord met a player she had competed against at Londonderry, Emmy Dumaresq, and as fate would have it they were competing for the same position at Stonehill.

“Instead of competing, we became absolute best friends,” Lord said. “We built a friend group around us, they’ll be bridesmaids at my wedding, they’re my ride-or-die.”

And then there’s the walk, as the two had graduated from Stonehill and were pondering their future which they just didn’t see as 9 to 5.

“We were thinking, ‘What’s next or us?’,” Lord said. “We’re both very creative people and just can’t sit behind a desk. So we said, ‘How do we not get a 9 to 5?'”

Well, they more or less had to to be able to pay the bills, but the pair did something else: They started their own women’s sports marketing agency known as Sportive Management, doing work for contract. They designed women’s athletic apparel at first, and then branched out to acting as agents. One of their first clients was Meghan’s younger sister, former Telegraph Player of the Year and former Cardinal Martha Lord, who was able to play one year with her sister at Stonehill before Meghan graduated. Martha, who was a scorer at BG, has an opportunity playing goal for the U.S. National Futsal team. Futsal is widely popular mini indoor soccer version with four players and a goalie, which can be used also as a fifth attacker.

Martha Lord was recruited to play for a team in another version of soccer, 7 on 7, in a high stakes (at least $1 million in prize money) tournament/festival in Cary, N.C.called TST (The Soccer Tournament). It has teams in a men’s, women’s and mixed divisions, and features former pros like Carlie Loyd, Hope Solo, Landon Donovan, Nani, And Sergio Aguero, plus top amateur talent.

Martha’s team last year made it to the semifinals, Meghan Lord and Dumaresq went to see it. They were hooked.

“We said, ‘You know what, it would be so cool to have a team here next year,'” Lord said. “It became a dream.”

That dream came true.

“It became a reality when we were able to find a sponsor,” Lord said, and that sponsor was a soccer technology firm from Minnesota that builds indoor cages (like batting cages) or soccer, called The ARC. The Lord family originated in Minnesota so there at a family dinner, someone said they knew the owner and founder. “When we walked in there we said ‘This needs to be at TST, it would be amazing,” Lord said.

Deal struck. Team at TST. And Lord and Dumaresq handle a lot of the company’s marketing, etc. The pair raised $50,000 in sponsorship money for a team of their creation that will play in the tournament that will be held later this month (May 27-June 1) .

The team has an interesting first round draw, as they are placed in Group A, meaning they’ll play against the U.S. Women’s National 7×7 team on May 29 at 8:45 p.m.

The team, Sportive FC, has players from the Midwest and the Northeast, with a common theme of both regions dealing with cold. Their tagline is “A Cold Front is Coming to Cary.

“We have more connections with the Northeast, got players they knew from the FC Stars, a club they played on, and a Stonehill player or two, and of couse, Lord’s sister Martha. A player from Franklin Pearce, four players who played at North Carolina, including defender Caitlin Mara from Winchester, Mass. and Cali O’Neil, plus Sarah Martin, the U.S. Soccer Female Futasl Player of the Year from the University of Vermont. They also recruited at Northeastern, Boston University, and other schools. At last look, they were at 16, looking for a roster of 20.

“It was so much fun,” Lord said of recruiting players. “Obviously Emmy and I being so ingrained in the soccer community, we just pulled from all of our resources.”

That included reaching out to some New Hampshire high schools, including BG.

“Emmy and I want to create a close-knit community,” Lord said. “So we interviewed all the girls, and asked not only how would you describe yourself as as a soccer player, but how would you describe yourself as a person. And it was funny, people we turned away we had heard maybe they weren’t really good teammates or maybe they weren’t really invested or didn’t appreciate the opportunity.

“We really have a team full of women who are so excited to play, really invested in their development and playing at the next level, too. We’re really proud of it and it’s exciting to see it all come together.”

Besides players, obviously, they needed a coach. Through the UNC players, they found one in Dan Colwell. He coaches for South Short Select and while coaching males also began training women’s players and fell in love with the concept. “He’s been a behind-the-scenes developer of some of the top women’s players in the world right now,” Lord said, noting that some have been top draft picks for the professional NWSL.

“He said ‘I would love to be a part of this , developing players, making them feel empowered, and I just want to win. We’re going to put together a superteam here.’ We’ve used a lot of his contacts and we’re really excited to work with him.”

The tournament is a big event. There are 48 men’s teams from all over the globe. The women’s tourney is just 16, and as Lord said with a chuckle, “The odds of winning are pretty high. I’ll take those odds any day.”

What’s it going to be like for Lord and Dumaresq to see the team they’re working hard to put together actually take the field? They’ll basically be watching as owners/general managers, right?

“We’re so excited, this has been our brainchild for a year now,” Lord said. “We’re also very nervous. We put so much time and effort and energy into this, we just want it to be the best it can.”

And there’s other feelings involved.

“There’s a feeling of pride, having my sister on the team and some of our best friends,” Lord said. “It just means more when you have a real connection with the players and it’s kind of homegrown in a way.”

There are a lot of things Lord and Dumaresq are taking away from this as they plot their future with similar endeavors.

“We want to empower women’s sports,” she said. “This has been such a big part of our lives, soccer, and when it ends I think a lot of people going into post-grad think ‘OK, I’m done with the sport I love’. And it really isn’t true. There are so many avenues to get involved and like to stay in the game. Also, too, we went to empower the players, but we also want to empower girls as businesswomen too, and just seeing this whole side, really working and grinding.”

They are living the in the business world of sports.

“We both have 9 to 5 jobs, we’re having so much fun, we’re making deals, we’ve raised hopefully $65,000 all to go toward this team and counting,” Lord said. “I think it’s just a testament to the athlete mindset, women in business, putting women’s soccer on the map. That’s my biggest takeaway for sure.”

THE 7 ON 7 EXPERIENCE

What’s 7×7 Soccer like? It’s a 40 minute intial game, and then the score is set. So, as Lord described it, say after 40 minutes with seven on the field for each side, it ends at 5-3. The set score to win is six goals (because that beats the score of the team leading). Then, the teams go back out and the team trailing would have to score three goals, and the leading team just one. And the catch is that every three minutes a player is pulled off the field. It could even get down to one-on-one,and the net would be empty.

“Every game,” Lord said, “ends with a game-winning goal.”

Meghan and Hannah, the middle sister, played together at BG and Hannah is graduating from Endicott College this month. Martha and Hannah played together at BG, winning a state title in 2021, and Martha and Meghan played together the one sseason at Stonehill. Martha still has two more years of eligibility there.

And now Martha and Meghan are involved in this 7×7 venture, with Meghan on the sideines.

Where can this lead?

“That’s a good question,” Meghan said. “I have such a passion for soccer, I can’t imagine it not being in my life. My days of playing competitively are probably over just due to injury and wear and tear.

“I love watching, I love playing. Creating a community for Sportive FC, the people around us, doing well in this tournament, creating a fan base, I think it could turn into a community where people want to be a part of it and showcase girls especially from the Northeast on a high stage.”

But they may look into even higher stages. Lord and Dumaresq have actually been in touch with management of the Boston Legacy of the professional NWSL because they’ve put together teams for the TST before and got some advice from them. “Collaborating with those people has been awesome,” Lord said.

“It would be a dream to eventually have this become something of that level,” she continued, “with national recognition and world class players.”

Would Lord be interested working in that league? “Definitely, for sure,” she said.

But as Lord has found out, you have to walk before you can run.

HELPFUL LINKS

To watch the event for free live at the end of this month, go to https://youtube.com/@thesoccertournament7v7?si=x9QHSQOHpsMaBQPo.

For more information and dontation links, etc., contact Meghan Lord at megha@sportlivemgmt.com.