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Austin FC, Austin's newest pro soccer team, announced Thursday that the club would be entering a partnership with Austin based Netspend to be the team's official jersey sleeve sponsor.
Netspend is a payments and digital solutions provider connecting people and brands to innovative payment products. Netspend products and affiliated technologies will also be integrated within the stadium to enhance the speed and safety of food, beverage, and merchandise transactions, according to the club.
We’re very proud to announce our new Partnership with Austin FC. Like and follow @AustinFC to keep up with all the… https://t.co/HSst5uRZ7H— Netspend (@Netspend)1603375686.0
Netspend joins St. David's HealthCare and Yeti as founding partners of Austin FC, but the newest member of the Austin sporting community wants to add more local brands to the mix.
"We are proud to incorporate an Austin-based brand on the sleeve of our authentic jersey collection that will be worn by our players and available at select retail locations," said Andy Loughnane, president of Austin FC.
As a Jersey Sleeve Partner, the Netspend logo will appear on the right sleeve of Austin FC's primary and secondary jerseys, which are set to be revealed before the start of the 2021 season, the clubs inaugural year. The patch will be on fan jerseys as well on digital eSports jerseys in video games like FIFA.
The partnership also means the launch of community-focused programs. The first joint-initiative will take place Thursday at Burnet Middle School in Austin. Netspend and Austin FC will reportedly donate $10,000 in Netspend cards for purchase of school supplies to the staff at the local school.
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Cat Osterman is retiring from softball after a 17-year Olympic career and three Olympic medals. (USA Softball/Twitter)
Osterman, a three-time Olympian who has been called the "Michael Jordan of softball," will officially retire from the international realm at 38 after a decorated career that included Olympic golds, years of retirement and plenty of adversity—from a worldwide pandemic to dashed gold-medal dreams.
Osterman and her crew left Tokyo on a bittersweet note on Tuesday with a silver medal in hand.
Osterman with Team USA in 2008. (Antoni Majewski/Twitter)
Osterman in the final in 2021. (Antoni Majewski/Twitter)
After a year of sparse in-person training and over a decade hiatus, Team USA and Osterman flew to the finals. In six games, the team beat Italy (2-0), Canada (1-0), Mexico (2-0), Australia (2-1), and Japan (2-1).
Deja vu struck in the final match. On one side, Osterman and fellow 2008 Olympic teammate Monica Abbott took the mound; on the other was the 39-year-old Yukiko Ueno, a familiar foe who helped the team beat Team USA last go-round.
"Just like 13 years ago," Ueno said after the final, "we were facing each other in the final."
Ueno, who had lost hopes at gold to Osterman in '04, outpitched her longtime opponent with six scoreless innings as Team USA was held to just three hits. The same team that squandered their gold-medal hopes 13 years before had done it once again.
"There's a little bit of disappointment in not bringing home the gold since that's the eye on the prize when you go over there and you know you have a shot at it," Osterman told Austonia. "But more than anything, I'm very proud of the way our team handled everything that was part of this journey and not just the six games."
It's that very loss at the 2008 Olympics that partially motivated Osterman to get back on the mound. She officially put down the glove in 2015 after six seasons with the USSSA Pride, took time with family and began coaching at Texas State University.
Osterman helped ace Randi Rupp to greatness while a coach at Texas State University. (Active Voice Health/Twitter)
She thought her Olympic endeavors were well over—until talks of reinstating softball into the Games reentered the conversation.
"It wasn't until 2016 or 2017, that it ever crossed my mind to possibly put the USA uniform on again," Osterman said. "After the World Championships in 2010, I walked away, and I thought that my career on the international stage was done. So this was a pleasant kind of new opportunity."
Three years after facing any competition, Osterman was on the field once more with world-class athletes. Some, like Abbott, had been playing together long enough to form a formidable "Fire and Ice" duo on the mound. Others had just graduated college.
Osterman said playing with a younger generation of athletes was one of the most rewarding aspects of this year's Games.
"It can be very different when you have 24- and 38-year-olds on the same field," Osterman said. "The adversity put us in some challenging positions and we came through with flying colors. And this group will forever be special just because what we had to go through is so different."
While on the mound, Osterman's job was to give the team a calm start. Off of the field, she felt her role had much of the same effect: she knew that new Olympic feeling, and she served as a deep breath to her first-time teammates.
"There's no words to explain how nervous and excited you get knowing that the whole world can be watching," Osterman. "I think using those emotions and figuring out how to get all our butterflies lined up and going in the right direction, so that way we were all moving together, was kind of my role outside of pitching."
We've heard her retire once before, but this time Osterman said she's gone for good—even from coaching. After her final time with Team USA on Sept. 27, she plans on returning to Austin, where she'll look to work for a nonprofit.
A gold and two silvers will have to do for one of the most decorated athletes in U.S. softball history.
"To be able to say you're a three-time Olympic medalist is a pretty special deal, right?" Osterman. "I played for a long time. But those are the pinnacle, in my mind, and kind of what elicits the dream to keep playing."
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