Exciting news! Xylem and Manchester City, in collaboration with Rush Soccer, are joining forces to educate Rush players on water sustainability. Xylem is a global water technology provider helping people solve the world’s toughest water challenges across many different markets worldwide. 

Together, our goal is to create “Water Heroes” – a movement inspiring our Rush players to lead the way in global water sustainability. 

Our Mission

Through our partnership, Rush Soccer and Xylem are committed to tackling worldwide water challenges. Together, we’ll create a lasting impact. Our goal is to empower our young athletes with the knowledge to make a positive change and advocate for a sustainable water future. 

Join Us!

Join our journey by keeping an eye out for training sessions focused on water challenges and ways to get involved. Together, Let’s Solve Water!

Check out the Water Heroes website and become a Water Hero.

About Xylem Inc:

Xylem is a global water technology provider helping its customers solve the world’s toughest water challenges across utility, industrial, commercial, and residential markets worldwide. Over the last 100+ years, Xylem’s unique combination of innovative products and services, proven expertise, and unmatched customer support have been helping to create a more water-secure and resilient world.

About Rush Soccer:

Rush Soccer is an international sports organization focused on the overall development of soccer clubs and players globally. Rush Soccer has the largest network of professional clubs and academies in the world with over 150 organizations benefiting from a comprehensive club development curriculum that influences over 55,000 players, 4,000 coaches, and thousands of volunteers. This methodology is called “The Rush Way” and has helped produce more than 90 top-tier professional players, 30 national championships, as well as countless players being selected to represent their country at the national team level.

About Manchester City:

Manchester City FC is an English Premier League club initially founded in 1880 as St Mark’s West Gorton. It officially became Manchester City FC in 1894 and has since then gone on to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup, the UEFA Champions League, four League Championship titles, including seven Premier League titles (2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023), and seven FA Cups. Manchester City is one of eight teams comprising the City Football Group which includes New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, Yokohama F. Marinos, Club Atlético Torque, and FC Girona.

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Rush National Soccer and Cogeo Forge Partnership to Enhance Fundraising Initiatives in the Global Soccer Community.

[New York, NY] – Rush National Soccer, one of the world’s leading youth soccer organizations, and Cogeo, a trailblazing fundraising firm, are proud to announce a strategic partnership aimed at bolstering fundraising efforts within soccer communities throughout the United States and Internationally. This collaboration brings together the expertise and resources of both organizations to empower clubs with innovative fundraising solutions supporting their programs, as well as facility and sports complex build-outs.

As part of this partnership, Cogeo will present during Rush Soccer’s upcoming national annual Summit Conference, where they will deliver invaluable insights through an engaging presentation and interactive session focused on effective fundraising strategies and select case studies. Cogeo’s expertise in this field will undoubtedly provide Rush clubs with the knowledge and tools necessary to begin their journey to maximizing their own fundraising potential.

In addition to their involvement in the annual Summit Conference, Cogeo will operate an exclusive webinar series dedicated to fundraising, tailor-made for Rush National Soccer Clubs. These webinars will serve as an invaluable resource for coaches, administrators, board members, and parents, equipping them with practical techniques to drive successful fundraising campaigns and sustainably support soccer programs at the grassroots through the highest competitive levels.

Moreover, Cogeo will be the official fundraising partner for all 125 Rush clubs worldwide, offering comprehensive support for any fundraising project they wish to undertake. By leveraging Cogeo’s expertise, systems, and technology, clubs will gain access to resources that will enable efficient and effective fundraising campaigns, empowering them to reach their financial-and-facility goals.

Patrick Sampson, CEO of Cogeo, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “We are thrilled to join forces with Rush National Soccer, a renowned organization committed to fostering the growth of soccer globally. Together, we aim to formalize the way soccer clubs approach fundraising, empowering them with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. By providing a comprehensive platform and sharing our expertise, we will create a lasting impact within the soccer community for generations to come.”

Pablo Toledo, Sporting Project Director for Rush Soccer, also expressed his excitement about the partnership, stating, “The collaboration between Rush Soccer and Cogeo marks a significant milestone in our organization’s ongoing commitment to supporting our clubs. Given the reach and network of Rush Soccer, I strongly believe in the potential impact of a well-developed fundraising area.  With Cogeo’s expertise in fundraising and deep industry knowledge, we can equip our coaches, administrators, board members, and parents with the necessary skills to sustainably grow our programs and provide opportunities for young athletes worldwide.

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Lukic, who currently serves as the director of operations at Twin Cities Rush, was tapped to coach the Minnesota Aurora FC team in the inaugural season of the USL W, a women’s pre-professional league associated with the USL. On Saturday, Minnesota Aurora FC will host South Georgia Tormenta FC in the league final.

And as Lukic, who starred collegiately at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has become a rising star in her own right in the soccer coaching community, she credits her experience with Rush as one of the major factors in helping her develop her coaching skills.

“I started at Rush Wisconsin West as a director of a club with really no director experience at all,” said Lukic, who was named the USYS Midwest competitive boys coach of the year in 2021. “My biggest experience was coaching club teams so that was a significant jump for me. I honestly feel like because I was connected to Rush, I was able to be successful. Immediately I was thrown into this pool of other directors from all across the country who were very knowledgeable, very skilled, very experienced that I could reach out to and get good resources or good feedback and advice from. I was part of the Rush mentorship program when that started, and I was lucky to be paired with a lot of experienced people in that program.”

Lukic continued to hone her coaching skills in the Rush Select program.

“With Rush Select, I was immediately thrown into a pool of much higher-level coaches than myself and being able to learn from them. So I would say definitely that being in the Rush network has definitely grown my skills and has given me resources that I probably wouldn’t have had with another club.”

Lukic also took advantage of the Rush system to help build her roster for the Minnesota Aurora FC, inviting the Rapp triplets—Cat, Rami, Eli—and Shelby Hopeau, all former Rush players she coached in the Select program. The continuity from being developed in a similar system has paid dividends on the field in acclimating to a new team, too.

“This has definitely been a good experience for me knowing that I have people from the same club, same experiences as me, growing up throughout the club developing just as much as I was and having like the same soccer experience and same style of play,” said Shelby Hopeau, a midfielder who played for Hawaii Rush.

Hopeau was also joined by Colorado Rush’s Rapp triplets—Catherine, Rami, and Elizabeth—at Minnesota Aurora FC this summer.

“Getting to interact with all these different coaches who are mostly on the same page about how they want to develop players has been very good,” said Catherine Rapp, who signed with Florida International.

“I feel like it’s a great step for us going into college,” said Elizabeth Rapp, an Oklahoma signee. “The level is really high and practice is really intense. It’s just a great way to continue developing. I had goals like what I wanted to do when I came here, I wanted to get better as a player and I feel like after this, I can definitely say that I will be a much better player.”

“We love playing for Nicole,” said Rami Rapp, who’s joining her sister at Oklahoma this fall. “We played for her a few years back (with Rush Select) and it’s been great getting to play for her again. I like this league a lot because it’s really competitive and we have to travel around and play some good teams and people who are also in college. And I think that it’s a good experience for us and Just think the league is good for women’s soccer.”

Lukic believes the new USL W-League has an opportunity to open up new pathways for players to progress in the development on the field, just like it has for her off the field.

“A lot of female soccer players don’t see coaching as a realistic option for them, probably because they do not see a lot of female coaches,” Lukic said. “There’s been plenty of times where I’ve questioned myself like, what am I doing? As I continue to get older, I see less and less older female coaches too. And I do think that can be a barrier for female athletes to see themselves as a coach.

“But for me, I was very lucky to be surrounded by a lot of supportive men who were welcoming to female coaches, which I think is also an equally important topic that doesn’t often get discussed. I feel really fortunate to have great male role models that have helped me grow as a coach and have given me advice and have had the courage to give me critical feedback.”

While the future is bright for women’s soccer in the U.S., Lukic also hopes that gives rise to more women coaching in the future as well.

“I think first and foremost we need good coaches to stay around and coaches who are in it for the right reason,” Lukic said. “But I would love to see more female coaches. And right now, I work with an all-female staff at Minnesota Aurora, which is something I’ve never had the opportunity to do, and it’s really different—and it’s a lot of fun, to be honest.”

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With aspirations of playing professionally, Morgan Huff was eager to get a taste of playing in Europe. And when the opportunity recently arose, she jumped at it.

Huff, an 05 player with the Colorado Rush club, is spending her spring season with the FFC Kaiserslautern U17 team. The club’s women’s team has signed Rush alum in the past, but this was the first time it invited a youth player to join one of their teams.

“The club reached out to Rush and was looking for some help to get promoted into the highest level of German youth soccer, so when they asked me if I was interested, I was ready to go,” Huff said.

It took her a couple of weeks to find a rhythm with her teammates, but she quickly found some chemistry.

“At first I was just training with the youth team and then I had a chance to do some extra training with the older girls, which really helped me,” the striker said.

“It was kind of a hard transition at first, but I got used to it and feel like I’m doing a lot better with it now. This experience is definitely something that’s going to develop my soccer IQ and help take me to another level by being able to understand teams and other players much better and adapt easier.”

She’s also had to adjust to a different style of play.

“They play a lot more risky soccer than we play in the U.S.,” Huff said. “They push more players up top and depend on just one or two players at the back to defend against any counters. But they want you to try and shoot more and drive at players. They really want more individual effort on the ball but still play a lot of ball into the middle from crosses, which is similar to what we do at home.”

Huff, who is staying with her mother in an apartment provided by the club, has taken a little longer to adjust to the language. And her first name—which is also the German word for “morning”—has created some amusing situations.

“I’m just now learning the basics of German,” she said. “And I’m trying to connect with the girls, so I’ve sometimes heard them saying what I thought was my name and wondered what they were saying about me. But then I’d ask what was going on and I’d find out they were just talking about what they were doing that morning.”

Aside from the language barrier, she’s finding the experience to be a valuable one.

“It’s a little different visiting a country as compared to living in a completely different culture,” she said. “We’ve had to learn how to navigate the public transportation system here, which is different. And grocery shopping can be a challenge too. But this is going to help me in the future being able to adapt wherever I end up playing if I play outside the U.S.”

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