After completing his Master's Degree in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Eric currently is a middle school English teacher at Compass Acadmey, a charter school in Denver, CO. 

 

Eric grew up playing soccer in Hanover, NH, before attending Colby College where he studied English and Education, and played striker for the men’s soccer team. In addition to soccer, he ski raced and co-founded a club called Male Athletes Against Violence, whose mission was to raise awareness of sexual violence and challenge gender norms in the Colby community.

 

After graduating from Colby in 2012, Eric spent a year working for one of Woza’s partners, Grassroots Soccer (GRS) as a programs intern in Khayelitsha, South Africa, where he primarily coordinated an after-school soccer league as well as individual professional development sessions for GRS volunteers. He also helped coach RV United, an inspiring all-female soccer club with whom Woza will be working closely this summer.

 

Since returning from South Africa, Eric has coached soccer and ski racing at every level from middle school to college, including two years as the Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach at the University of New England. In addition to his coaching, he has taught middle school and high school English and expanded his masculinity work to create a program called “Man Up and Open Up" that engages middle school, high school, and college students in conversations about masculinity, gender privilege, consent, and sexual violence prevention.

 

His time as a soccer player and particularly his year in South Africa have shown him how limitless the power of connection can be through soccer, and he has enjoyed helping inspire that connection in communities across the world with Woza.