At the conclusion of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League All-Star Cup, Athletes Unlimited, powered by Give Lively and the Give Lively Foundation, will make a grant equal to 100% of each competitor’s win bonus to the organization of their choice.
Throughout the AUSL All-Star Cup, we’ll spotlight athletes each week, sharing the personal stories behind the organizations they’re representing and the impact they hope to make both on and off the field.
This week’s featured player is Utah Talons infielder Hannah Flippen, who selected The Soraya Foundation, an organization supporting former college athletes as they transition into life after sports through scholarships, mentorship, and opportunities to continue their education.
For Flippen, the organization’s mission hits close to home. Ten years into her professional softball career, she understands the opportunities that can come from continuing to compete, as well as the uncertainty athletes can face when it’s time to determine what comes next.
Supporting Athletes After Athletics
Q: Why did you choose The Soraya Foundation as the organization you wanted to represent during the AUSL All-Star Cup?
Flippen: The cause that I chose was The Soraya Foundation, and one of the reasons I chose it is because it was created by former student-athletes, one of whom is a former player in the league, Gwen Svekis (Edwards), and one of my really close friends. So anything she does, I think is the best thing ever. So wanting to support her, but I also think the foundation itself and what they do is really special.
What it’s about is providing opportunities for student-athletes to continue their education postgrad. So they’re providing scholarships and opportunities for athletes who have finished their eligibility and want to continue their education and pursue careers postgrad.
Preparing for What Comes Next
Q: Why is it important for athletes to have opportunities to continue pursuing their goals after their college careers end?
Flippen: I’m lucky enough to have played softball for 10 years postgrad, and not everybody has that opportunity, and some people don’t want to do that once they finish their collegiate careers. They want it to be over there, and they want to start with a new journey.
I think we devote so much time and effort into our sport that sometimes our life goals of what we want to do post-sport fall in the background, and so we miss out on a lot of extracurricular hours that give us experience in those fields. And so I think it’s important to help get these athletes the help that they want and the resources they need in order to pursue those things.
I think at the end of the day, sport is always going to come to an end at some point, and so having a place to go and something to do and goals to reach for are important. And The Soraya Foundation is just helping people achieve those goals.
Looking Past the Game
Q: As someone who has spent so much of your life as an athlete, has supporting The Soraya Foundation made you more intentional about thinking about what your own life could look like outside of sports?
Flippen: Yeah, totally. If you had asked me right when I graduated college, I thought I was going to go back to school and be a teacher. And since then, my life has taken–not necessarily a turn–but I just am a teacher in a different way. I teach softball lessons now, and so I’m lucky enough to have had those goals.
But I do think now that I’m older, it’s like, wow, if I had decided to be a teacher then, I don’t know that I would have lasted that long. And so I think with this foundation, they give athletes time too, because it doesn’t have to be right after school is finished.
I can apply for the scholarship right now and hopefully obtain the scholarship and go do postgrad stuff. So I think that’s one really cool thing about The Soraya Foundation. It’s not like you have to graduate college and jump right into The Soraya Foundation and win the scholarship and go back to school. I can spend years away from school and decide I want to go back, and The Soraya Foundation is going to support me in doing that and provide me with resources to help get me there.
You’re Not Alone
Q: If someone is approaching the end of their athletic career and isn’t sure what comes next, what would you want them to know?
Flippen: I would want them to know that there are so many people in the field of sport who are dealing with the same struggles of, ‘What’s next? I don’t know what to do next. I don’t have any serviceable hours. I don’t have any experience in the field that I want to go into next.’
I think all of those feelings are normal, and you’re not alone in those feelings. There are so many athletes in this world that are dealing with the same thing, and people like The Soraya Foundation are advocating for athletes and for people to get back on track and figure out where to go next.
Helping More Athletes Follow Their Dreams
Q: What do you hope your support of The Soraya Foundation can provide for athletes going through that transition?
Flippen: I hope that my support for The Soraya Foundation can provide a financial piece. They provide scholarships for athletes, and so by me picking this foundation, I hope that I can win a lot of games and score a lot of points in the All-Star Cup, so that I can help support them financially, so that they can in turn create more scholarships for more athletes. So continuing to grow that and get as many postgrad athletes to keep following their dreams.
Learn more about Athletes Unlimited’s Athlete Causes program.
Check back each week during the AUSL All-Star Cup as we spotlight a new athlete and the organization they’re supporting.
Siera Jones is the digital media reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Instagram and X @sieraajones.
