Profile: Mike Spence: Executive Director at Athletics United
The Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging (The Center) is excited to continue this Profile series where we sit down with community leaders and talk to them about their belonging journey in Utah.
We recently sat down and spoke with Mike Spence, the Executive Director at Athletics United, about what belonging means to him and his story of finding belonging in Utah.
Can you explain to us what you do?
We build community through sport. We use athletics to establish a level playing field where people of diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds can come together, begin conversations, and build connections based on mutual respect.
What does belonging mean to you?
Belonging to me means being accepted for who you are, and being valued for what you have to contribute.
Can you share with us a bit of your story of finding belonging/ or your continued journey of finding belonging in Utah?
It's definitely been an ongoing journey for me. I am originally from Pennsylvania and I lived in California before I moved here. But I never really felt a deep sense of belonging until I moved to Utah. My wife and I talked about three things you need to find belonging, you need to have a place, the people, and a purpose.
I fell in love with the place immediately in Utah. I never knew I was a mountain person until I moved to Utah. I used to think that I was a coastal person and that I needed to be near the sea. But when I moved to the mountains, it was a completely different kind of appreciation. I'm a distance runner and I found myself running on the mountain trails every day. So right away place was satisfied for me in a way that I didn't anticipate before I moved here.
People right away felt at home, I felt a different kind of warmth and acceptance from people in Utah. People here are more interested in getting to know the stories of others. One time I had a meeting in New Jersey and was traveling back from the Newark Airport. I couldn’t get a conversation started with anyone at the Newark Airport. Nobody was interested in talking. So I landed in Salt Lake City and as I was pulling out of the parking garage, the woman working the pay booth asked me about my trip and we had a conversation for a bit. The juxtaposition between the two airports was so drastic. It was such a clear difference in the pace of life. And a difference in curiosity about the people you meet, who you may never see again, but a genuine interest in where they’re from, and what their life is like. It was really refreshing to me.
Purpose has changed a lot through the years. I came here right out of college as a post-college athlete. My purpose was wrapped up in my athletic pursuits such as to train for the US Olympic team and the US National Team. I trained in Ogden under Hall of Famer and Weber State Coach, Chick Hislop. When I moved here, I immediately had a community with the Weber State team, even though I wasn't in school there. Coach took me under his wing, and worked with me to achieve my goals. I was able to have a terrific running career, it was everything that I had hoped for. When my running career eventually came to an end, I decided to become a coach. I moved to Logan and my purpose became coaching at Utah State, which I did for six years. Then I started a family and my coaching schedule began to conflict too much with being a father. So my purpose changed again and I became a full-time dad in 2016. I have two sons who are now 11 and eight. However, to completely fulfill that purpose and have a connection to the community, I needed to do something. And that was when we started Athletics United. Logan feels like home now largely because of the families and friends we’ve made through Athletics United.
How do you think belonging fits into what you do? Or your organization’s mission?
“Making sure that we foster belonging, meet people where they are, and create a safe space and level playing field is a focal point of Athletics United. It’s why we use athletics as our icebreaker and why we try to make sure that there are no barriers to participation.”
There's no cost to participate, we try to meet in a space that's easily accessible by public transportation or we provide transportation to get there to practice.
So we create this safe space and that's why people keep coming back. This is a place where they know they belong, they know they’re accepted, and they are going to see people who share their interests and appreciate them for who they are.
A big part of this for us is meeting people where they are. Sometimes that means going to their home to meet them there. Our carpooling started out as a way to solve an obstacle of getting kids to practice, but it has turned into one of the most important pieces of connection with the families. We make sure that we spend time with the families, get to know them, and ask if they have any questions about the program or about adjusting to life in Utah. We make sure that we help connect families, especially New American families, with resources that already exist in Utah.
Again, we use this time with families to build connections, be curious, learn about what obstacles may be facing a particular family or community, and then use our knowledge of the system to connect those dots or to connect them with another organization. We'll spend time in living rooms, sharing a cup of tea and talking with families.
What are some things you believe we need to do as Utahns to make our state a place where everyone belongs? Or what is something someone did that helped you feel like you belong in Utah?
So I'll go back to my coach, the first person I met and who took me in when I moved to Ogden. This is such a cliche, but I had no place to stay and had all my belongings in the back of a Volkswagen. My Coach, Chick Hislop, opened his home to me. One of the first things he taught me was that if I was going to grow as an athlete, I needed to be willing to work outside my comfort zone. That has always stuck with me and I've applied it to numerous other aspects of my life. I preached it to my athletes when I was a coach at Utah State.
I believe that is the way we grow as individuals, as a community, and as a state. This means being curious and getting outside your comfort zone with the people that you encounter. It’s easier to strike up a conversation with someone who looks like they share a similar backstory as you. It can be much more difficult to do that with someone who looks different than you or speaks a different language or with an accent. And that’s okay, but it’s worth finding little ways outside your comfort zone and being curious about that person’s story.
That may mean just sharing a smile with someone who you pass. Or if you live in Logan, show up at running club and you can talk as much or as little as you want. For me, running was always what I used to start conversations with new people. So at our practices, conversations flow and develop as more people come. And the more familiar they get, the more they realize they have in common. But this can be applied outside of our practices at Athletics United and I think that everyone grows when they’re willing to take some risks and move outside their comfort zone.
How can people get involved?
If you live in Logan or Cache Valley, our club is open to everyone. It’s free and we are always looking for new participants and new volunteers. We do a lot more than just run and you don’t need to be a runner to participate. We have kids from ages four to 18 who participate. Our volunteers range from college students to retirees and we have entire families that participate as well. All are invited to join a practice, running club, tutoring session, or soccer practice. You can find our calendar on our website at www.athleticsunited.us.
And there are a lot of organizations doing this kind of work throughout Utah such as Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection, IRC, and Catholic Community Services. All these organizations are working to welcome New American families to Utah and to continue Utah’s reputation as a welcoming state, the same state that welcomed me over 20 years ago now. There are a lot of organizations doing this kind of work and they are always in need of assistance in one form or another. It’s an easy way to get to know your community which is growing and becoming more vibrant with each passing year.