Kenney combines football passion, community development with Ecuador club

[July 24, 2024 – Harmon, Guam] In every phase of her personal development, Guam National Player Samantha Kenney makes room for football and finds ways to connect her experience in the sport with her contributions to serving her community.

Kenney most recently spent her summer months immersed in a ministry internship with Cumbre Alta, a football club in Ecuador, that had taken her to five U.S. cities in addition to Quito, Ecuador, within two months.

“This has definitely been one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, but I’ve felt so much growth within myself this summer that I totally recommend anyone to do it,” Kenney said via WhatsApp. “Cumbre Alta is a Christian ministry (that) does an amazing job of seeing football as an opportunity to bring people in who have been marginalized and pouring into them. A lot of players on their men’s and women’s teams come from hard backgrounds, so Cumbre Alta is not only a club but a ministry where they try to help meet physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.”

Kenney initially researched summer football ministry internships and applied for an internship called Urban Impact in Pittsburgh. From there, she learned about Cumbre Alta and traveled to Quito the last week of May. The following month, she traveled with the club back to the U.S. to take part in football camps for lower socioeconomic Hispanic communities in southern states. The group held football camps in Bossier City, Houston, Dallas, Tampa, and Atlanta, Kenney said.

After the conclusion of the June camps, Kenney returned to Quito, training with the club’s women’s team, assisting coaches with the club’s academy program, and also working with the club in its business-type pursuits.

“There was a lot of change within the month of June because we were in a new location every week, but our goal for the camps was to pour into the kids and there were always tears by the end,” Kenney said. “It really helped remind me of the power and the impact of the sport of football both on and off the pitch.

“In Quito, it’s been amazing – the culture is actually very similar to that of Guam so that helped make the transition easier. Not speaking fluent Spanish has definitely been a struggle, but I am so much better now after two months of being immersed in it,” Kenney added.

Kenney is a long-time player in Guam’s National Program. The 20-year-old first entered the Guam National Program following selection to the United Airlines Guam Football Association National Academy when she was eight years old. Kenney’s commitment and drive to succeed naturally earned her selection to Guam’s youth national teams, and ultimately, the Masakåda, Guam Women’s National Team.

“As soon as she mentioned this opportunity for the summer, I knew it was right up her alley and that she would love it and thrive,” said Kristin Thompson, Head Coach of the Masakåda, Guam Women’s National Team. “It contains all her passions and values: her faith, travel, her sport, and her excitement for making a difference. She has always wanted to use her talents to make a difference, but also as the foundation for courage to take on challenges for herself on a global level to make a social impact.”

Kenney made her senior-team debut in 2021 for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, during her senior year of high school. Kenney was most recently called up to the Masakåda in February this year for the WAFF Women’s Championship Saudi 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In addition to selection to the teams, Kenney also has donned the captain armband for most of her youth national team selections.

Off the pitch, Kenney was one of four selected Guam youth national program players for the AFC-Aurora eGoal Programme in 2020, a first-of-its-kind virtual social responsibility program that linked over 60 youth players across Asia. From her participation in the eGoal Programme, she was selected as one of ten AFC Youth Social Responsibility Ambassadors and Youth Social Responsibility Council members from across Asia and was a presenter at Generation Amazing’s online virtual workshop. Generation Amazing is one of the legacy projects of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

The 2022 IIAAG Girls High School League MVP played for The King’s College in New York before transferring to Gordon College in Massachusetts, where she currently plays for the Fighting Scots. Gordon College plays in NCAA Div. III’s Commonwealth Coast Conference. In the 2023 season as a sophomore, Kenney, listed as a midfielder in the college’s roster, played in 11 matches and scored one goal in her team’s 9-1 victory over Eastern Nazarene, according to the Gordon College Athletics Web site.

Kenney is the daughter of Frank and Josephine Kenney and has one older sister, Sabrina.