Meet an Austin Rise FC founder: Amanda Lisberger

This is one in a series of first-person articles from founders of Austin Rise FC, the latest Austin-area women's semi-pro team, starting WPSL play in 2023. The Striker invites you to meet the founders at a special live podcast event and USWNT watch party on Sunday, Feb. 19 at Hopsquad Brewing Co. (2307 Kramer Lane, 78758).

I was born in South Korea and grew up in Southern California with my mom, dad and older brother.  I started playing soccer at the age of three and quickly fell in love with the sport.  Growing up, I also played a handful of other sports including tennis, basketball, track and field, cross country and flag football.

In my younger years, I played for two different club teams, The Westside Breakers and Fram.  In high school, I played for the Eagles Soccer Club, where I helped them win three US National Championships. Soccer was my main sport in high school and through hard work and dedication, I was recruited by 63 different colleges! I decided to play soccer at the University of Texas at Austin.  

At UT, I was a four-year letter winner, playing forward for my first three years and then playing outside back my senior year.  Unfortunately, I tore my ACL and meniscus halfway through my senior year and had to stop playing. I was still plagued with injury after that and had four knee surgeries to address it. 

In 2012, I  graduated from Texas with a Bachelor's degree in Applied Learning and Development and a minor in Kinesiology. I returned to school to earn a Bachelor's degree in Special Education and then a Master's degree in Autism and Developmental Disabilities. I am now a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and the Senior Director of Clinical Services at an ABA clinic.

Before tearing my ACL, I envisioned a soccer journey overseas to South Korea — where I was born — playing professional soccer and then trying out for the South Korean National team.  After tearing my ACL, I thought my soccer career was over, but I still had the desire and passion to continue playing. Even though multiple doctors told me I needed to stop playing, that made me want to play even more. My love for the game, the friends I made and the lessons I have learned from playing soccer helped shape me into who I am today, and I knew I didn’t want that to end.

What I learned as a captain

After graduation, there were no competitive Austin-based women’s soccer teams that I could find at that time. It wasn’t until 2019 when I found FC Austin Elite and played with them for almost two years, before parting ways after disagreements within the club leading to its disbanding.

As the captain of that team for two seasons, I got to learn the ins and outs of how a team was run and the responsibilities you have to support the players and help be their voice. I knew being a captain would come with situations pushing me out of my comfort zone. It helped me learn to find my voice and stand up for what is in the players' best interests. I am a naturally quiet person and I like to lead by example on and off the field so everyone can see what our expectations are as a team. I think my job — working with kids with special needs and teaching behavior technicians — has helped me see everyone learns differently, and as a captain, I learned to tailor how I lead to help all the players and staff and not just a certain few.

After the team fell apart, some of the players and their coach wanted to make sure there was still a competitive women’s soccer team in Austin, and that is how Austin Rise FC got started.

Starting Austin Rise FC was something that we all thought the Austin soccer community needed. Since we disbanded one soccer team, we knew that we needed to provide female soccer players with an opportunity to play, providing them the opportunity to grow their skills and help them reach their potential.  As we work together to create this new team, we have all put in many hours of our own time to make this possible.  We want to create a team that competes at a high level and can help grow women’s soccer in the Austin community.