Soccer Coach Scales All 26 Acadia Peaks to Give Every Kid a Chance
Oct 12, 2025
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND AND TRENTON—Emily Ellis stands on the top of Sargent Mountain in Acadia National Park. The wind blasts rain against her, whipping both her hair and her voice sideways as she yells with joy.
“Here I am! Sargent Mountain! Twenty-six peaks!” she yells. “I did it! I did it! I did it!”
Her words, repeated, become a song of celebration that pierces through the gray skies and the wind and the rain pelting into her eyes.
Emily Ellis officially hiked all 26 peaks in Acadia National Park in 26 days this September. She also threw in an extra celebratory hike up Champlain Mountain at the end.
Sometimes when you’re doing good, you just can’t stop.
And that’s exactly what Ellis was doing. She was challenging her body, which is stronger than many from her years as an athlete, soccer coach, and mom. But she was also hiking and climbing and ascending all those peaks in Acadia National Park for a reason: She’s raising money for Acadia Fire, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit sports organization serving Down East Maine. AFFC is offering one of the best soccer educational experiences in Maine, but it’s also an inclusive soccer club. It doesn’t turn kids away because they can’t afford to play, can’t afford to travel to games, can’t afford practices and scrimmages and uniforms.
That all costs money especially for the travel team of exceptional players.
So, Emily Ellis set about raising it.
“I’m passionate about it because my own experience of playing sports as a kid all the way up through until part of college. It was such a big part of my life. And, I love working with kids now, too. I’ve always been of a coach mindset, I guess, because I started basically right out of college,” she said. “So, I love to see kids be able to grow and get inspired. And, you know, it’s satisfying as a coach to see them learn something and get to feel proud of themselves.”
That happens every day at Acadia Fire.
“The diversity that is experienced, that community of kids that get involved in it, coming from all the different communities. So, it’s a way of bringing together all these families and kids from all the different communities in Down East,” Ellis said.
She loves that.
“It’s my favorite when people post pictures of their kids that play on the same team on Sunday,” she said. “And then during the week in middle school games, they’re playing against each other or in high school. And those relationships are lifelong. That’s another thing. It’s relationships built between the players, but also between the parents and families. I’ve definitely seen many lifelong relationships that have developed out of that.”
The club offers approximately $14,000 in scholarships every year.
“AFFC offers financial assistance for all of our soccer programs, from skills academies and summer camps to our competitive Maine State Premier League and 23U (under-23) Maine Showcase teams,” according to its website.
The club’s spring MSPL teams are for 8 to 19, then it also has a 23U adult team in the summer. Year-round programs start for two-year-olds with the ‘Adult and Me’ program and goes in age to adult pick-up games.
MSPL has 160 players. 23U had a roster of 28 from 11 different colleges. In all its programming last year, it’s served 342 players.
“Since fall 2023 our players have come from 53 towns in Maine,” Ellis said.
It’s a lot for a small nonprofit to support, but it’s worth it. So was her hiking challenge.
For every peak, she climbed, Ellis made a video.
“One part that I enjoyed doing was the reason why videos that I created along the way,” she said though it was a bit daunting.
“How am I going to come up with 26 reasons why?” she initially wondered.
As she got into the process, each day and each hike unfolded, and she’d begin making a connection to what she was experiencing to soccer, to sports, to personal growth.
“That whole experience also just kind of proved to me that I can, I’m okay with being in the woods and being in the rain and it made all of the foliage so much more beautiful,” she said of her rainy last ascent. “Even if I didn’t see what the vision of what the view was at the peak, like it was completely fogged in, I didn’t see anything below, but it was still—I just felt really proud of myself that I was like total bad-, like here I am doing this because I have to get it done. And, that was one of the things I said. Sometimes you just have to knock it out and sport teaches you that, too.”
So do your mentors and coaches and friends, humans like Emily Ellis who just go for it, making a difference for themselves and others all at once, taking the challenge.
“That’s what I said at the top of Gilmore. My message was about accepting the challenge. For that day, I knew what the challenge was and it was going to be somewhat treacherous, potentially I knew it was going to be wet, but I did it anyway,” she said. “And, that’s, as soccer players, that’s what you do.”
Soccer isn’t a sport that stops because of rain. And Ellis is a soccer player. She didn’t stop either.
That’s what exceptional humans do, too. They find hope in the gloom at the top of the summit, see how much more vibrant it makes the colors around them, give themselves a true moment to celebrate, and then go on to the next peak so that they can do good, so they can keep kids playing soccer, so that nobody gets left behind.
When Ellis ascended those peaks, she brought so many people with her. Some actually hiking the trails with her, but also she took all of those people that she inspired and the money she raised will help.
That’s pretty bad a— especially when you think that it’s not for her. It’s for the kids.
Photos and graphics courtesy of Emily Ellis.
NORTHEAST HARBOR EVENT!
Emily will be part of an event at Northeast Harbor Library, on Wednesday, October 15.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Though she’s raised well over $3.5k, Ellis is still a bit away from her $5.5k fundraising goal to help kids play soccer.
Here is the GoFundMe link if you’d like to help:
The 26 Peaks in 26 Days Facebook page is here.
To support AFFC’s Financial Assistance program not via GoFundMe.
Please email louis@acadiafiresoccer.com if you would like to support a specific player or team.
Please note that donations that solely support an individual player are not tax deductible.
More about Acadia Fire FC is here.
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