Soccer mania comes to Skidmore
Phoebe Martell-Crawford ’19 and Emily Mendes ’19 advise
youth soccer camp participants.
There’s no call from the White House or tickertape parade down Broadway, but participants in Skidmore’s youth soccer camp this week are riding high on World Cup excitement.
On the Sunday before the camp’s Monday kickoff, women’s soccer head coach Lacey Largeteau brought to campus the freshmen who will join the Thoroughbreds this fall—to get acquainted, learn the campus ropes, and help instruct this year’s soccer camp. That Sunday evening they watched the women’s World Cup finals on TV together, cheering the US to its 5-2 victory over Japan. “It was intense,” says Phoebe Martell-Crawford ’19. “We sat in the dark, locked into the game, just watching.” But “we jumped and high-fived when the US scored,” says fellow rookie Emily Mendes ’19, adding, “It was a lot of fun, and a good way for us to meet.”
Youth soccer camp participants, on the field, ready to go.
(All photos by Bill Jones)
The next morning, they and other soccer freshmen greeted 68 campers, age 6 to 13, to share tips on dribbling, shooting, goal-tending, and more. Largeteau says some youngsters arrived in USA T-shirts, and most of them, boys as well as girls, had watched the women’s World Cup the night before. Over her five years of running the soccer camps, she’s noticed a growing awareness of international teams and players. At the same time, Martell-Crawford and Mendes have seen soccer interest rise as the American teams have improved. On Friday, the campers engage in their own “world cup,” breaking into scrimmage teams named for some top soccer countries.
For the camp’s instructors, soccer mania began in early June with the World Cup’s early phases. Largeteau confesses to watching every match she could, and she drove to Montreal to attend the semifinal between the US and Germany. “With 50,000 fans screaming ‘USA,’ it was just electric,” she says. Martell-Crawford and Mendes, it happens, also traveled to the semi, braving huge traffic jams, border delays, and wild celebrations.
Now with the tournament over and the youth clinic ending, the freshmen will soon enter full-team preseason practice. This fall, they say, “We want to make as big an impact as we can. We want to contribute to the team, on or off the field.” ~ By Sue Rosenberg
