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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1999)
Camps Continued from Page 7 This week’s volleyball con tingent, ranging in ages from 10 to 18, is 130 strong. The in crease is a reflection in the ris ing popularity of the sport, Nel son said. “We have the most campers we’ve had since I’ve been here,” she said. “Volleyball is really growing.” For the last 25 years, Ore gon’s annual track and field camp has been a popular draw, and it is again this sum mer. Approximately 165 ath letes are at this week’s camp which runs through Friday, and more than 200 are ex pected at next week’s activi ties, starting Sunday. Heinonen and men’s head coach Martin Smith are direct ing the camp for the first time, taking over for legendary coach Bill Dellinger and his former assistant John Gillespie. Campers, aged 12 to 19, receive coaching in whatever their spe cialty is. “It’s a huge mix of experi ence and athletic talent,” Heinonen said. “So it’s a real challenge for us to provide the right setting for everybody in every event and at every age.” The Oregon soccer camp is also under way. Like the major ity of athletic campers this summer, players are living on campus while they gain experi ence from Oregon head coach Bill Steffen and current and former Oregon players and coaches. The camp consists of 28 girls and runs from Sunday to Thursday. Soccer players have paid $350 to attend this week’s camp and live in the dorms. Girls participating in the vol leyball camp paid $335 for the same accommodations, and track and field athletes shelled out $325. Those playing in the tennis camp this week paid $595. The experience and the chal lenge is well worth the price, campers said. “This is an awesome camp,” said Dale Fox, a 17-year-old distance runner from Shelton, Wash. “It’s pretty amazing to see, because where I come from there’s like one or two good runners, but here everybody’s high-quality.” Campers also appreciate who’s coaching them. “There’s a good coaching staff and plus there’s college athletes, so that’s cool,” Fox said. “They’re at a different lev el, and that’s where I want to be.” Heinonen agrees that having current and former athletes su pervise and coach makes the proceedings more special. Among the Oregon athletes helping out are runners Marie Davis and Steve Fein, volley ball player Shellie Nisle, soccer player Sierra Marsh and Mar tin, who has become the sub ject of her tennis pupils’ teas ing. Regardless, Martin said she’s enjoying herself. “I’m having a good time,” she said. “But I have to stay in the dorms, so I feel like I’m a freshman again.” At the current camps, as in past camps, some participants are athletes who will one day become Ducks. “We’ve recruited athletes out of these camps,” Heinonen said. “Some kids come in here with the ulterior motive of ‘I want to be an Oregon track ath lete, and here’s my chance to show it.’ ” International Basketball Men continue streak, women fall short By Howard Fendrich The Associated Press PALMA DE MALLORCA, Balearic Islands — The streak continues for United States men’s basketball team, but the U.S. women head home without gold. After a close call in the semifi nals, the U.S. men wrapped up their sixth straight World Univer sity Games gold medal and 40th straight win—both records—by routing Yugoslavia 79-65 Monday night in the final. Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin led the U.S. with 21 points, several off thunderous dunks against the outsized and outclassed Yu goslavs. Forward Mladen Sekularac, the only member of the Yugoslavian team who plays in the country’s first division, had a game-high 31 points in the men’s final. “They kept running plays for him, isolating him. That hurt their team. When we locked them down defensively, the game was pretty much over,” said U.S. head coach Oliver Purnell, an assistant on the 1995 University Games squad that featured recent NBA Finals MVP Tim Duncan and league scoring leader Allen Iver son. The current crop of college stars — five of the 12 team mem bers have NCAA Final Four expe rience — struggled. The opener against South Korea was tight ear ly in the second half, Canada led at halftime in their quarterfinal matchup, and Saturday’s semifi nal against host Spain was a two point game with 20 seconds to go. “We invented the game, so our guys certainly expected to get the gold,” said Purnell, who coaches at University of Dayton. “But it wasn’t easy.” “Everybody tried to play their ’A’ game against us, and the inter national game is more physical than what we’re used to,” said Kevin Freeman, a member of Connecticut’s NCAA champi onship team in April. “But we stayed focused, because we didn’t want to be the U.S. team that did n’t bring home the gold.” 3355 E. .AMAZON A Sports Bar with Class •2 Big Screens •4 Satellites • Full Service Menu LADIES' NIGHT Tues 5-9pm Not just a Sports Bar^4 it,_jninore welcometo <Jine7anHipm_ ^exgjres^oggj H little Caesars TUESDAY SPECIAL! MEDIUM PEPPERONI OR CHEESE PIZZA Extra Toppings 950 Each 1711 Willamette ‘343-3330 f little Caesars — Women’s World Cud U.S. team revels in championship By Hal Bock The Associated Press NEW YORK — They hoisted their trophy like an Oscar at the Academy Awards, stopped pedestrian traffic in midtown Manhattan and even burst into song on the sidewalks of New York. The champion U.S. women’s soccer team took to the streets Monday, soaking up more ac claim for their World Cup victo ry over China. A lunchtime crowd gawked at the women in matching lavender shirts. Then the realization hit the onlookers: These were those soccer players. If there were any doubt, the players locked arms and began singing “We are the Champi ons!” They were in New York for a rapid-fire tour of network shows from “Good Morning America” and “Today” to CNN and Fox News Channel. A midtown rally is on Tuesday’s agenda. Some players will participate in the LPGA JAL Big Apple Clas sic Pro-Am in suburban New Rochelle on Wednesday and oth ers will attend the WNBA All Star Game at Madison Square Garden that night. “We’re sharing it with’New York City because big things hap pen here,” said Brandi Chastain, standing amid midtown sky scrapers and sharing the side walk with the bustling suit-and tie crowd. It was her penalty kick Satur day at the Rose Bowl that set off a whirlwind of activity. The play ers were welcomed at Disney land on Sunday, then flew overnight, landing at Newark Airport at 4:30 a.m. and piling on a bus to Manhattan. "It’s all worth it,” said Chas tain, who had not slept since ear ly Sunday. “We’re promoting women’s soccer.” Perhaps the most touching episode came at the end of their overnight trip from California. “There were 10 little girls waiting in the airport,” Chas tain said. “They were wearing World Cup and USA soccer stuff. They were all so excited. They had slept there. They were jumping around and ask ing for autographs. We all oblig ed. They deserved them.” The players learned Monday how much winning the Cup was worth. Originally scheduled to share $250,000 from the U.S. Soccer Federation, the team instead was awarded a $1 million bonus. That breaks down to $50,000 per player instead of the $12,500 they originally expected. The United States Olympic Committee said it was awarding $120,000 to the team — $6,000 for each of the 20 players. The USOC bonus comes from that organization’s Operation Gold Fund which rewards Amer ican athletes or teams that win gold medals in the year’s most important competitions. The media push was on full blast. Full-page ads from major companies like Nike, Chevrolet and Budweiser saluted the victo ry in newspapers. HarperCollins trumpeted a new book by star player Mia Hamm. Chastain was on the 1991 U.S. World Cup championship team and remembered one solitary me dia representative greeting the team when it returned to the United States that year. “There were 2,000 media cre dentialed this year,” she said. “More people are paying atten tion to women’s soccer and we feel very proud of that.” Chastain thinks she and her teammates proved a crucial point. “Ninety thousand in the Rose Bowl and record television rat ings gives validity to what we’ve been saying all along,” she said. “There is a place for this team in pro sports.” After goalkeeper Briana Scurry stopped the third penalty kick by the Chinese, the edge belonged to the Americans. It was up to Chas More people are paying attention to women’s soccer and we feel very proud of that. >> Brandi Chastain U.S. World Cup team tain to make the final kick and seal the victory. Over and over, she has been asked to describe those final mo ments. “Before I stepped up, four oth ers nailed them,” he said. “It’s a mental thing — you against the goalie. As I grabbed the ball and put it down, it was very quiet in the stadium. It was surreal. There was no movement. It was like there was nobody there except me and this little ball.” Chastain said she had prepared for the moment hundreds, maybe thousands of times, practicing penalty kicks with her team mates. This would be just one more kick — with a champi onship riding on it. “I hit it as hard as I could,” she said. “I aimed for the left side of the net. If you hit the side, that’s pretty unstoppable. It was the best one I hit of all the ones I practiced. When it hit the net, then I heard noise and movement. Then I heard the re action.” The emotion poured out of Chastain, who ripped off her shirt as the celebration began. That was not planned, she said. Rather it was a release of emotion over a journey that began with training camp in January and ended against-China in July. In training, the players loaded up on pasta and other carbohy drates. Now, with the Cup in their hands, and iq a city where dining choices are unlimited, the choice of cuisine was clear. “I think,” Chastain said, “we’re having Chinese food tonight.”
