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.”
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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.”