Katie was selected by Coach Wendy as the Tornados recipient of the Hamilton award which is given to players that exhibit exceptional sportsmanship and team spirit. Katie was quite surprised at this but Coach Wendy pointed out that whilst she might not show up every game on the score sheet, she did show full effort every game and never took a game off and was always there to pass to teammates or talk with them on the bench and get them ready to go back out on the pitch.
One of the perks of the award was the opportunity to attend the 2017 edition of the Live Fearless clinic at WRAL Soccer Park which is a special training session exclusively for the girl players.
This clinic is organised by three of the most famous members of the UNC Tar Heels and US Women’s National Team: Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, and Tisha Venturini-Hoch. And that wasn’t the only surprise…several members of the NC Courage came out to help with training and an extra-special guest with a very pregnant Cindy Parlow Cone (yet another UNC alum!) who was probably the one Tar Heel who could actually get the hyper-focused and competitive Mia Hamm’s attention on the pitch during the game!
To say we’re spoiled with amazing talent in the women’s game in this area of the country is a grand understatement. The UNC-CH Women’s Soccer team is by far the most successful one in NCAA history where being in the playoffs is almost guaranteed and have won the championship 21 times in 38 years. Then you can add to that the NC Courage who were the NWSL champion Western New York Flash that relocated to Cary who regularly contribute players to the national team and are regularly top of the league.
Katie getting to take training and tips from the best women in the game. I don’t know if she ever knew how lucky she was but I do know for sure she was dead-dog tired by the end of the day as those workouts were almost as intense as the training sessions the Tar Heels regularly employ.
