Potomac Soccer Wire was at the recent 2011 Virginia Youth Soccer Workshop held in Crystal City, Virginia. The event is an annual gathering of "all things soccer" focused on Virginia, but attended by plenty of coaches, administrators, and others from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and other states.
While the workshop is a mix of lectures, coaching demonstrations, and trade show, the portion the always draws the biggest crowd is the annual Awards Luncheon. That may be because a big part of the luncheon is dedicated to honoring each year's new inductees to the Virginia-DC Hall of Fame. Each new member is honored with a kind introduction, presented an award and several keepsakes, then gets to pose for pictures while a couple hundred soccer coaches, players, referrers and administrators applaud in admiration. It's quite a scene, with smile all around.
One of this year's honorees in the "Player" category was Julie Cunningham Shackford. Julie was a three-time All-American at the College of William and Mary. As head coach at Carnegie Mellon University for four seasons, she initiated the women’s soccer program. For the last 16 years Julie has been head women’s soccer coach at Princeton, earning seven NCAA Tournament bids, making her the winningest coach in the school’s history. Named National Coach of the Year in 2004, Julie has also coached the U20 and U21 United States Women's National Teams.
After all the fanfare, Julie was kind of enough to take the time to do an video interview with Potomac Soccer Wire, where we asked three question:
- Who do you credit, or would you like to thank for helping you achieve your success?
- What advice do you have have for girls youth soccer players aspiring to play college soccer?
- Is the 'Big College Showcase' absolutely necessary in order be recruited to division I college soccer?
If you are, or know a female soccer player dreaming of playing in college, this is advice you don't want to miss.
