On December 21st and 22nd 2013, the Greater Binghamton Sports Complex will hold its third annual Professional Soccer camp featuring returning U.S. Women’s National players Abby Wambach and Sarah Huffman. Joining Abby and Sarah to conduct this year’s camp will be U.S. Women’s National Player Sydney Leroux.
The two day event includes organized soccer drills and skills sessions, interaction with the stars, opportunities to take pictures and much more. Youth players ages 6-18 are invited to attend the two-day camp. Saturday’s sessions run from 8 AM to 4 PM. Sunday’s sessions begin at 9 AM and end at 4 PM. There will also be a dinner on Saturday evening with the stars for which campers can buy tickets at time of camp registration.
Last year’s camp, featuring Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx and Sara Huffman, was attended by 450 players. All three stars interacted with the campers and brought a lot of smiles to the children’s faces. We are excited to have Abby and Sara back and are looking forward to meeting Sydney Leroux for the first time.
For more information and to register please visit www.GreaterBinghamtonSportsComplex.com call 607-729-5165 or Email: [email protected]
Featured Players
Wambach was born 2 June 1980. She attended Our Lady or Mercy High School in Rochester where she was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Player of the year in 1997. She attended the University of Florida from 1998-2001 where she earned the first-team NSCAA All-American honors (1998-2001) and helped the Gators to the NCAA Division I National Championship in 1998. She set school career records for assists (49), points (201) and game-winning goals (24).
Wambach joined the Women’s National Team in 2003. In the 2004 Olympics, her header in the 112th minute of the finals against Brazil was enough for a 2-1 win that put the United States back on top of the women’s soccer world. She missed the 2008 Olympics with a broken leg.
The summer of 2011 saw the National Team lose to Japan in the World Cup final played in Germany. It was in that tournament that Wambach scored a jaw-dropping “header” goal off a cross from Megan Rapinoe after the 120th minute (injury time) against Brazil. The teams went on to a PK shootout where the U.S. won and snatched a spot in the semi-final match only to bow to Japan in the final. As much for that goal as well as for her consistent playing exploits, she was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for 2011.
The National Team rebounded this past summer to win the 2012 Olympic gold medal in London led by Wambach’s five goals in six matches.
She is a five-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, her latest coming in 2011.
On 20 June 2013, Abby scored four goals against the Korea Republic team and became the greatest goal scorer in women’s international soccer with 160 goals surpassing her friend and former teammate Mia Hamm’s previous record of 158 goals. More recently, she added a goal to that total in a game against Mexico. Her record now sets at 161 goals.
Also in 2013, Abby played for the newly formed Western NY Flash team in the National Women’s Soccer League. The Flash finished in first place during the regular league play and lost 2-0 in the league Championship game to Portland Thorns FC. Abby was named Week 5 NWSL Player of the Week after scoring both goals in the Flash’s 2-1 victory over FC Kansas City. She became the first player in the league to win the award twice after scoring a goal and serving an assist during the Flash’s 3-0 win over Sky Blue FC during Week 9.
Leroux (born May 7, 1990) is a Canadian-born American soccer player. At the age of 14, she was a member of Canada’s team that played in the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Cup in Thailand, where she was the youngest player in the tournament. She served as captain of Canada’s U-15 team that traveled to Germany in 2005. She played collegiate soccer for the UCLA Bruins.
Leroux got clearance from FIFA to change associations to the U.S. in 2008 and went on to play for the U.S. team that won the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile. She subsequently played in the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and ended her U-20 career as the U.S.’s all-time leading scorer in U-20 Women’s World Cup play with 10 goals. She is among the most capped U-20 WNT players ever with 36 games and is the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. at that level with 30 goals. In 2011, she was named the 2011 U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year, playing for the U.S. WNT and U-23 WNT. Although she participated in the youth international teams for both Canada and the U.S., she is now permanently tied to the U.S. team.
In 2012, she was the youngest player on the U.S. Women’s National Team and was a goal-scoring member of the 2012 Olympic Team in London. Leroux set an U.S. WNT record of 14 goals scored off the bench in a year by breaking the previous bench scoring record of nine goals. In a recent match against Mexico, Sydney scored 4 goals in a 7-0 US rout.
Sydney also plays against Abby and Sarah in National Women’s Soccer League for Boston Breakers.
Huffman was born in Danbury, Connecticut on 5 March 1984 and grew up in Texas. She attended the University of Virginia where she was a four-year starter and one of the top players in the school’s history. She was a two-time NSCAA All-American, a two-time Soccer America MVP, and a three-time first team All-ACC selection. In 2004, she was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and was also Co-MVP of the ACC Tournament as the Cavaliers won the first conference championship in school history. She was named Virginia State Player of the Year and was a finalist for Soccer Buzz National Player of the Year. As a senior in 2005, she was named Soccer Buzz All-American, Soccer America MVP, and NSCAA All-American
Playing internationally, she was a member of the U-16, U-17, U-19, U-21, and U-23 United States national women’s soccer teams. She helped her team win the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship and won the Nordic Cup with the U-21s in 2004, 2005, and 2007. Sarah played with the United States national women’s soccer team in 2010.
This year Sarah played with Abby Wambach on the NWSL Western New York Flash team.
