Wake Forest Athletics
Q & A: Stengel and Bledsoe Talk National Team Camp
10/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 12, 2011
Last week Wake Forest goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe and forward Katie Stengel traveled to Carson, Calif. to participate in a training camp with the U.S. Under-23 National Team along with 22 of the nation's best college and young professional players. The camp was unique in the fact that it was led by full national team head coach Pia Sundhage along with U.S. Soccer Women's Technical Director April Heinrichs, who were evaluating the players for potential future inclusion in the full national team.
WakeForestSports.com sat down with Aubrey and Katie to talk about their week at national team camp.
Q: How was your overall experience at the U-23 National Team camp?
Katie: It was a learning experience and definitely eye-opening to see so many great players everywhere. Having the opportunity to play with them in front of Pia (Sundhage) was a great honor. We definitely learned a lot throughout the week, and I felt like I got a lot better as the week went on.
Aubrey: Like Katie said, it was a great learning experience. It was a great environment with of the best college and pro players. We all learned a lot.
Q: What was a typical day at camp like?
K: For the field players, it wasn't too strenuous. We normally had one training session per day and had some technical work, and then we would just play. We had some great meals during the day and some time to nap. It was basically living the dream. The last meal we had ice cream, and I had the hugest sundae!
A: Well, the goalies did a little more work than the field players. We had two training sessions per day that worked a lot on technique and just the little things. Then we combined with the field players from some finishing drills and scrimmages.
Q: Both of you have been to a lot of youth national team training camps. How was this one different?
K: It was a lot different. Normally camps are a lot more intense. We normally have fitness tests at the very beginning and it is a full week, so this one was a lot shorter. There was such a big range of players and big range of ages that made it a little different, but it was still a normal national team camp. It was fun.
Q: What is it like to train with some of the best college and professional players in the country?
K: It's great to be able to play with all of these players. As much as we feel like we're rivals with other schools, especially in the ACC, we get to hang out there and be friends, and college gets put away for a little bit. We have fun, and get to meet all these great players from other colleges that we end up playing against.
Q: Wake Forest was one of only three schools that had more than one player invited to the camp. Did you do a little bragging about that?
A: It was nice to have a teammate there, that's for sure. We didn't brag too much, but Katie and I got some homework done together and hung out a lot.
Q: You flew to California right after your game against Virginia, spent a week out there missing class, and then flew to meet the team up at Maryland. How hard is it to leave the team and your schoolwork for a week in the middle of the season?
K: Getting away for a week is fun, but it is definitely stressful having to do make-up work and miss all of that school. It's stressful, but I think it's definitely worth it. It's a great opportunity, and you kind of have to take advantage of it.
A: The travel was tough. We finally got adjusted to West Coast time, and then we were right back on the East Coast. I have a lot of homework to do and would like to catch up on some sleep, but it was worth it.
Q: Did you learn things at national team camp that can help your game here at Wake Forest?
A: Definitely. I've already talked to (goalkeeper coach) Megan Jessee about some new things that I'm going to try out in training here at Wake. It was great working with Paul Rogers who is the goalie coach for the full national team. He trains the best, so he can pick out all of the little details. He really helped me work on my set position and just the small things.
K: I agree with Aubrey. You get to train with the best. You also get to compete against all of these other players, so you get even more inspired when you come back to college. You want to work that much harder and be that much better when you're here.
