Brooks, Dunn attend women's national team trials

Junior midfielder Amber Brooks had played in all 61 games during her career on the North Carolina women’s soccer team, and sophomore Crystal Dunn had started every match she’d ever played.

But when UNC faced Clemson at home in October, the duo skipped their pregame ritual. No pregame meal, no warm-up calisthenics and no hooting and hollering to get the Tar Heels fired up for a conference opponent.

Instead, the two eagerly sat in a hotel room in Carson, Calif., awaiting text message updates about the game. UNC won 2-0, but the pair of Tar Heel footballers didn’t have much time to celebrate.
They had another day of two-a-day practices against the nation’s best players scheduled the next morning. Better yet, U.S. Women’s National Team coach Pia Sundhage would be watching.

Dunn and Brooks attended the U.S. U-23 training camp, where the national team coaches evaluated them for potential spots on the Olympic squad.

Neither player has received an evaluation since camp nor heard of their future prospects with the national team. Most likely, they won’t get a look at the national team until after the 2012 Olympics.
Twenty-four players were invited — six professionals, and the rest the nation’s best collegians.

With such talented competition, it’s easy to enter camp a little weary. But it’s also easy to toss that weariness aside for a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream.

“It’s been my dream since I was pretty young,” Dunn said. “I never knew it could possibly come true.

“Going in, I was super nervous. But after I got there I was like, ‘I can play with these girls. I can play with these girls.’”

Despite their initial nerves, the two Tar Heels knew they were well prepared. After all, playing at the highest level is kind of a North Carolina thing.

Since the women’s national team was founded in 1985, 51 Tar Heels have earned caps playing for the U.S. All were coached by Anson Dorrance at UNC.

“I coached in the international arena for eight years,” Dorrance said. “I understand the qualities players need to develop to compete in that arena. My challenge here is to roll out what players need to do to make that.”

Joining Dunn and Brooks at the camp were Meghan Klingenberg and Nikki Washington, both UNC alumnae who play professionally.
Having a clan of light-blue clad players helped Dunn and Brooks gain confidence that they could compete.

“It’s awesome knowing that you represent North Carolina,” Dunn said. “We were just running around like, ‘Tar Heels, Tar Heels,’ and knowing you come from such a strong dynasty and you can flaunt it.”

As the former coach of the U.S. squad and college coach of so many national-team players, Dorrance used his experience to reach out to Dunn and Brooks.

Dorrance is foremost a master of the psychology of the game. In that way, he was able to bring out the bulldog nature in his players that is required to play internationally.

“He told me to go in there with all cylinders firing and a nothing-to-lose mentality,” Brooks said. “I just went in there with a win-win-win mentality and went in there confident, trying to learn something.”

With that aggressive nature, Brooks said she was pleased with the way she performed at camp.

Brooks plays defensive midfield for the Tar Heels and was put in a number of positions on the backline during camp.

Dunn also said she performed well at the camp, particularly in comparison to how nervous she was entering the six-day session.

“I think I did fairly well. I kept my composure,” Dunn said. “Just doing the simple things that can make you stand out.

“It’s an unspoken type of thing. (The coaches) don’t want to be like, ‘Great job,’ and give you false hope, but I talked to a lot of the coaches and they thought my performance was pretty good.”

One day, Dorrance believes his two Tar Heels will be competing at that level.

From his experience, there are certain characteristics Dunn and Brooks possess that make them candidates for the next level — characteristics that other players simply don’t have.

“You need three qualities to make it at the highest level — self-discipline, competitive fire and self-belief,” Dorrance said. “That has to be built on a platform of athleticism.

“Athletically, and psychologically, both of these kids have the profile to play internationally.”

But for now, Dunn and Brooks must work on their game in Chapel Hill as they lead UNC into the NCAA tournament against William and Mary this weekend.

Participating in the camp showed the duo what they’re up against. Their quest toward the national elite has just begun.

“It’s been my dream since I was 7,” Brooks said. “It’s something you talk about so much and you kind of just wait for that day when you know you eventually get that call. That’s the dream, so it’s awesome to take the first step toward doing that.”

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