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'I want to be like that:' U.S. Women's Soccer Team inspires young athletes at Mercer camp

After winning the World Cup, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team inspires young, female soccer players at Mercer's Elite Soccer Camp to reach their dreams

MACON, Ga. — The United States Women's Soccer Team continues to pave the way for female athletes after their World Cup win.

RELATED: US wins 4th World Cup title, 2nd in a row, beats Dutch 2-0

MORE: Fans celebrate Women's World Cup champs at ticker-tape parade

Over a hundred female athletes at Mercer's Elite Women's Soccer Camp all have one thing in common -- their love for soccer. Many of them started at a young age.

"Gosh, I think since I was like four or five," Senior Mercer Soccer player Megan Delmonico said.

"I started when I was 4-years-old, so it's been 13 years," 17-year-old Jamie Hlebec said.

"My family has been playing it for a long time, and it's just a sport that I'm good at," 10-year-old Alexa Economopoulos said.

These young women range from nine to 21-years-old and came from across the east coast to the camp, working towards the same dream.

"The goal is to play on the national team. USA obviously, of course," Hlebec said.

"I want to be on the U.S. girls team," 9-year-old Pierce Moore said.

"That's always the dream of playing, you know we do all of this so it'd be cool to be on a big stage in front of everyone," Delmonico said.

Delmonico has looked up to the U.S. women's team her whole life.

"I actually have a little barbie doll of when they won the '99 game, but I think this year has been the first year of them being true role models, and a real representation of a team," Delmonico said.

With their 2019 World cup win, she continues to be inspired.

"It was just a really great game, because there wasn't for one moment that anyone thought they were going to lose and when Sauerbrunn got headed in the face, she got taped up and got right back out there, I was like that's sick. I want to be like that. That's cool," she said.

"To think that I'm 17, and they're three, four, five, a couple of them, not that much older than me, the age of my older sisters, I think it's really inspirational knowing that in a couple of years that could be me," Hlebec said.

"They inspire me, because I feel like that if they could do it, I could do it," Moore said.

The campers have three practice sessions a day, and they finish with competitive games in the evening. 

The camp began Wednesday and lasts until Saturday.

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