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Wauwatosa's Mahrt part of first U.S. strikers and goalkeepers camp

12/15/2016, 5:30pm CST
By ERIC ANDERSON
U.S. Soccer Federation logo

Instead of being in cold and snowy Wisconsin this week, Wauwatosa's Aryssa Mahrt is in Carson, Calif., as part of a unique U.S. Soccer girls national training camp.

The forward, who plays club soccer on the FC Wisconsin Eclipse Under-16 team, is one of 30 players invited to the inaugural strikers and goalkeepers camp.

The four-day camp, which started Wednesday, features primarily players born in 2000, '01 and '02. Mahrt has been a part of four Under-14 national team events this year, most recently playing with the team at last month's U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program Girls Thanksgiving Interregional in Boca Raton, Fla.

U.S. Soccer women’s technical director April Heinrichs is overseeing the camp, with Under-15 national team coach Mark Carr leading the group of 23 strikers and U.S. women's national team goalkeeper coach Graeme Abel working with the seven keepers.

The rest of the coaching staff is made up entirely of former U.S. women's national team and professional players, including Heather O'Reilly, Lori Chalupny, Christie Welsh and former UW-Green Bay women's coach Kacey White.

“The rationale for this kind of event is to emphasize the process of developing world-class attacking players at all levels of our girls' national team programs,” Heinrichs said in a news release. "You develop world-class finishers over time and with lots of hours spent with the ball, but this event is about providing inspiration and guidance from some excellent role models so that these young players can return to their club environments and work on their own to hone their skills."

Tag(s): U.S. National Team