Heather O'Reilly:))

The Rookie Called to the Olympics

From the start of college I just wanted to stay there, but at the same time I was wishing I could be with team USA. I thought my short time on the team was over, but in 2004 I got a call like the first one, but for a different reason. I picked up my phone and it was the coach of USA that said, "Hi Heather. We would like you  to come train with us to prepare for the Olympics. The 18 player roster is not out yet, but we would like you to come and train. It will help me decide that roster."

I was literally screaming inside. I tried being cool, but I screamed, "OF COURSE!!" and then right after she said okay and hung up. That really didn't matter to me, I was just so glad I got to go and play with them again.

A day later I had to leave college to go and train. I got all of my books and school work. The one bad part of the training was that I'd miss school and missing school means that there would be a lot of work to catch back up on. After each day of training I was sitting in a room by myself catching up and studying.

About two weeks later the training was over and the 18 player roster was decided. I was literally shaking to see if I was on that list. I couldn't scream in front of everyone if I did because some players would be going home.

The 18 player roster for the 2004 Athens Olympics read: "KRISTIN LUCKENBILL, BRIANA SCURRY,
BRANDI CHASTAIN, JOY FAWCETT, KATE MARKGRAF, HEATHER MITTS, CHRISTIE RAMPONE, CAT REDDICK, SHANNON BOXX, JULIE FOUDY, ANGELA HUCLES, KRISTINE LILLY, LINDSAY TARPLEY, ALY WAGNER, MIA HAMM, HEATHER O'REILLY, CINDY PARLOW, ABBY WAMBACH."

I was literally screaming inside when I saw my name. I couldn't believe how hard I worked. At night I called my parents I was going to Athens and they were so proud of me and so were my brothers. Most importantly I was proud of myself too, I mean I admit I shocked, but I was really proud. Going to the Olympics means I was going to be missing a lot of schoolwork, but if you're going compare a chance of going to the Olympics to sitting in school which would you choose? The Olympics of course! I knew I wasn't the only one. Abby told me a couple weeks ago that she dealt with the same stuff when she was in college and she said if I needed any help she would be glad to.  She always made everything less stressful and in my surprise she actually did help me, I thought people just said that to be nice.

Training got more and more complicated because we needed to go to the Olympics and prove that we are the best. April told us that she really wanted to win, but if we did lose she would be okay with that as long as we put in our best efforts. I love coaches like that, but I also like coaches that want to win and work us hard. April was that coach was supportive and pushed us to work hard and that's basically one reason why I love April.