Women's World Cup Win Inspires Kids At Local Soccer Camp
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CORAL SPRINGS (CBSMiami) – The soccer fever is still burning across the United States--and South Florida is no exception.
Kids at Simply Soccer Summer Camp in Coral Springs are kicking around in the steamy July sun with a little extra pep following the U.S. soccer team's big win in the 2015 Women's World Cup.
"Really excited. Me and my cousins jumped on the bed and everything and got excited," Kassidy Thornton told CBS4's Gaby Fleischman.
Sunday's win is the team's third World Cup title and the first since 1999 with Carli Lloyd's record-setting three goals in the first 16 minutes, the fastest in both women's and men's World Cup history.
"That just goes to show that anybody could do anything," said Benjamin Sloane.
Coach Gary Curreri said the interest in women's soccer has surged in recent years.
"The fever is getting more intense that more and more girls are showing up this year for our camps," Curreri said. "We've had record numbers so far—we've probably been 35-percent up."
Many think this generation of soccer superstars will inspire even more love for the game.
"I wanna be like them one day," said Kassidy Thornton who is headed to the fifth grade next school year. "I'm gonna keep on practicing and learning new tricks."
Maya Guzman also plans on working extra-hard as she dreams of, one day, playing on the field at the World Cup.
Some are also hoping the women's win will help kick-down the boy-beats-girl mentality.
"Give girls in America that little boost like, 'oh, we're good, we can do stuff, we can do stuff better than the guys' and they won't be afraid to go out and play their heart out," said Emilee Budowski, a camp counselor.
Benjamin Sloane agreed, "they can do whatever they want to do if they practice and think they can do it."