Tampa Day 5: Education, education, education

The Tampa tour was always intended as educational, and today the girls went to college. Eckerd College, to be precise, nestled at the mouth of Tampa Bay near the four-mile Sunshine Skyway bridge.

There their host was a professor of football, if such a thing existed: Danielle Fotopoulos, the 1999 World Cup winner and all-time NCAA Division 1 record goalscorer, who is now head coach of the Eckerd women’s soccer team.

Danielle showed the girls round her place of work, and it’s not a bad place to earn a living. Situated on the Gulf coast, with its own beaches and dock, Eckerd is idyllic – but Danielle was quick to demolish any preconceptions of athletes sailing through college barely troubled by academia. Anyone who goes to college, even on a soccer scholarship, is thoroughly monitored for grades and attendance.

Indeed, Danielle was insistent that she won’t even consider enrolling someone who isn’t excelling academically (meaning, after a little wrangling through the US/UK grading differences, B+ at least – in core subjects like English and "math"). Parents will be glad to know that any pie-sky ideas of ignoring study to become a famous footballer will have been squarely knocked out by Danielle’s firm but fair words.

Showing the girls around for 90 minutes, Danielle was generous with her time and patient with the queries, from the straightforward “What’s a sophomore?” to knottier questions about finances and combining motherhood with a professional career. Those Teddington girls – and there are a few of them – who might fancy pursuing this academic avenue have now had a glimpse into a possible future – and a clearer idea of what is required.

One requirement is a constant commitment to improving as players, so an afternoon with Mrs Fotopoulos was followed by an evening with Mr Fotopoulos. Having watched the game on Saturday, George had a few suggestions for the girls' training, so it was back to the Ed Radice complex – thankfully in the cooler early evening.

Overriding more minor language barriers – cleats are boots and pennies are bibs, that sort of thing – Tampa Bay United's Director of Coaching gave the girls a simple but important training session built around switching the point of attack.

Firm but friendly, George also stopped training a couple of times to introduce various coaches who were arriving to tutor some of the 9,000-odd kids under TBU's umbrella – coaches like Martin Grammatica, whose eight successful placekicks helped Tampa Bay Buccaneers win the 2002 Super Bowl.

Hopefully the girls will learn from the advice kindly given by Mr and Mrs Fotopoulos. The first evidence may come tomorrow, when Teddington take on Tampa's U13 Elite – but maybe the effects will be much longer-lasting.