Boxx inspires Sea Kings

CORONA DEL MAR — For Shannon Boxx, a midfielder on the U.S. women’s soccer team, the Olympic village is a safe-haven from politics.

There, she said, no one talks about the United States’ standing in the world or Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or the rising value of the Euro.

It’s one of the few places where people from all corners of the world can gather and the most relevant issue is competition.

Wednesday afternoon, Boxx, who won a gold medal with the women’s team in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, found another place where soccer-speak was more welcome than talk of politics: the field at Corona del Mar High. Boxx conducted an impromptu soccer clinic and spoke to the CdM girls’ soccer team.

“We focus on playing,” Boxx said. “We don’t focus on the political side of what one country’s doing to another country. That’s the great thing about the Olympics, is that everybody does come together as one, because we’re all there for the same goal, and that’s to compete.”

Boxx, who rose to prominence in 2003 after she became the first player without national team experience to make the U.S. Women’s World Cup team, is practically a soccer goddess to girls like Alex Elias, a senior on the CdM squad. After practicing with the team for about an hour, the woman who set a U.S. record by scoring in her first three career matches spoke about her life as a soccer player, and took out her Olympic medal.

“It was really neat, working with her,” said Elias, who is considering attending Boxx’s alma mater, Notre Dame. “It’s a rare experience to work with a national team player. She’s an awesome player. I’ve watched her in the World Cup. To have someone come out and inspire us like that was really fun.”

Boxx is one of the few remaining members on the U.S. women’s soccer team which won gold in 2004. She was part of the superstar-laden squad that included Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett and Brandi Chastain, living American soccer legends who all retired after winning that year.

Boxx finished third in the voting for FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year in 2005.

Recently, Boxx, who attended South Torrance High, has not had an easy ride. Last summer, she tore her medial collateral ligament and anterior cruciate ligament in practice. She underwent several surgeries to repair the damage, and recovered to compete for a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic women’s soccer team. Boxx played in five matches during the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in October, where she scored one goal.

“I just know it was definitely a challenge and a process,” said CdM Coach Bryan Middleton, who befriended Boxx when they played on the same coed team. “She set a challenge to herself to give it 100% with the rehab. Her goal was to get back on the national team, and she achieved that. She has a very strong work ethic.”

The popularity of women’s soccer soared to previously unseen heights in the United States after the women’s team won the 1999 World Cup. At the time, most of the girls on the Sea Kings’ team were between the ages of 6 and 9, donning cleats for AYSO or club soccer teams.

When the now-defunct WUSA was formed in 2001, it provided another venue for those girls to follow their heroes, including Boxx, who played for the San Diego Spirit for two seasons before she was traded to the New York Power. The WUSA, which suspended operations in 2003, is reportedly expected to relaunch in April 2008 with eight teams.

“I know all those women are hoping the funding comes through so they can play again professionally,” Middleton said. “If there’s a professional league, I know she would play in it again. We’re all itching for that opportunity to have a top-level female league again.”

At 30, Boxx is one of the veteran players on the U.S. women’s team, along with goalkeeper Briana Scurry (36), midfielder Kristine Lilly (36), defender Kate Markgraf (31), and midfielder Marci Jobson (32).

They will go into residency for high-intensity training at the Home Depot Center for the Beijing Olympics later next year, under new coach, Pia Sundhage.

She hopes to lead a new crop of women across the Pacific next summer, women who can use their feet, their heads — anything but their hands — to serve as U.S. dignitaries. All without uttering a single political word.

“It’s been so great, getting these younger players — who are very good players — acknowledged,” Boxx said. “Now there’s new people to look after. People are screaming Abby’s [Wambach] name. People are screaming Carli Lloyd’s name. People are screaming Christie Rampone. People are screaming Heather O’Reilly. It’s just the tradition of this team.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at [email protected].