The 2012 Summer Olympics are underway in London, and Micaela Mercado has an idea about how some of the Olympians, especially the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, are probably feeling as they compete against top athletes in their field.
“They are probably feeling nervous,” said the 14-year-old Greenhaven resident. “They know their country is watching and depending on them to bring home the gold. I am sure they are pretty nervous, but at the same time are staying focus and keeping as calm as possible.”
The McClatchy High School sophomore knows a little something about pressure.
Mercado has just returned from playing soccer in Sweden, at the 2012 Gothia Cup.
The Gothia Cup is considered the world’s largest and most international youth soccer tournament. Nearly 1,600 teams from 70 nations participate in the Gothia Cup, also known as the World Youth Cup.
For one week in the middle of July, the city of Gothenburg is transformed into a mini “United Nations-with-shinguards.” Teams from South Africa, Germany, Brazil and more come out to compete.
The teams live and eat together at a local school, all the while playing soccer by day and hanging out in the hallways sharing culture, music and Facebook addresses at night.
Mercado says playing at an elite soccer tournament has helped her develop into a complete player.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Mercado, who plays locally with the San Juan Sprites.
Teens ‘invited’ to play at the Gothia Cup hope this opportunity will allow them to stand out within the large field of competition, she said.
“It’s only the biggest, international event a teen player can be a part of,” Mercado said. “Many professional women soccer players have competed at the Gothia Cup at one time in their lives.”
Mercado hopes to be one of them.
Her invitation to the Gothia Cup was not by chance, but by fate. It all began in late May when she scored the only winning goal for her Folsom soccer team, the San Juan Spirits, against a girls team from San Diego (1-0).
Her winning kick landed her a spot to play with Washington State’s Crossfire Premiere team.
Once again, thanks to Mercado’s powerful kick, the Crossfire Premier Girls won the Manchester United Premier Cup at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. over Memorial Day weekend, earning the team a free trip to the Gothia Cup in Sweden.
All of the expenses for the trip were paid for by Nike.
“Throughout this whole experience I felt like I was going to the Olympics,” Mercado said. “It was fun. What I love about this sport is the rush you get when you score a goal, the teams we play and the pressure and competition that the sport entails. It’s something I crave.”
While at the Gothia Cup, Mercado and her adoptive Washington teammates played against other soccer players from China, Mexico, Brazil and Sweden.
“I was a little nervous at first because I know they are great competition,” she said. “It’s all really a mental and physical game. Every time I step on the field, I love knowing that I’m about to go play the game. When I step on the field, everything else just goes away and I can just play.”
During the first two days of games, the U.S. team was able to beat all of its opponents in its bracket, until “Day 3 – Knockouts.”
The team to beat was home favorite Sweden.
After nearly two hours on the playing field, team USA and Sweden were still tied at 0-0 by the end of the game, forcing the two teams to go to penalty kick.
That is when team USA made a goal, and then Sweden made a goal. Despite the loud, distractive cheers and yelling from the field, Mercado managed to maintain her focus and scored the second goal kick for the U.S.
Host team Sweden, however, managed to score the final two goals ending the game 4-2.
The United States has won the last three World Youth Cups. This year the team from Washington did not disappoint. The Crossfire Premier team came in third in its division, bringing home the bronze medal.
“After the game we were a little disappointed, but in the end as a team we played well and we did place in the top three,” Mercado said. “It was a good achievement in the end.”
After this experience Mercado, who kicked her first soccer ball at age 4 playing for the Greenhaven Hornets, has aspirations for Olympic competition.
“That is my end goal, to play professionally for team USA,” she said. “Until then, all I can do is continue to work on my body structure, run and train to get better.”

Elizabeth@valcomnews.com

Former WNBA Sacramento Monarchs Player and Olympic Gold Medalist Ruthie Bolton will be sharing her Olympic story and autographing her new biography, “The Ride of a Lifetime: The Making of Mighty Ruthie” on Aug. 12.
The book signing will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. at Avid Reader at the Tower, 1600 Broadway, in Sacramento.
Bolton is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, USA Basketball Female Player of the Year, Sports Illustrated Best Woman Athlete and one of only four players to be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.
Also known as the “Mighty Ruthie,” this athlete, educator, former First Lieutenant of the U.S. Army and First National Spokeswoman for the WNBA’s “Play Fit and Stay Fit” youth development program, has an accomplished record of public service and significant experience reaching a variety audiences.
Her motivational story empowers women and young girls to pursue their dreams.
In her book, “The Ride of a Lifetime: The Making of Mighty Ruthie,” Bolton shares her story—“a ride that started when [she] entered the world in McLain, Mississippi.”
She has 19 siblings. Ruthie reveals not only her own story, passion for basketball and helping others, but she provides reminders and principles to help others pursue their passion.
“If you practice the principles (Ruthie) sets forth about discipline, commitment, and work ethic, you’ll definitely experience your own success,” said former Olympic Coach and Coach of Stanford University Women’s Basketball, Tara Vanderveer.
The general public is invited to attend the event.

McClatchy High School’s only Olympic athlete is Starr Walton-Hurley who competed in skiing in the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Starr, who graduated from CKM in 1960, is one of first 50 individuals (between 1938-1962) chosen to be inducted into McClatchy’s Sports Hall of Fame on September 20, at the Elks Club as part of McClatchy’s 75-year Anniversary Dinner.
Starr was born in Yuba City but moved to Sacramento and attended Joaquin Miller and later McClatchy. Her grandparents were involved with the Soda Springs Hotel, the Donner Ski Ranch and managed Sugar Bowl in the 1930’s and 40’s. When her father went off to war in 1945, she moved to the mountains with her grandparents and began skiing at age three. She won her first race at five and was hooked for life. She was both the Junior and Senior National Champion and Skier of the Year in 1963.
High school life was challenging as a skier. “McClatchy was lots of fun,” she laughed, and “Mr. Pepper was always cutting out articles about my races for me.” Living in South Land Park, she remembers walking to school through Land Park with her friends. Other happy times include her first car, a blue military jeep, that she drove to school each day her senior year. Mrs. Johnson (Johnny) was one of her favorite teachers, and all of her teachers were supportive of her efforts to become a world-class skier.
With the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, she broke her foot right before trials, but she carried the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony, which was quite an honor for a local girl. She also helped Stan Atkinson and Stu Nahan get interviews with the American athletes that she knew for local television stations. Later that year, she came back to beat many of the Olympic athletes in races.
“To get to the Olympics, my parents paid for everything including various competitions. I represented Sugar Bowl and they gave us a little money, but you couldn’t take a lot of money because you were considered an amateur. Only amateurs could compete back then. We had no logos, no labels. Things were a bit different then, no endorsements. We had to give back all of our equipment after the games.”  Starr smiled as she called herself a “flatlander,” a person who lived in Sacramento but skied every weekend at Soda Springs or Sugar Bowl.
After graduating from McClatchy, Starr attended Sacramento City College and then transferred to University of Colorado, Boulder where she could ski and try out for the 1964 Olympic team. They picked six women every four years, and in 1964, at Innsbruck, she was the top US finisher in the downhill (14th) dominated by Europeans with a time of 2:01.45. She finished 9th in the world at the end of the ski season and laughed as she called herself “The fastest American woman skier in 1963 and 1964.”
When asked about her favorite Olympic moments, she said there were two of them. “One was walking in behind the children who carry the United States name plate and walking into the stadium in your uniform as part of the United States team with all of the other competitors. It’s pretty awesome! The reality hits you!  It’s like, I‘m an Olympian!”
“My second favorite memory is the closing ceremony. All of the athletes come in together. It’s an unstructured parade, and I remember walking in with the friends that I had made.  It really kind of states the camaraderie that has occurred. You may be competitors but, on the other hand, you are new friends and it is incredible.”
After the Olympics, she lived in Vail, Colorado for a while before moving to Sacramento and San Francisco where she worked for United Airlines. Later, she continued in the ski business with “Starr Trekks” where she led groups of skiers all over the world on ski trips. In 2002, she was again an Olympic Torch Bearer for the Olympic games in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in 2010 carried the torch in Squaw Valley for the 50-year Olympic anniversary celebration.”
Today, Starr is known throughout Sacramento as “the ultimate volunteer.” She is President of the Land Park Zoo Association, a trustee on the Crocker Museum Board, and named Volunteer of the Year by the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. She is an active volunteer with the Northern California Olympians, the Sacramento Sister City Council, and the Leadership Council of UC Davis Medical Center and Drexel University. Widowed, her husband was a famous cardiac surgeon at UC Davis Med Center. In her few minutes of spare time, she can be found playing golf at El Macero.
When meeting and talking with Starr, you can see a person who loves life and truly cares about people. And, you can still see that 15-year-old flying down the Sierra slopes, taking on all comers.
“I have a passion for skiing. I still ski all the time. I am on the slopes and I ski with anybody. I enjoy watching the beginners as their face goes from anxiety to this wonderful realization that they can do it!!! When I go to Sun Valley and ski with the “big boys,” as I call them, and I am cruising at 70 miles an hour down that mountain, I am in Hog Heaven. I am loving every minute of it and I do wear a helmet.”
This is the second in a series of articles about athletes and teams chosen to be part of McClatchy’s Sports Hall of Fame induction to be held on September 20. For more information about the members/teams and how you can attend the 75-Year Celebration, go to restoretheroar.org.