Mitts' road to Beijing
BY RORY GLYNN | RGLYNN@ENQUIRER.COM

Soccer star runs camp, makes run at Team USA berth

June again finds Heather Mitts with her mind on two soccer events on opposite ends of the spectrum: a major international competition and her camp for kids.

Last year, she was relegated to the sidelines for both. This year, she's ready to play.

Mitts, just about fully mended from the torn anterior cruciate ligament that put her out of the 2007 World Cup, is one of the final 22 players in the running for the 2008 Olympic team. Team USA is in South Korea this week for an international tuneup, the Peace Queen Cup.

On Tuesday, the day after Mitts' 30th birthday, the importance of her recovery was underscored when teammate Cat Whitehill tore her left ACL during a practice in Seoul. Whitehill's injury came less than three weeks after the team lost Leslie Osborne, a midfielder, to a torn ACL.

After the Peace Queen Cup, USA coach Pia Sundhage will announce her Olympic roster. Of the 22 selected for the trip to Korea, 18 figure to make the U.S. roster, with three alternates. Defender Stephanie Cox, added to the team to replace Whitehill, was not among the original 22.

Mitts, who has made three appearances for the national team this spring, is rounding her game into shape for a team that suddenly could use more experience along the back line.

Speaking before Whitehill's injury, Mitts, a veteran of the 2004 gold-medal winning Olympic team, liked her chances of sticking. "I don't know for sure," she said. "But as long as I'm healthy and making progress and playing like I'm capable of, I feel good about it. But I don't want to jinx myself."

Mitts played 53 minutes vs. Australia on April 27, 58 minutes vs. the Aussies on May 3 and a full 90 vs. Canada on May 10.

"I think she is happy. I am happy with the way she has been playing," Sundhage said after the first Australia game. "It's tough. She's been away from the game for so long. Her positioning and her decision making, I thought it was pretty good today. ... That's a good start for her."

Being one of the last 18 standing would be quite a milestone for Mitts, who last year at this time had difficulty standing at all. Surgery last May for the torn ACL turned the past year into one long, bicoastal rehab session. Mitts covered the World Cup for ESPN around rehabilitation stints in Philadelphia and Carson, Calif., where the U.S. team trains, battling through the usual soreness and setbacks.

The knee is "about 98 percent," she said. "It's come back a lot faster than I thought."

Mitts said she cleared a major mental obstacle in March at the Algarve Cup in Portugal. She went in for a sliding tackle and popped right back up. "I thought, 'Wow, that wasn't too bad,' " Mitts said.

The whole ordeal of the past year came back to her when Osborne was injured. "I literally cried when that happened," Mitts said. "I've been talking to her every day, about the surgery, the rehab, any questions she might have. Believe me, I know just how she feels."

After Korea but before the Olympics, Mitts will stage her annual soccer camp for kids 8-13 at Summit Country Day. Last year's camp was held just a few weeks after her surgery. That forced her to be more of an observer than instructor. Well, it was supposed to, anyway.

"I'm so hands-on, I had to get out there a little bit," Mitts said. "My knee hated me the next day."