Just Jones It (College Edition): A Cinderella Story x 27 = UNC Women's Soccer

Being born with a true Tar Heel spirit and playing highly competitive club soccer and school soccer my whole life, I was always aware of the fact that the University of North Carolina Women's Soccer program was the ultimate success story in NCAA Women's Athletics.

Each year my Dad would buy me a t-shirt from the well known store, 'Johnny T-Shirt', that occupies a spot on the sometimes-cozy-but-usually-wild-and-crazy strip of Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. My highly anticipated, annual tee shirt adorned a Tar Heel Women's Soccer logo in the perfect shade of blue on it's front and on the back was a list of every year Anson Dorrance and the Lady Tar Heels won the NCAA National Title ('81, '82, '83, '84, '86, '87, '88, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '94, '96, '97, '99, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008). In replacement of the 1985, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2007 seasons was a word that simply summed up the reason why UNC has not completely held down the nation for 27 years. The 8 years (out of 27) are described on the back of my favorite t-shirt just like this - "Oops!"

Ya, no big deal, huh? Just a shrug of the shoulder with sly grin and a cynical, sarcastic "Oops!" comment and maybe a little rolling of the eye and you've got it mastered - "Oops!"

Of course, if you are a girl who happened to be a soccer player at North Carolina during any of the 8 non-title winning years then I can assume the intense feelings disappointment and guilt are indescribable. However, one sarcastic word sums it up perfect and tells a true story. A little mistake. An imperfection. A defect in the system of elitism. That's it; that's all folks!

Maybe if you happen to be a Tar Heel women's soccer player during any of those 8 years you weren't really disappointed and instead inspired by an opportunity to arise to a challenge. Arising to that challenge with high and mighty confidence, however, because at the end of the day you're still a Tar Heel and they're not and you don't lose any sleep because you are part of the dynasty. An incredibly storied and historic dynasty. The ugly step-sister may have beat you 8 times in 27 years, but when you're the main character you're everyone's favorite. We'll all anxiously await the "happily ever after" because you're a Tar Heel soccer player -you're Cinderella - appropriately dressed in light blue beauty.

Anson Dorrance, the head coach of the Carolina Women's Soccer team, is not-mistakenly the John Wooden of the female athletic world. The fairy godfather in the essence of fairy tales and happily ever afters. He's a winner, his players are the elite, and his dynasty is far from being destroyed. Well known soccer players like Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Cindy Parlow, and Tisha Venturini wore the sacred Tar Heel jersey before they were Gold medal winning Olympians and World Cup Champions and Gatorade spokeswomen. Their fairy tale began as hard-working student athletes and spiraled into being champions, world travelers, heroes, and idols to little pony-tailed girls in Florida.

As a whole, I idolize the women from the past and present that have contributed and currently represent the success of the most powerful women's soccer program in the nation. The Princesses in this fairy tale of ultimate sport's hierarchy and their coach/fairy godfather/King/Prince Charming/Knight in Shining Armour (whatever defines his legacy best) changed the relationship between athletics and feminism. "Playing like a girl" isn't an insult anymore. Little girls grow up wanting to be the next Mia Hamm like our male counterparts grew up wanting to be like Mike and now our little boys won't go golfing with their Dad in anything other than a red Nike polo because of a guy named Tiger Woods. Some of us girls - maybe it is just me - are scarred for life because our parents made us go to the DUKE Women's Soccer Camp because we were too small to attend Anson Dorrance's soccer camp 7 miles down the lovely Tobacco Road in nearby Chapel Hill. While I was playing soccer (not learning anything from the Lady Blue Devils because they're AWFUL) and biting my tounge in Gotham City, my sister was living it up at UNC on Fetzer Field with NCAA legends. (Note: this was when I finally had solid evidence to support my argument that I was not the favorite daughter).

Wait, it gets better. Not only did I attend DUKE soccer camp, I also attended THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA soccer camp. Seriously, I'm not joking. The two schools in the entire nation that I have nothing but pure hatred for was my 'home away from home' for a week. Do you feel my bitterness? The only thing I learned at either camp was how to bite my tounge and I'm using those skills right now because I have other preferred choice-words to describe Duke and UF and those couple of weeks that negatively and permanently affected the rest of my life.

Baily, count to ten, go to your 'happy place', take deep breathes and exhale slowly......

Happy place. Ok, UNC-Chapel Hill.........

Furthermore, the near-perfection of these role models that the UNC Women's Soccer program provided to many people set the standard for winning and defined what it meant to be a winner.

The dynasty that is often forgotten amongst the rest of the sport's crazed has yet to slow down in proving that when you've won 19 out of the 27 possible NCAA titles you've contested for you don't have to boast or brag to convince others that you were a successful student-athlete or that your college years were a blast. We believe you; we're convinced, trust me. Not to mention that those 8 the Heels weren't the National Champion they were runner-up (1985, 1998, 2001), or you were in the quarter-finals or semi-finals (1995, 2002, 2005), or at the very worst - the Sweet 16 (2004 and 2007). Maybe that's what makes this legacy so special - the ones who appreciate and respect sports in its entirety have not forgotten this storied success. The true sport's crazed spirit knows what a dynasty is, what a legend is, what a legacy is. They're not boastful, they don't brag, they don't make giant spectacles of themselves, and they don't hand out nicknames like 'Superman' just because a couple of national titles were won. Dynasties, legends, legacies - these things speak for themselves and when something IS needed to be said it's a simple "Oops!" to admit a mistake was made.

The female athlete hasn't always been accepted in the way she is today. Twenty-seven years ago there was no North Carolina Women's Soccer program. However, the impact the Lady Tar Heel has made on the post-feminist sport's world is large. The power vested in the 27 year-old program was made by defeating opponents, criticism, and sexism on Fetzer Field while maintaining lady-like poise and world-class sportsmanship. They turned fairy tales in to realities for competitive youth soccer players and gave parents someone to point to and say to their own little Tar Heel girl "work hard, don't quit, she sure as hell didn't." That now little Alabama girl can forever be grateful to soccer, the female athlete, and having a league of their own. She can forever have utmost respect for the women who changed the course of history. She can forever be appreciative of a true dynasty. She can forever be full of spirit for her favorite team, her favorite idols, and her favorite legends. In essence of little girls not being sugar and spice and everything nice because the female athlete changed that idea, that little girl can forever love to hate hate hate her nemesis' of Duke and UF.

She can write sport's articles, she can argue with the boys, and she can leave her mark in the records book as well. The female-athlete - the beauty in being a badass, having the heart and soul of a champion, and being way more than just a pretty face.

So, happily ever after's may exist for some of us and may not exist for others but the opportunity to get in the game and to go out there and make it happen exists for us ALL.