Baugebiete » surrounded by people eight years your elder,

Karen Musselman remembers watching her then-4-year-old daughter Maddie display a will to win in the pool and on the soccer field that cant be taught. And even if it could, most 4-year-olds wouldnt be able to execute it.Some kids were just having fun [playing soccer], but Maddie wanted to win, Karen said. When theyre little, theres always one child who gets it and keeps scoring and scoring. At first, it was so cute. And then it was, Maddie, stop! And then it was the coach saying, Maddie, dont kick it in the goal anymore. It started out cute, then she was a machine.Maddie Musselman, now 18, is one of three prodigious teens, along with teammates Makenzie Fischer, 19, and Aria Fischer, 17, who are representing the United States at the Rio Olympics as members of the womens water polo team. Like Aria, Maddie made the decision to withdraw from high school to train full time.Though living in Southern California, home of USA Water Polo, afforded them the advantage of living at home, there was still the matter of leaving friends, teachers, teammates and high school life.For Maddies father, Jeff -- a Harvard grad, former major league pitcher and now vice president in the offices of a sports agent -- it meant a research project on the pros and cons involved in enrolling a girl with Ivy League potential and medical school aspirations in an online school.Initially, you dont want to get too far out in front of things. Are we being crazy athlete parents, pushing too hard and too far? But as we learned more about the nontraditional school approach and that it was acceptable to the highest-level academic institutions, it was not that big a risk, Jeff said.For Maddie, it was simply a case of following a natural progression that began with demonstrating obvious athletic ability in soccer and swimming as a young child, then following her sister Alex, who went on to compete for UCLA, into water polo.I grew up swimming my whole life, but I wanted to play water polo because my sister did it, said Maddie, who helped the U.S. win gold at the FINA World League Super Final in June with 11 goals in six games. I think what I really like is the creativity, the mental and the physical part of it. I also liked how competitive it is and that its a team sport.Ross Sinclair got an early glimpse of Maddies ability when she was a 9-year-old enrolled in a Newport Beach ocean safety summer program for which he was an instructor. Sinclair also coached her in a junior lifeguard state competition. I remember explaining to her, This is where you need to enter the water, this is how you read currents for a buoy swim, he said. She was wide-eyed and just got it and went out and won for us. I never had a 10-year-old get it like that.By the time Maddie joined Sinclairs water polo team at Corona del Mar High School, her natural ability was unlike anything the coach had seen. Just the way she moved in the water and fundamentally, she was on another level and I knew she was going to be something special. She had it written all over her, Sinclair?said.He was impressed most with her maturity as a student of the sport. You could show her a video of a guy or girl shooting and tell her to adjust just the littlest detail, and she would pick it up right away, Sinclair said. It was awesome. Really, it was amazing.Maddies parents, both East Coast natives, laugh about their three girls being attracted to and excelling at water sports. Karen, who played soccer at Rutgers, said growing up in Southern California also offered their daughters -- their youngest, Ella, also plays water polo and will start high school in the fall -- the opportunity to interact with former Olympians.When we were growing up, you never met an Olympian, Karen said. Here, theyre everywhere, at special camps, training with the kids.That good fortune included having proximity to Olympic coaches like Adam Krikorian. He won 14 national championships as a player and coach at UCLA, coached the Americans to gold in the 2012 Olympics and will be the U.S. coach in Rio. Krikorian became aware of Maddie when she was just 15 and invited the young prep star to participate in a senior team training session.I was trying to give some young players an outlook on our future and the first thing that drew me to Maddie was that when you looked into her eyes, you could be speaking to a group, but you could see that focus and determination and drive, Krikorian said.Knowing that and seeing that, I remember telling her, Its OK to dream. Sometimes were afraid to dream, to throw ourselves out there and be a little vulnerable, not knowing if were going to accomplish our dreams [or] come up short. Its a scary proposition.It would appear just as scary for Maddie and the Fischer sisters to make some difficult decisions: Maddie and Aria to withdraw from their respective high schools to join the senior team and train full time, and Makenzie to defer her freshman season at Stanford.For Maddie, the decision came in small increments, first traveling with the team on selected trips while trying to keep up with school her sophomore year, then making the leap to leave high school prior to her senior year. Never in a million years did we think shed make the Olympic team at that point, Karen said. We just thought, this will be a great experience and maybe shed have a chance to go to the Olympics in 2020.Jeff said: We just talked constantly about the experience. We told Maddie, Have a good time, work hard, enjoy it because youre doing things kids your age dont normally have the chance to do.The idea was not to create unreasonable expectations, but [Krikorian] left the window open, which for Maddie was huge. Shes a competitor, relentless, fierce. When she heard [making the roster of the senior national team] was a possibility, as she normally does, she gave her ultimate effort.Missing classes while enrolled in high school, Karen said, was more stressful than the decision to leave for an online curriculum. Maddie agreed. Its what I want to do. Its not a huge deal for me, Maddie said. Its an easy commute [to training] and its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to train, do school, hang out with friends. Its a wonderful life, very cool.Maddie also had a ready role model in Maggie Steffens, who was 17 when she first joined the U.S. national water polo team and 19 when, as the youngest member of the team, she led the U.S. to the Olympic gold medal and was named the FINA Player of the Year.Steffens recalled having lunch with Maddie and Makenzie Fischer three years ago after both made their first senior team roster. Just to let them know, Hey, Im here for you guys. I went through something very similar. I know its tough to leave behind your friends, Steffens said. They didnt move away from home, but its still a feeling of moving away. And its also scary because youre now surrounded by people eight years your elder, so its completely different.Youre no longer talking about high school football games, youre talking about what you need to do to accomplish this huge goal. So to be able to talk to Maddie so early on and just let her know Im there for her was really important because there were girls who did that for me.Making it that much easier for Maddie to be accepted quickly were her easygoing personality and immense talent. At times, Maddie is somebody who can easily be very focused and serious, but when the time comes, shes very lighthearted and can crack a joke, Steffens said. And thats a gift she has because no matter what type of person you are, you can relate to her pretty easily.That and her obvious physical gifts set her apart, said Krikorian, who also cited Maddies willingness to try different things. Many times you come across athletes, young and old, who are afraid of trying something new -- a certain drill, a certain way to shoot or play the game -- and deal with some failure. They want success immediately, he said. But from Day 1, it was so clear to me that Maddie had that ability to overcome that fear and try different things, even if she may look silly doing it the first few times.Krikorian points to Maddies lob as an example. Its a world-class weapon for the U.S. that Krikorian calls one of so many little things she has learned and developed and added to her game over the last two years that have made her the complete player she is.Her high school coach said he is not surprised in the least. Its tough to leave high school and go pursue something like this, but shes the type of unique person who can balance everything, Sinclair said. I always tell her that her age is just a number: Its ability [that matters]. And she plays like shes 25 and has two Olympics under her belt. She is a very driven individual. Shes just something special. Ray Ban Sunglasses Sale Online . 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On Monday the NFL returns to Mexico for the first time in 11 years.Since the last time the game was played in the country in October 2005, the league has focused on London, which has played host to 17 games since 2007. The London dividends have been huge crowds and television ratings, which have more than doubled.As the league attempts to broaden its international appeal with a commitment to foreign markets, Mexico was a natural place to return, hoping to boost viewership, which has risen 28 percent in the past five years alone. NFL owners made a commitment in 2015 to play international regular-season games through 2025.In the late 1960s, NFL games came to Mexico on TV and became popular about a decade later. That is why, after the Dallas Cowboys, who owe some fan affinity to proximity, the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers -- franchises that dominated at that time -- are often listed as favorite teams among Mexicans.Today, theres no shortage of places to watch the NFL. Mexicans get nine live games a week, which through a new deal with ESPN includes Sunday and Monday Night Football, and for the first time this season, the Red Zone channel. The Texans-Raiders game will be the first Monday Night Football game to be played outside the U.S. Another advantage: Mexicos time zones overlap those in the U.S.To capitalize on the growing interest, the league has had an office in Mexico for 18 years and has sold 20 sponsorships to native companies, including the likes of Visa, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Papa Johns.London, by some, has been considered to have a real opportunity to have an NFL franchise in the future. Mexico has been discussed less, even though 15 teams are within a four-hour flight of Mexico City. Based on demographics and population density, FiveThirtyEights Nate Silver estimated that only six NFL cities have more ffans than Mexico City does -- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and Houston.ddddddddddddBut NFL fans alone, all 28 million of them in Mexico and an estimated 1.49 million in Mexico City, dont make up good enough business reasons to consider it for a relocation or expansion market.It would be cheaper to run a team in Mexico City than in the U.S., but there would also be obstacles.While the Monday Night Football game sold out in minutes, tickets could be had for face value of $27 at the lowest levels. Families have less disposable income than in many of NFL cities in the U.S.Also, President-elect Donald Trumps foreign policy statements during the campaign focused on keeping jobs and manufacturing in the U.S., and specifically called out the North American Free Trade Agreement that eliminated many barriers to trade between the U.S. and Mexico. If he follows through, it could strain relations between the U.S. and Mexico.While its clear Mexico City will not have a permanent team in the next four years, the question remains whether what the league is doing can be damaged by the political environment as Trump takes over.The big question is whether people in Mexico feel comfortable to continue to support an American product like the NFL, said Chris Rogers of Panjiva, a global trade data company. If Donald Trump doesnt like Mexico, do Mexicans like America?The complexities of going outside the U.S. are vast, but the rewards are also great. The NFL might be the No. 1 league in the U.S. by a wide margin, but as the world gets smaller, the benefits of being more global like the NBA are even greater.Heading back to Mexico and adding to the hype by putting it on Monday Night Football is a start. ' ' '