In the American dream, athletes get rich. They win gold at the Olympics, claim a little piece of immortality in the Hall of Fame, sign autographs for admirers.
But an athlete never gets to be 6 years old again, when the innocent joy of sports is the most fun a kid can have.
April Heinrichs is living that impossible dream this week.
It did not happen at a sold-out stadium. A small, neighborhood park in Littleton brought the dream home for Heinrichs.
“As a little girl, I slept in my soccer jersey. It was yellow on one side and red on the other. You flipped it inside out from one game to the next. I stuffed Reader’s Digest magazines in my socks for shinguards,” Heinrichs said Tuesday.
This week, all those old smiles covered Heinrichs with a fresh coat of pure joy, when going out to play a little soccer with kids on a local field where she scored her first goal 35 years ago.
“It took me back to my very first memory of the game, running out on that grass in those white-and-yellow-striped socks,” Heinrichs said. “It was wonderful.”
Every girl who has ever juggled a soccer ball can identify Mia Hamm by the poster on a bedroom wall.
But Heinrichs is the name that made the game essential to a revolution for women’s sports in the United States.
The first female player inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame? Heinrichs. Coach of the U.S. Olympic team? Heinrichs. A proud Colorado native? Heinrichs.
When the USA beat Brazil at the 2004 Summer Games in Greece to win gold, Heinrichs had the glory of directing the world’s best team.
Heinrichs returned home this week, giving four days of her time to conduct clinics for the Littleton Soccer Club with players as young as 9.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t Littleton, Colorado,” Heinrichs said. “You’re telling these kids: ‘I once stood in your shoes, on this field, as a little kid.”‘
A generation ago, it was dawn of the decade that would see tennis pro Billie Jean King knock Bobby Riggs on his chauvinistic piggy tail, and Title IX would soon empower women to be more than cheerleaders.
But, in 1970, Heinrichs was not out to change the world. She was 6 years old. A girl just wanted to have fun.
“I never knew girls weren’t supposed to play soccer,” Heinrichs said. “There’s no question I ran into stumbling blocks. … There were some antiquated social notions. But I had coaches who made me feel like I could do anything.”
A brilliant career started with three local men who did not think Heinrichs should be happy on the sideline shaking pompoms. Hugh Hilleary introduced a rambunctious tomboy to soccer. Mike Hartman coached the club team on which Heinrichs blossomed. Gary Gustafson helped her win a state championship at Heritage High School.
Heinrichs came back to teach soccer in Littleton not to repay a debt, but to honor the pioneering coaches who helped her discover the beauty in sports.
Soccer is not going away. It’s ignored now by middle-aged men who once scratched bellies and grumped the Internet was a fad.
“The attraction of soccer for me? It was a player-driven sport. It was a flowing, creative sport. Soccer is part art, part science,” Heinrichs said. “I feel akin to soccer, because I think life is part science, part art. Life is all about making choices on the run.”
It’s the dream of every young athlete to score the game-winner, win Olympic gold or be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Heinrichs did more than bring the dream home. She passed it forward.
Signing autographs Monday night in the Littleton park, Heinrichs wrote her name on a well-worn soccer ball of a 10-year-old player.
By season’s end, the prized autograph seems destined to be booted, scuffed and smudged beyond recognition.
Somehow, I think Heinrichs will get a kick out of that.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
