Darlington to host U.S. Paralympic soccer team
Two decades after Georgia welcomed the world’s greatest athletes it will welcome back a team and program preparing to make another international showing.
The U.S. Paralympic National Soccer Team, which last visited Georgia for the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, is heading to Rome next week as part of its training schedule for the upcoming Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The training camp will be held at two locations beginning at Darlington School from Sunday through July 17, then shifting to Oglethorpe University in Atlanta from July 19 to August 1 before returning to Darlington from August 2-9.
“I am looking forward, as are the players, to getting on the field as we begin our final preparations for Rio,” PNT head coach Stuart Sharp said in a release by U.S. Soccer. “The facilities that we will be using in Atlanta, along with the climate, will provide us an excellent opportunity to continue to build our momentum toward the Paralympics Games in September.”
The national team has a couple connections to Georgia and the city of Atlanta. It’s been 20 years since the 1996 Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in Atlanta and the U.S. Paralympic National team finished fourth, it’s best finish since first competing in Barcelona in 1992.
Additionally, Sharp calls Atlanta home while midfielder Steven Bohlemann graduated this year from Georgia Tech with a Master of Science in mechanical engineering.
The 2016 Paralympics, which will be held Sept. 7-18, bring together the top eight paralympic soccer teams in the world following a four-year qualification cycle to compete for the gold medal.
“We have set some targets for ourselves to achieve in Brazil, it’s not going to be easy against the top seven countries in the world, however I am confident that I have assembled a squad of players who can apply themselves to meet expectations,” Sharp said.
The U.S. team includes players with Cerebral Palsy, those who have survived a stroke, and those who have suffered from a traumatic brain injury. The team includes three military veterans who were injured while serving overseas.
The U.S. was drawn into Group A for the Rio Paralympics with the Netherlands, Russia and Argentina. Group B contains Brazil, Great Britain, Ireland and Ukraine. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals on Sept. 14, with the medal matches set take place on Sept. 16.