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Getting playing tips and life lessons from Carli Lloyd

Gianna Campbell, 11, watched in awe this month as Carli Lloyd propelled the U.S. women's soccer team to victory in the 2015 Women's World Cup, putting away Japan with three goals in 16 minutes.

Carli Lloyd demonstrates the next shooting drill during the Carli Lloyd Day Camp at Universal Soccer Academy in Lumberton on July 18, 2015. (ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer)
Carli Lloyd demonstrates the next shooting drill during the Carli Lloyd Day Camp at Universal Soccer Academy in Lumberton on July 18, 2015. (ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer)Read more

Gianna Campbell, 11, watched in awe this month as Carli Lloyd propelled the U.S. women's soccer team to victory in the 2015 Women's World Cup, putting away Japan with three goals in 16 minutes.

Saturday, the slight blonde defender with a pink headband had the opportunity to train with her hometown hero.

"I look up to her as a role model," said Gianna, who, like the two-time Olympic gold medalist, hails from Delran.

Just two weeks after Lloyd stunned the world with her performance at the Cup, she returned to her South Jersey turf to lead a soccer camp for girls at Universal Soccer Academy in Lumberton, where she has trained for a dozen years.

For two sessions, 200 girls from as far away as Ohio and North Carolina got to play with the champion, who ran them through drills and shared tips about approaching the game she rules.

"This is a camp that exposes these kids to the actual drills that Carli has done over the last 12 years to make her better," said James Galanis, the director of Universal Soccer Academy and Lloyd's personal trainer. "They're not just playing games."

Lloyd has led the camp eight times now, but this year was clearly special. Her team's success in the World Cup has brought unprecedented attention to American women's sports. Hundreds of parents called Galanis after the win to register their daughters for the camp. But it was already booked.

Lloyd's star power was not lost on the players Saturday - nor on their parents.

"I'm starstruck being here," conceded Kevin Daley, of Medford Lakes, who sat on the sidelines, watching his 10-year-old daughter, Min Yi, play with Lloyd. "I was more excited than my daughter was."

Tom Shuff, also of Medford Lakes, said, "Carli is an inspiration to the girls." His daughters Audrey, 12, and Kayleigh, 11, had signed up to play. "Seeing Carli succeed the way she succeeds adds so much to what she says."

Lloyd wore a blue camp T-shirt and shorts emblazoned with a large 10 - her number - and took questions from the girls before signing autographs at the end of Saturday's morning session.

The exchange came rapid fire: They quizzed her on everything from her practice regimen (she plays between two and six hours a day) to her musical tastes (they vary, she said, acknowledging she is not "too particular").

And she offered the campers world-class advice that transcends soccer:

"Practice."

"Every game's hard."

"It's all about preparedness."

Lloyd knows she is a role model. The camp, she said, is a way to show young players at home how much work it took her to succeed.

"They get a sense of what I do and how I train," she said.

Carolyn Kennedy, 10, a club soccer player from Yardley, was flush-faced when she lined up for an autograph from Lloyd around midday. Learning from the best, she said, was an opportunity she couldn't quite wrap her head around.

"It hasn't really hit me that I played soccer with her," she said. "But I think this afternoon, I'll say, 'Oh my gosh, I just played for four hours with Carli Lloyd!' "

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@MadelineRConway