Crocodiles and Crusaders: North Greenville Women's Soccer has Amazing Preseason Team-Building Trip to Australia

This is the continuation of a series of Body, Mind & Soul stories that highlights member student-athletes, coaches and administrators of Conference Carolinas.

TIGERVILLE, S.C. - Crocodiles, koalas, kangaroos and soccer. A natural combination, right?

Well, if you’re Andy Robinson, it all makes perfect sense. The ninth-year head coach of North Greenville’s women’s soccer team promises his student-athletes more than soccer and a classroom education. Every fourth year, he organizes a summer trip to the Women’s World Cup soccer tournament no matter where the global event is staged.

This summer, he outdid himself. He led a group of 50 Crusaders’ soccer players, alumni and family members on a 9,410-mile, two-week excursion for the ages. The group departed on July 15 from Atlanta with a connection in Dallas, followed by a 16-hour flight to Sydney, Australia.

“The idea first started after I took my family (wife, Ann, and daughters Asheton, Abby and Ansley) to the 2007 World Cup in Germany,” said Robinson, the four-time Conference Carolinas’ Coach of the Year. “We’ve gone to every World Cup since. It’s been such a tremendous experience, I thought it would be great for our team to attend so a small group went to the 2019 Cup in France, which was really successful. So we started spearheading the planning and raising money for Australia, and it just kind of snowballed.”

Robinson contracted with an Australian tour company, which arranged for hotel lodging, sightseeing and tickets to World Cup matches. The itinerary was packed full of activities, including team surf and scuba outings at Bondi Beach near Sydney, visits to world-famous zoos in both Sydney and Brisbane, touring the iconic Sydney Opera House and attending World Cup matches in both Sydney (Jamaica-France) and Brisbane (Australia-Nigeria).

For Robinson, the trip was much more than seeing world-class soccer.

“It’s about team bonding,” he said. “You’re plucking people out of familiar surroundings. Everybody’s comfortability is the same. They’re encouraged to interact and create relationships on the bus or plane. And since it wasn’t soccer season, many of the players and parents talked about other things. It was just a great team builder.” 

Elainee Sprinkle, a senior and veteran leader on the team, brought her mother (Aimee) along on the trip. The team was housed in a downtown hotel in Sydney. Sprinkle, who grew up in the town of Spartanburg, South Carolina was impressed by the big-city environment of Sydney.

“There were a lot of tall buildings,” Sprinkle said. “But we could walk to everything. It was pretty convenient. We went to the opera building, Darling Harbour and a lot of shops. It was interesting how some of their streets only allowed trains. Overall, it was really cool.”

Miranda Moorhouse, a junior Health Science major from Waxhaw, North Carolina, helped finance the trip with her part-time job at a local assisted living facility where she served as a certified nursing assistant.  

While she was introduced to surfing for the first time on the trip, it was the team’s visit to the zoo that left an indelible impression.

“Their zoos are a lot different than ours,” Moorhouse said. “There aren’t cages.  There’s acres for each animal. It’s really casual.”

She’ll never forget petting the koala bears and feeding kangaroos.

“We would give the kangaroos these circular pellets, and if you had a cup of them, they would hold your arm. And their nails are really sharp!”

Of course, soccer was the main attraction during the team’s two-week stay. The Jamaica-France match in Sydney, which drew almost 40,000 fans, only whet their appetite for the crowning event in Brisbane, where World Cup host Australia squared off against Nigeria later during their trip.    

While Nigeria edged the local Matildas, 3-2, the frenetic scene of 60,000 cheering spectators–almost all with Aussie roots–is something the Crusader group will never forget, especially junior midfielder Abby Shultz.

“I’ve seen a lot of women’s sports before in America,” said Shultz, a Denver, North Carolina native. “But never like this. The stadium was completely packed. We walked to the match from our hotel and were behind some Australian fans. Everybody yelled when they saw someone wearing a national jersey or waving a flag in their car.”

Shultz was also amazed at the elite talent on the pitch.

“The speed of play was so fast. It was so cool to see it in person. I couldn’t believe how fast the Nigerian team was and just how athletic they were. It made me appreciate the sport that much more. Knowing how hard our team has worked to play in college, I can only imagine how hard these players have worked to be part of a national team.”

While the group could not attend a World Cup match featuring the U.S. women’s team–which played its contests in New Zealand–they were able to watch the U.S. game against Vietnam on a huge video board at the outdoor Fan Zone in Sydney. For some, it might have been one of the highlights of the trip.

“There were so many fans there, representing so many countries,” said Jada  Patrick, a junior from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who ranked tied for fourth in team scoring last season. “There was tons of food, a big screen showing the match and just an exciting atmosphere. Everyone else must have been thinking, ‘Here are these Americans.’ We were going crazy!”

But the Crusaders were more than spectators during their stay. Their tour guide, Brendon, was also a soccer coach and player.  He arranged for the team to practice at a public park in Sydney one day and also play one match against an Australian club team, which Robinson’s team won handily, 9-0.  

“I remember the other team saying ‘Wow, you guys are so good,'" said Patrick. "They were very good sports. I asked them if they had any stereotypes of us. They said we have the most interesting accents. Then I said, ‘We think you have the most interesting accents.’”

Later that week, the team practiced and then played another match in Brisbane at the soccer complex where the Nigerian national team was working out.

“Since we played so well in the Sydney match, they bumped us up to a tougher team in Brisbane,” said the coach. “It was a great, competitive match that we lost 3-1. We were able to interact with their coaches and players, which was great. And you never know where recruiting will take you.”

Robinson said one of his personal highlights of the trip was taking the team to a zoo 30 minutes outside of Brisbane that featured a crocodile show in an amphitheater setting. The family of Steve Irvin, the deceased star of the hit TV series “The Crocodile Hunter,” runs the property to honor his memory.

“I have never seen crocodiles that large,” he said. “They were standing right in front of them, feeding them. The place also featured elephants and tigers. It was amazing.”

Yet, perhaps it wasn’t the animals at the zoo that were the most exotic part of the trip. For some of the Crusader players, it might have been the local food.

For Sprinkle, she showed the courage to try a kangaroo hot dog at the Fan Zone.

“It actually tasted pretty good,” she admits. “Well, I didn’t hate it. It tastes like a meatball. I ate it on a bun with ketchup. I  have been the only one on the team to try it, except maybe some parents”

Sprinkle also wanted to bring something home for her father.

“I bought some kangaroo jerky. I really didn’t like it but my dad seemed to enjoy it.”

The other universal Australian favorite is Vegemite, a thick, brown local food spread made from leftover brewer’s yeast extract. It was readily available for breakfast at their hotels. Suffice it to say, it was not a big hit for the visiting Americans.

“They put it on their toast,” said Sprinkle. “It was not good. Bitter. I only tried it once, just the smallest bit. It was a real wake-up call. I didn’t want to be rude and spit it out.”

“Disgusting” is how Shultz described it. “It tasted like I just put salt on my bread.”

“Repulsive” was the term used by Patrick. “I put it on a spoon and tasted it and it was nasty.”

However, the girls certainly did not let Vegemite spoil what was a trip of a lifetime. Every North Greenville soccer player interviewed said the World Cup adventure has changed their life profoundly.

“Personally, being able to go to a different country and see how they live makes me come back home with such gratitude,” said Sprinkle. ”I’m thankful for my parents, coach, who made it all possible. It was even more special to experience it my senior year. I know it’s made me a better person. I got closer to some girls I may have not gotten close to. It allowed those friendships to open up, and now back here I can be their friend.”  

Patrick offered her own take on the unique experience.

“I would say it forced me to be out of my comfort zone. I like to stay in my room.   I enjoyed just walking in the streets of Sydney and going to a coffee shop. Even the 15-hour flight to Sydney was unforgettable. That was crazy. I had never done that before. When I got home, I told my mom I want to take a year off after I graduate and travel because I  enjoyed it so much.”

For Patrick, the trip had added significance. She roomed with her best friend, Isabel Radebaugh, a Crusader teammate who graduated and would not return to North Greenville for the upcoming season.  

“It was bittersweet to be with her, but it was kind of our last hurrah,” said Patrick. “We walked a lot in downtown Sydney and went out for sushi, ice cream and even found a place for karaoke. It was also funny just watching us trying to get on a surfboard.”

What was the biggest adjustment being in Australia for the group?

“The time difference,” said Shultz, who plans to become a cardiovascular ultrasound technician after continuing her education beyond an undergrad degree.

“They’re 14 hours ahead of us. It took a lot of people at least two to three days to get adjusted. That first day in Sydney, we were all dead by 2 p.m. There weren't a lot of opportunities to take a nap because our schedule was really full. But I fell asleep that night at 7:30!”

For the Crusader women soccer players, they have now returned to familiar surroundings on the Tigerville, South Carolina campus. Classes have started for the fall semester. Coach Robinson and his team are no longer practicing or playing matches Down Under, but they are preparing for their 2023 season opener at Carson-Newman Aug. 31.  

It’s a good bet that the team’s pre-game meal will not feature Vegemite.   

Bob Rose is a longtime sports public relations executive who has worked for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, the NFL Cardinals, Cal, Stanford and other organizations. Bob works with Associate Commissioner for External Relations Brian Hand and the entire Conference Carolinas office to help tell the stories of the tremendous student-athletes, coaches and administrators in Conference Carolinas. 

**All photos provided by the Robinson family**