On July 14th, 2001, I went with a friend, Chen Huiyen, to the Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville, Georgia where two Beat players, Nikki Serlenga and Kylie Bivens were scheduled to appear. Not only is Nikki on the Beat, but she is also on the U.S. Women's National Team. Kylie deserves a look, if April is smart enough to call her up for a match this autumn.
When we got there (just before noon), there were already a considerable number of people there. They started with a display of some soccer skills. Some simple heading exercises as well as juggling. The space was so small, so it wasn't quite so simple. Afterward, they had some trivia questions. The first one was, "What is the Beat's record?" Well, of course I knew that. I was surprised no one else got it. They are 7-1-6 and in FIRST PLACE!!! Yeah Beat!!
Afterward, they started signing some autographs. When it was our turn, I chatted with Nikki briefly. Huiyen and I also had our pictures taken with them. I asked Nikki about the yellow card given to Charmaine Hooper up in New York. She didn't know what was up with that either, though we all know that Hoops has a reputation. We also talked about, and laughed about, Sara Whalen of the Power dodging out of Hoops way in the box before her second goal of the match. We all agreed that we are glad Hoops is in a Beat uniform. I stayed a few mintes more and spoke with the Beat staff person present, but I didn't get her name. I need to try and find it out.
After Huiyen and I went around the mall and had lunch, we returned before going on our way. When we got there, I noticed that Melanie Wilson had shown up as well. That was a pleasant surprise. As there weren't nearly as many people there as before, I was able to chat a bit with Kylie. She is so nice. We talked a bit about the team and the upcoming matches. I also asked her about Sun Wen's ankle. She said that it is coming along, but through the recovery, she has been getting little annoyances. It sounded like that Sun would be playing at some point in the upcomming two game homestand.
We said our farewell to Kylie, Nikki, and Melanie. They were all very nice and it looked like they were having fun. As I have said before, it is hard not to like this team because they are all so nice, and they don't separate themselves from their fans, like many professional athletes do. Go Beat!!!