Honoring an Olympian

Rockville Centre sends Crystal Dunn off to Rio

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Rockville Centre gave an Olympic-sized sendoff to Crystal Dunn, who earned a spot on the U.S. women’s soccer team that will compete in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

More than 1,000 people — including many young soccer players — gathered for the sendoff, which was held on July 13 at the recently renamed RVC Athletic Complex on Peninsula Boulevard. Children presented Dunn, 24, with a replica Olympic torch.

Dunn’s family moved to Rockville Centre when she was 2, and she started playing on local teams when she was 4. She led South Side High School to three state championships, attended the University of North Carolina, and was drafted by the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Jill Ellis, head coach of the U.S. women’s national team, told Dunn that she had made the Olympic squad three days earlier. “I can breathe now,” Dunn said. “For so long we’re playing in these games, we’re trying really hard to make an impression, but it’s only [after] that phone call comes that you really feel like you deserve everything that you’ve worked hard for.”

She also thanked her coaches past and present, many of whom attended the ceremony. She was on the verge of tears when she mentioned her first coaches, John Gallagher and John Gould. “These were my first club coaches, and they taught me so much about the game before I even knew how much I loved it,” Dunn said. “I remember when they told me I had to play in a set position, I cried, because I didn’t want to be in a set position. I wanted to play sweeper, defense, midfield and forward all in the same game, and they had to introduce that there’s structure to this game and discipline.”

Gould died in 2014, and Dunn said she was sad that she was unable to attend his funeral.

Dunn also told the children to thank their parents for everything they do. She said that her parents, Rhonda and Vincent, did a lot for her so she could play soccer. “I know my parents have been by my side every step of the way,” she said, adding that when she failed to make the World Cup team last year, they were the first to reassure her. “They always told me that it’s not the end of the road, and really great things are going to come my way.”

At the conclusion of the ceremony, some of Dunn’s former South Side teammates presented her with flowers.

“Your spirit is contagious when you play,” Judy Croutier, who coached Dunn at South Side High School, told her. “We are so proud of the young woman you have become. I am honored to be able to say that I coached an Olympic athlete. Your positive spirit and willingness to give back to Rockville Centre is appreciated by all of us.”