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This is why the Richmond Kickers have become something of a community fixture. This is why they have endured for 16 years and could conceivably endure for 16 more: They not only play good soccer, they are committed to bringing good soccer to Richmond. The U.S. Women’s National Team, the reigning Olympic champions, will visit Richmond for a Nov. 1 exhibition match against South Korea because the Kickers in general and president Tom Depcrynski in specific went to great lengths to bring them here for the second time in as many years.

This U.S. team doesn’t possess the magnetism that Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Co. enjoyed in the late 1990s, but it should be a significant draw nonetheless. Depcrynski said the local appeal of the sport is every bit as strong today – if not more so – than it was when, in the 1999 World Cup final, Chastain hit the back of the net with perhaps the most famous shootout goal in the sport’s history.

“Six years ago we had maybe 60 kids in our (girls) travel program,” Depcrynski said. “Today we have more than a thousand.”

Depcrynski said there is much to be learned by youngsters who attend games such as this one.

“Knowledge is so important in this game,” he said. “When I coached, I felt like one of the best ways for my players to learn was to watch the best.” For a young girl who is fiercely focused upon improving her skills and mental approach, Depcrynski said, the Nov. 1 game could be a priceless experience.

“It could take a kid, particularly a kid who maybe has all the tools but doesn’t quite have the desire, to the next level,” he said. “The kids who care enough to really pay attention will see not only how the game can be played, but how it should be played. They’ll see how the best players in the world prepare themselves; they’ll see what those players do to win. In my opinion, there’s no substitute for the things (a young player) can learn by watching high-grade soccer.”

Especially the brand of soccer played by this U.S. team. Many—Depcrynski included – regard the Americans’ second consecutive Olympic gold medal as one of the Beijing Games’ most compelling stories. The U.S. team, bitterly disappointed by a third-place finish in the 2007 World Cup, lost one of the world’s most formidable scorers, forward Abby Wambach, to a broken leg on the eve of the Olympics. It then absorbed a 2-0 whipping from Norway in its Olympic opener. But thereafter, it grew progressively stronger.

“What it was, was heart,” said Depcrynski. “It was all heart. I think everyone knew they had the physical and technical ability.” When challenged by ill fortune and skilled opponents, Depcrynski said, the Americans “dug down deep, all of them, and said, ‘No. This is not going to happen, We’re not going to give up. We’re not going to let another opportunity get away.’”