Danielle at COS training
“The only courage you ever need is the courage to live the life you want.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
Danielle Sunderhaus is a walking example of that courage. She has chosen to create the life that she wants with her family right here on St. Simons Island by founding the Georgia Sports Institute and using her talents to help the youth in our community.
When you meet Danielle, it’s clear she’s an athlete--a fit and tanned blonde with an easy nature but an undeniable intensity. She has eaten, slept, and breathed soccer for most of her life. Danielle first trained with the U.S. Women’s National Team when she was only 15 years old, earning her first cap at age 16. She played for the University of North Carolina from 1998-2001, starting in all 101 games, and winning two national championships as well as numerous accolades. She was chosen as a first round (8th overall) draft pick for the Women’s United Soccer Association in 2002.
In addition to being an incredible player, Danielle has a long history of coaching players at club and youth levels and worked as an assistant coach at the University of Arizona for three seasons. The Wildcats’ head coach Lisa Oyen said of Danielle, "She is a fantastic role model and mentor for our student-athletes. She has been guided by the top coaches in the women's game and exposed to a variety of styles of play, so her knowledge of women's soccer is incredibly impressive."
While coaching at Arizona, Danielle was in a car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury that affected her memory and mood, making it difficult for her to continue work. Believing that she could longer contribute at the level needed for collegiate competition, she resigned her position. In 2012—and what might be called a perfect alignment of the stars--an opportunity for her husband opened up in the Golden Isles, a place she had visited about 5 years before, prophetically saying, “I’m going to move here.”
The Sunderhaus family arrived here on Christmas, and after settling in, Danielle began coaching youth soccer at with the Golden Isles Soccer Association and other sports with the Glynn County Recreation Department. This past year she also got involved with Coastal Outreach Soccer (COS), a program about which she is passionate.
COS was founded in 2004 as an in-house recreational level soccer program coordinated by the Glynn County School System, the Brunswick Recreation Department and local coaches. It began with 15 first generation players from the Head Start program and a mission to “enhance, assist and develop youth living in urban and rural areas to overcome barriers to succeed in their lives.” Today, more than three times that number of players participate, and the program has teams who have won Georgia Recreational and Parks District Titles in 2011 and 2012, playing at a competitive level against teams with more resources and larger player pools. COS director Shawn Williams says an even bigger accomplishment is that of the five students from the program who graduated this year, three are going to college. Beyond soccer, COS also offers a literacy program, life skills training, mentoring, homework assistance, and SAT prep.
That’s how Danielle got involved, Williams explains, COS reached out to her to have her speak to young women and to run some clinics specifically aimed at getting girls to participate in the program. She ran two free clinics with them over the summer and loved it. Now she’s hoping to help COS with fundraising to obtain uniforms and to help them be able to participate in a CASL tournament in Raleigh later this year. Her work with COS is appreciated, Williams says, “The kids thoroughly enjoy Danielle. What’s great is her ability to make the game challenging and enjoyable at every level for players of all skills and her willingness to share her knowledge, her experience, and her enthusiasm.”
Seeing a need in the local soccer community for more individualized skills training and opportunities for player development and knowing that she has the ability to offer a large network of contacts and resources by virtue of her experience, Danielle started the Georgia Sports Institute (GSI) with the help of her doctors and husband. While soccer skills, speed and agility are currently the main focus, she hopes to provide training to young athletes in all sports. She explains, “The idea is that current and former professional athletes will be the teachers/coaches and will train the fundamentals of that child's sport.” GSI held three summer soccer camps staffed by current college players who are predicted to be drafted next year to play pro soccer, as well as two Mexican National Team players who will be playing in next summer’s Women's World Cup.
Next year GSI plans to offer more summer camps as well as a college ID camp for the teens of the Golden Isles. Danielle says, “The goal is to bring in a variety of college coaches to train the campers as well as give the campers a chance to potentially be recruited by these coaches.” She hopes to expose our youth to opportunities that they might not otherwise have by bringing coaches and world-class players here to discover and help develop the talent here. Whether through her volunteer work at COS or her own skills clinics and camps, Danielle’s main focus is sharing her talent, experience, and network of connections, and encouraging our youth to strive to reach their full potential, so they too can begin creating a life they love.
