Claire Constant was named 2016-17 Gatorade Virginia Girls Soccer Player of the Year last June and trained with the U-18 and U-20 Women's National Teams this Fall.
Claire Constant, a player on McLean Youth Soccer’s U18 ECNL team and a standout for T.C. Williams High School locally, was called up to attend the Under 20 U.S. Women’s National Team (U-20 WNT) training camp Nov. 16-23 in Sunrise, FL. She was one of 26 players chosen for what will be the first of three events for the U-20 WNT this fall/winter before the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship is contested in Trinidad & Tobago from Jan. 18-28.
The U-20 camp call-up comes after Constant attended a joint U-17/U-18 WNT training event in October alongside her McLean teammate Aleigh Gambone. Both players are coached by Total Futbol Executive Director Nadir Moumen. Constant has committed to play for the University of Virginia in Fall 2018 and Gambone will take the field for the University of North Carolina in Fall 2019.
Constant has received an unbroken stream of soccer honors during her high school career, including being named 2016-17 Gatorade Virginia Girls Soccer Player of the Year (POY) last June. She was also named to the Spring 2017 All-Met First Team by The Washington Post last June. In her penultimate high school soccer season, she scored 16 goals and provided 17 assists for T.C. Williams, leading the Titans (13-4-3) to the Group 6A North Region quarterfinals. Constant is the second TF-coached player to win Virginia state POY honors.
 |
“Soccer teaches you not only how to kick a ball but to work respectfully with your teammates and coaches on good and bad days. It teaches you how to respond to frustration and obstacles. And it teaches you the importance of having something to work for.”
-- Claire Constant
|
Constant has volunteered locally for the Haiti Micah Project, a non-profit that feeds and educates impoverished children in Haiti. She has also donated her time as a youth soccer coach. In July 2017, Constant selected local non-profit soccer organization DC SCORES as the recipient of her $1,000 winnings from Gatorade. According to its website, DC SCORES creates neighborhood teams “that give kids in need the confidence and skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom, and in life”. The $1,000 donation is enough to provide a full year of programming for one at-risk child in the District of Columbia.
“Soccer teaches you not only how to kick a ball but to work respectfully with your teammates and coaches on good and bad days,” Constant said in a statement released by DC SCORES. “It teaches you how to respond to frustration and obstacles. And it teaches you the importance of having something to work for.”
