FC America U17 Player to fill in as amateur for Women's Professional League in Denmark 

August 3, 2005... Melissa Battista, 16 years old, joins her club coach George Sasvari for a true international experience representing FC America Soccer Academy (FCA).  Her FCA Under 17 girls team in Orlando have loaned her to Odense Boldklub (OB) to help solve their short-term injury problems.  Battista is expected to fill in at midfield and play a role in getting the season started until OB gets their full roster back.  "I am excited for her to learn how special Danish Women's football can be as I have for the past 2 weeks."  said George Sasvari, Head Coach for OB and also Battista's club coach for FC America Kumba.  "Melissa should be able to take a lot out of this experience to both help her improve her game and learn from a very pleasant culture."

OB is out several players due to injury from off-season surgery including Stella Godwin, who represented Nigeria in the 2004 Olympics.   "It would be great if Stella can make it back as it would be a neat experience for Melissa to train and play along side her talent."  In the meantime Melissa will see some old faces from the United States as 3 players on OB participated in Sasvari's International Academy in 2004 hosted by FC America famalies.  Stine Kristensen, Maria Clausen, and Rikke Kronberg all trained under Sasvari in the U.S. at Lake Highland Prep for 10 days.  They will join team captain Maria Juul in welcoming Melissa to Denmark.  "I don't know what to expect, but I hope to add whatever I can to the team.  It will be a different experience than playing back home - a little culture shock probably" said Battista. 

It will be a challenge for Melissa to keep up with the speed of play at this level just as it will for all our younger players," according to Sasvari, "but I know she will adjust as will the rest of our team.  One of the things I see in common between our FCA Kumba players and the OB team is the fighting spirit in their personality.  They both want to be winners"