Bridgeview, IL (August 2, 2009): Fans who attended the Chicago Red Stars' WPS Home finale versus LA Sol were treated to an unexpected surprise at halftime.
On the jumbotron a video began to play. On a black screen the title: "Chicago Red Stars Ultimate Showdown...Between Red Stars Forward Cristiane and Nine-Year-Old Juggling Sensation Renae Blevins."
A moment later there was footage of a juggling and ball handling contest between the Brazilian international and nine-year-old Renae Blevins whose latest juggling record is 6,114 touches.
As the two copied each other's moves, the music of "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" provided the soundtrack. At the end of the video, on a black screen again, Renae Blevins was announced as the winner.
Immediately at the conclusion of the video, the real Renae Blevins was introduced to the record attendance of 7,959 to perform a live exhibition of her skills, wearing an authentic Chicago Red Stars home jersey with her last name on the back.
Young Ms. Blevins was discovered earlier in the season when her father posted a few videos of her juggling on You-Tube. From there, we wrote a Bleacher/Report article. When the Red Stars organization became aware of the video and discovered that the star lives and plays on a traveling soccer club in Metro Chicago, arrangements were made to have her visit a team practice and create the video.
The day was especially exciting for Renae because Cristiane is one of her favorite soccer players, and Chicago's opponent for the day, LA Sol, features another of Renae's heroes, another Brazilian star, Marta.
In addition to the opportunity to practice and "hang out" with the Chicago team at practice on July 29th, Renae was able to meet Marta and have a photo taken with her two Brazilian heroes after the match on Sunday.
See our original article about Renae and the duel on You-Tube.
Photo of Renae's live halftime exhibition, by David Durochik.
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