In conjunction with the Find Your Park movement, the U.S. Women’s National Team held a #SheBelieves event in President’s Park on Monday, giving local children an opportunity to interact with some of the country’s most celebrated athletes and sharpen their soccer skills while learning to take advantage of public green spaces in D.C. and beyond.

A day before being hosted at the White House by President Obama in honor of their captivating run to the 2015 World Cup title, most of the USWNT’s star-studded roster were on hand on the south edge of the Ellipse, thrilling an invited group of forty kids (ranging from third to fifth graders) from DC SCORES‘ after-school program and the Boys & Girls Club.

The event aligned the USWNT’s #SheBelieves initiative (which aims to “send a message to young girls and boys that they can accomplish all their goals and dreams”) with the National Park Service and National Park Foundation’s Find Your Park campaign (which celebrates the NPS’ 2016 centennial and “inspires people everywhere from all backgrounds to discover and share their own unique connection to parks”).

“I hope they know this is available to them,” U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe said of the youths in attendance at President’s Park. “It’s a right that every person in this country has, to be able to take advantage of the national parks. Some of the kids that live in higher-density urban areas don’t necessarily have this all the time, and they have this beautiful space that they’re always welcome in, and they can play and just relax and do their thing. It’s really cool to be able to have a green space like that right in the middle of the city.”

Organizers emphasized the bilingual nature of the Find Your Park movement, a.k.a. Encuentra Tu Parque, and Rapinoe echoed the importance of getting the message out in an inclusive manner.

“It doesn’t matter what economic status you’re in, whether you’re a minority or not, whether you speak English or not. You live in this country, and this is yours, this totally belongs to you,” she said.

The late-afternoon event kicked off with Rapinoe and USWNT head coach Jill Ellis presiding over a clinic during which the children broke up into teams and were guided through a series of soccer drills and exercises in which they practiced basic dribbling, passing, and shooting skills.

After the brisk, 35-minute workout, the kids sat down to hydrate while they waited for the rest of the national team to arrive. Cheers erupted when stars such as Golden Ball winner (and presumptive FIFA World Player of the Year) Carli Lloyd, goalkeeper Hope Solo, and forward Abby Wambach strode in from the east side of the park to join the festivities. (Arguably the USWNT’s most popular player, forward Alex Morgan was a notable absentee, likely having stayed behind in Orlando following the USWNT’s weekend friendly versus Brazil to attend to details of her NWSL trade from Portland to the expansion Orlando Pride.)

The players held a question-and-answer session with the kids, fielding queries such as “what inspired you to become a famous soccer player?” (Lloyd answered: “I had a dream as a little girl to become a champion”) and “who is your favorite male soccer player?” (Morgan Brian: “Messi.”). Everyone gathered for group photos before the event culminated with the national-teamers signing autographs for their flock of adoring young fans.

“It’s exciting to see that women’s football is growing in a positive direction,” USWNT and Washington Spirit defender Ali Krieger told DCist. “For these young kids, we can be role models for them, getting them out to be active and wanting to play soccer and wanting to be involved in the community, which also brings out Find Your Park, just getting kids to feel confident, to feel comfortable, and to hang out with each other and have automatic friends in this team environment that we want to create.”

The Northern Virginia native added: “I know we gear it more towards young girls, but also you see a lot of young boys here, and I think that is so exciting because it’s bringing kids together to be active, to be healthy, to live in a positive environment.”

Looking ahead to today’s visit with President Barack Obama, Krieger showed that even world-class athletes and celebrities in their own right can still get a bit starstruck.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “To go to the White House, to meet the president and Michelle and hopefully their two young girls, that will be so empowering to us. He called us the day after we won, and that was really motivating and inspiring to us. We were so grateful that he was supporting our team, and just to meet him will be a lifetime event for all of us.”

The USWNT will be honored in a ceremony at the White House scheduled for 11am this morning. A live stream is available at whitehouse.gov/live.