Camp Cupcake

Camp Cupcake is the nickname given to the US Soccer January camp that culminates with a friendly or series of friendlies at the end of January-early February. The origins of the name Camp Cupcake has been long debated by US Soccer historians. There are many theories about how the name was derived but the two that have gained the most traction are as follows. The first is that because of the low pressure atmosphere of the camp, players originally attending it would often refer to it as a “Camp Piece of Cake”. Over the years, this eventually got shortened to Camp Cupcake. Many believe it was the Serbian born Preki who inadvertently coined this term in an interview when asked about the January camp. “Everyone is always saying that this camp is easy, that it is a real cupcake, but this is not true” The second theory is that the invitations to the very first Camp Cupcake in 1990, were sent out on December 15th by then National Team coach Bob Gansler. As everyone knows, December 15th is National Cupcake day. To celebrate the occasion Gansler and his wife were baking cupcakes while Bob was about to inform the players who had been selected for the camp, which he had planned to do over the phone. His wife, suggested that instead of calling the players it would be a pleasant surprise for players to receive the news via a letter in the mail, accompanied by a cupcake. Bob agreed, and the first January camp invitees were notified via cupcake.