Photos by Kyle Green The Roanoke Times

Grace Baldridge of Roanoke was in New York on spring break when she entered a lottery-style World Cup contest at an Adidas Sport Performance store. Her name was picked, and she will spend four days in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she got to go on a safari and will be a flag bearer at a U.S. game.

Grace Baldridge is a freshman at Patrick Henry High School and plays for Roanoke Star Soccer Club. The 14-year-old and her father left Tuesday for South Africa.

Take the winter clothes, leave the soccer balls. She won't need them.

Patrick Henry High School freshman and avid soccer player Grace Baldridge will be one of nine FIFA [Federation Internationale de Football Association] Fair Play flag bearers at the U.S.-Slovenia World Cup game this morning in South Africa. Grace and her father, Duke Baldridge, are spending four days in Johannesburg -- a trip valued at about $10,000 -- courtesy of Adidas, the sports apparel company. They then will travel on their own to Cape Town and other South African cities.

"I'm so excited," Grace said, grinning, before leaving Roanoke on Tuesday. "I'm not really nervous. I'm just excited." The 10-day trip will be Grace's first overseas.

The 14-year-old sat in front of the living room television Monday and rewound footage from a previous World Cup game, her family's way of practicing for the globally televised moment.

After she arrived in South Africa, Grace had dinner with representatives from Adidas. On Thursday, she went on safari at a wild animal park. Today, Grace and eight other children will rehearse carrying the FIFA flag. At game time, they'll wait in a tunnel alongside professional players, then walk out onto the pitch, yellow flag in hand, around the golden soccer-ball cup.

Grace won this sweepstakes after a family spring break trip to New York City in April.

Her 12-year-old brother saw the contest advertised among World Cup merchandise inside the Adidas Sport Performance store. He was too young to enter, but his sisters weren't.

Grace put her name into the lottery once, and Anne Burke Baldridge, 16, entered twice.

About a month later, their mom took the phone call.

"Honestly, I thought it was a gimmick of some sort," said Mary Catherine Baldridge, Grace's mother. "You never know when you put your name in those drawings. You just might win."

Teenagers submitted about 2,000 entries for the drawing at Adidas Sport Performance stores in the United States, said company spokeswoman Stacy Gubinski.

While Grace is gone, her siblings have their own game plans.

They'll attend soccer camp at Patrick Henry High School, where Anne Burke and Grace play on teams. Grace also plays for Roanoke Star Soccer Club.

"I think it's to the point where they're excited for their sister," their mother said as she rounded up soccer balls and children on the day before departure.

"No, actually, we're still mad," Anne Burke joked. "At first, I was livid. I guess it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The U.S.-Slovenia game, including the flag-bearing ceremony, will be broadcast on ESPN at 9:30 a.m. today.