Making His Mark : Soccer: Eric Wynalda, accompanied by a star-studded cast, gives aspiring campers heavy doses of his favorite sport, not to mention autographs on most any surface.

It is lunchtime at the Eric Wynalda Holiday Soccer Camp.

While youngsters munch their lunches, Wynalda conducts a question-and-answer session.

The campers, ages 6 to 14, ask about his experiences as a member of the U.S. World Cup team when, without warning, the session explodes into an autograph-signing bonanza.

The campers swarm Wynalda, who signs soccer balls, trading cards and duffel bags.

Some of the more-daring campers ask Wynalda to autograph their forearms. A few even ask him to sign their foreheads.

Unlike most modern-day autograph sessions, money is not exchanged.

Wynalda isn’t exactly doing this for the big bucks.

“If I really wanted to make money, it would be more expensive,” Wynalda says of the $150 camp registration. “There are a lot of people that have done nothing personally for the soccer world that have made money from camps. I think you’ve got to give the opportunity to the kids to come to a quality camp where they learn something.”

Indeed they learn.

While other camps offer swimming and movies in the afternoon, the Holiday Soccer Camp at Westlake High offers soccer in the morning and more soccer in the afternoon.

“Everybody is getting a soccer injection this week,” says Scott Murray, who coordinates the camp along with Wynalda and Alberto Bru. “They play more games in a day than they do in a week at some camps. Most of the kids, being senior players, want to learn. They know the difference between getting food for the masses and getting quality instruction.”

Guest instructors include U.S. National team midfielder Cobi Jones, a Westlake High alumnus who appeared Wednesday and signed autographs for nearly 45 minutes. U.S. Coach Steve Sampson is slated to appear today.

Wynalda, who graduated from Westlake in 1987 and went on to play in the World Cup in 1990 and 1994, likes to give where he once received.

“People don’t believe me,” Wynalda says, “but to see a young kid get joy out of the game or score a great goal that you had something to do with, I compare it with the World Cup and playing in front of 90,000 people.”

The kids love Wynalda, who has an electric personality--in more ways than one.

Thanks to a two-and-a-half inch steel plate in his left ankle, Wynalda sets off airport metal detectors and must carry a special card that clears him.

While playing professionally in Germany last November, Wynalda suffered a fractured left fibula in a collision with an opponent.

He underwent a six-month rehabilitation that lasted eight hours a day, six days a week.

Wynalda, 26, is again playing for Bochum, a second-division team in Germany. The switch from striker on the U.S. national team to midfielder hasn’t hurt: He has three goals and 11 assists in only six matches.

He is back in the United States while the soccer season takes a break because of weather conditions.

Europe has made its mark on Wynalda, who can break into fluent German at a moment’s notice.

He even carries a backpack inscribed with the phrase “Keine macht den drogen.” (Translation: “No power to drugs.”)

The camp, which devotes part of one lunchtime session preaching the dangers of drugs, is staffed with four collegiate coaches and three collegiate players.

One of those players is Notre Dame junior Cindy Daws, who scored the winning goal in the NCAA women’s soccer final last month against Portland.

Daws, who graduated from Louisville High, is in charge of girls ages 7-9 this week.

After her group of 18 kids goes through dribbling drills, Daws sets up a three-on-three competition.

And after a quick timeout to emphasize that the players should be dribbling toward the goal--not blasting shots from one end to the next--the girls, well, go back to dribbling.

In another group, Scott Gould, an 11-year-old from Agoura, works on his skills.

Gould, who has not decided whether he wants to be a hockey or soccer player when he grows up, gets plenty of the latter at camp, which lasts six hours a day.

“It’s a lot of soccer,” says Gould, who has Wynalda’s autograph on his T-shirt and sums up the feeling of nearly every camper.

“It’s cool.”