By Sarah Mecham

Growing up Tony Trabert, the No. 1 tennis player in the world during the 1950s, as her grandfather and family being full of tennis professionals, one would assume Megan Trabert would be a collegiate tennis player.

But that’s not the case.

At a very young age Megan Trabert had a passion and competiveness for soccer. It became something she wanted to pursue at the collegiate level.

Trabert began her soccer career on a recreational soccer team just a few blocks south of the University of Utah. The team was called Leopards Lair. After playing a few seasons a year up, coaches recognized Trabert was ready for a challenge. She found what she called a perfect fit with club team Utah Avalanche. This team gave Trabert the skills, abilities, and exposure to land her many opportunities to play collegiate soccer across the country.

In a Utah Soccer Profile video, Trabert talks about how she never wanted to go to school in the state of Utah. But as she got to know what her situation would be at the U, she said it was the perfect fit and she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Trabert just completed her college soccer career, starting every single game the past four years and spent the past two as captain of the team.

“Being captain was one of the most difficult but most rewarding things of my collegiate career and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Trabert said. Teammates Hannah Hyde and Sammi Swan agree that Trabert excelled as a leader because she led by example.

“She isn’t the kind of teammate or captain to boss people around, she always does the right thing and people follow her example,” Hyde said.

“Megan’s number one quality as a player and as a person is that she is very caring and always looks out for others. As a teammate, she is always looking for ways to help make our team better. She made sure everyone felt important. That is why she was made captain,” Swan said.

Trabert tallies up her statistics of her career at 23 goals. Not only was Trabert a success on the playing field, but she also succeeded academically. During the 2012 season Trabert made Honor Roll and Dean’s List. In 2013 she made second team Pac-12 All-Academic selection. In 2014, she made both CoSIDA Academic All-District selection and first Team Pac-12 All-Academic choice. This was a major challenge according to Trabert.

“The biggest challenge of being a collegiate athlete has been balancing everything and managing your time. During fall season, soccer takes up a significant part of my time, which makes it more challenging to stay on top of all my schoolwork,” Trabert said.

Trabert will graduate in the summer of 2016 with a degree in Entrepreneurship. As she transitions away from soccer, Trabert says she has learned valuable lessons on the field she plans to take to real life.

“No matter what circumstances you face, never give up and always work hard,” she said.

Filed under: Sports & Recreation, Student-Journalists |