SCORPIONS VET MEG HUGHES GOES PRO
Scorpions veteran Meg Hughes recently signed a pro deal with Sporting Jax of the USL Super League! Spotlight caught up with Meg and asked her about her first experiences as a professional soccer player.
SS: What’s your earliest soccer memory?
MH: My earliest soccer memory would have to be driving to our local town soccer complex with my mom and siblings on Saturday mornings to go play rec soccer. This was where I found my love for the game and knew I never wanted to stop playing. My mom was the rec director at our town soccer organization, and she was the one who got me hooked on soccer to begin with.
SS: What’s your history with Scorpions?
MH: I joined the scorpions in 7th grade, halfway through the year, as a guest player, not sure if I fully wanted to commit to playing full time. After that half a year I decided I wanted to be on the team full time. I made the NPL team my freshman year of high school and was so excited, but I knew my ultimate goal was to play for the ECNL team. Going into my sophomore year of high school, I went to tryouts and got the call that I had made the ECNL team. I was so excited that I had finally reached my goal. I finished out until my senior year playing for the Scorpions ECNL team.
SS: You were a four-year starter at Providence and Michigan State. How did you balance being a D1 scholarship athlete with academics?
MH: It was tough, not many people know, but I’m dyslexic, so I have always had to work harder than my peers to keep up academically. The structure of being on a sports team helped me to ensure that my time was budgeted between class, studying, treatments, workouts, and practice. I was very fortunate at Providence that they provided tutors and academic advisors whom I would meet with weekly to check in and make sure I was up to date.
SS: Coaches have an amazing influence on kids growing up. Do you have an anecdote of a coach helping or pushing you to ‘level up’ and reach a potential that you didn’t know you had in you?
MH: Every coach that I have had from when I first started soccer until now has pushed me and helped me better myself every day. As I go through my timeline of soccer, I think of my first scorpions coach, Allie (last name), who took a chance on me. I wasn’t that interested in soccer at the time and was not even sure if I wanted to keep playing soccer at such a high level. She let me try out for the team and did not make me make a full decision about whether I even wanted to be fully on the team. She saw the potential in me that many other coaches missed.
SS: You got to play a 5th year due to COVID. Can you talk about your experience at MSU? How did that differ from your experience at Providence?
MH: The biggest difference was probably academic; when I was at Providence, I was a full-time student in classes on campus, and when I was at MSU, I was a grad student with remote classes. The school sizes were also very different. It was really cool to see the Big 10 football games and the campus atmosphere.
SS: Can you give some background on the process of your recruitment?
MH: I knew I wanted to keep playing soccer post-college. Going pro was my ultimate dream and something I strived for every day.
SS: What was your reaction when you got the call? Who did you share the news with first?
MH: For both, I was extremely grateful; the first call, of course, was my mom and dad, they both made many sacrifices for any of this to be possible, and I wanted to share the moment with them. I then told my 3 siblings, who were all extremely excited for me and knew I had been working so hard for this opportunity
SS: What would you tell kids that aspire to play in college or professionally?
MH: I would tell kids that playing in college and professionally has been a dream come true, but there is a lot of hard work behind the scenes, and it takes dedication to your craft to make it.
