Week after week, our Cyclones continue to go above and beyond their athletic achievements by balancing school, work, athletics and life.
Meghan Hinsch is no exception.
Hinsch, now a senior at Mills, began playing soccer in the first grade. Throughout high school, she said soccer took a backseat to cross country and track and field.
Hinsch is now both Captain and Midfielder of Mills’ soccer team. Additionally, she is a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and is a Research Psychology Major.
With this flurry of events in her daily life, it’s a wonder how she manages it all.
“That’s a really tough question to answer,” Hinsch said laughing. “I feel like I’m involved in so many different groups and organizations that my extracurricular activities become my life.”
Along with being the active soccer team representative of the SAAC, where Hinsch acts as liason between the soccer team and the APER staff, she is the APER senator of ASMC, a member of the yearbook staff, a peer tutor and studies with a full course load. Looking at a schedule like this, it seems she would barely have any time for sleep, let alone any time for fun.
“I’ve found that through the soccer team I’ve found my social life,” Hinsch said. “It’s a nice feeling knowing that everyone on the team is going through the same thing I am. It definitely takes a lot of effort to carve out the free time to do fun things.”
Hinsch’s work certainly doesn’t go unnoticed by her peers and coaches.
“Meghan has amazing soccer skills and works really hard every game,” said soccer Coach Colette Bowler. “She knows the game and reads it really well.”
By reading the game, Hinsch is able to see and understand everything that is happening as it is happening, Bowler said. Through that intuition Hinsch can determine where she needs to position herself and send the ball.
“She is an integral part of making plays happen during the game,” Bowler said. “Her efforts created our first goal of the season against UC Merced on last Saturday. Meghan is a joy to watch every game and her fitness is amazing.”
Soccer is no sport for the weak. Rigorous and persistent training is necessary to keep up in the games.
“I trained all summer in order to be prepared for the season,” Hinsch said.
Hinsch trained with her high school cross country team, which included long distances and core training.
“I heard somewhere that professional soccer players run seven to eight miles per game, and I always keep that in the back of my mind,” said Hinsch.
During the season, practice keeps Hinsch at a stable level of fitness. This season she plans to work on adding running outside of practice and encouraged her teammates to participate as well.
“There are definitely times where I feel like giving up, but when I see that ball and I can see opportunities for great play, I just want to get to hit it and make it happen,” she said.
