Miramonte junior is a star in 2 sports — simultaneously
Megan Reid can answer the why better than the how.
The tireless 5-foot-8 Miramonte High School junior competes on the basketball and soccer teams at the same time, which is remarkable in itself.
The fact that she’s probably the Diablo Foothill Athletic League’s top player in each sport and being recruited by Division I colleges in each defies logic. With a 3.86 grade point average, her academic success will only help.
“I just love both sports,” she said. “I’ve been playing them since I was in kindergarten or the first grade. It’s just part of me. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
So instead of choosing, as most kids do by high school, Reid zooms up and down the pitch from her striker spot the same day she weaves in and around defenders as a point guard on the hardwood.
“We’re here to help kids realize their dreams, not crush them,” Miramonte girls basketball coach Kelly Sopak said. “If this is what she loves and wants to do, God love her.”
And what’s not to love?
She was the DFAL soccer MVP as a freshman and a firstteam all-league selection last season, and is a two-time All-DFAL point guard for Miramonte’s state-ranked basketball team.
Two seasons of such rigors might discourage or at least slow down most. Instead, Reid has been even better this season.
Two weeks ago, she had nine points, seven rebounds, seven steals and six assists in the first half of an 81-20 win at Acalanes-Lafayette.
She changed into her soccer uniform at halftime, drove to Orinda and scored three goals and added an assist in a 5-2 win over Alhambra-Martinez. This after missing the first 20 minutes.
Reid has played two games in a day six times, and she’s scheduled to do it six more.
Sopak and soccer coach Mohammed Mohammed have collaborated on schedules to make it work — and Reid continues to push forward and flourish.
“She’s just amazing,” Sopak said. “Amazing drive, amazing athlete. She’s very intuitive. She has a great feel for the moment.” How does she manage it all? Reid simply says, “time management.”
Ice baths, Epsom salt, sleep and hot tubs help, too. She never drives over the speed limit between destinations, she said, and her only rule on uniform changes is “shoes last.”
She’ll lace up her sneakers for a 3:30 p.m. game Saturday as the Matadors (17-1) face Mitty (14-4) in a showdown of state-ranked teams at the Campolindo Shootout.
Reid averages a mere 9.8 points per game but is the leader in assists for a remarkably balanced squad that boasts six girls with scoring averages between 9.2 and 11.2.
“I knew we were going to be OK, but this is way more than I think any of us expected,” Reid said of the team’s success. “It’s been pretty phenomenal.”
Reid would be pretty phenomenal if she focused just at basketball, said longtime girls basketball expert Clay Kallam. As it is, Reid is being recruited by WCC schools.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if she had just played basketball since she was 12, Megan would be recognized as one of the top players in California,” Kallam said.
But Kallam doesn’t think Reid has lost much ground by playing soccer either.
“She’s become a well-rounded athlete, and if she eventually decides to play just one sport, all of what she’s learned and developed in all her activities will come into play,” Kallam said. “She’s a star waiting to happen.” Mitch Stephens is a national columnist for MaxPreps.com. For more, see the Prep Insider blog at blog.sfgate.com/prepsports. E-mail: mstephens@maxpreps.com Twitter: @MitchMashMax