I know I have a tendency to compare Meghan Cunningham to biblical proportions. I have fun with it, hopefully anyone who reads this understands that I am not being serious. It's sometimes hard to tell when your reading...and there are no facial expressions or change in tones.
I think I do this re-iterating a lot. I feel like I should...just so people don't think I'm completely weird and insane and I don't think I can say how impressive I think it is to compete in two sports at a Division 1 level enough.
Of all the athletes at UConn that I feel are not well known enough it's her. She's on a team with an impressive history and tradition in their sport, women's soccer. She also runs track and does things that few who run it as their only sport do.
She blends in on campus. You'd have no idea who she was. Most people haven't heard her name. People in Storrs could tell you everything about Joe Billy Bob who plays 2 seconds in 40 point blow outs for basketball but nothing about an athlete who participates in multiple sports and actually helps win big games. That just doesn't make sense to me. It's so weird to me how people trivialize athletes because of the sport they play...as if it doesn't require the same hard work to be good at track and soccer as it does to be in basketball. Hard Work and Results is what should determine recognition. Meghan Cunningham has worked hard and has the results to back it up.
It's not like Cunningham doesn't compete either. She's won races in track. She's kicked game winning penalty kicks (TWICE) in her two years in Storrs so far, that advanced UConn a round in tournament play. She also plays in an amateur soccer league and I believe she made a penalty kick under pressure there too.
Just think about that, The fall and summer is taken up by Soccer, winter and spring is track. She's always in season.
I'm sure Meghan Cunningham doesn't care about receiving attention for what she does. No athlete competes because they want attention. They compete for a love of the game and to support their teammates...yet to me it would be a dis-service to sports if people weren't at-least aware of what she does.
No she's not climbing Mount Everest, or curing cancer, but she does a lot more when compared to all of the other people in the sports world who get attention. She definitely deserves to be recognized for competing in several sports and being a student-athlete. If I remember correctly the media guide said she had a 3.86 as a freshman in her first semester.
FYI: Usually basket weaving isn't taken by freshman either, that's something that you might see on my schedule for my last semester. That argument about athletes who take easy easy easy classes probably won't work here.
So I want to re-iterate, no matter what insane thing I say...it's not meant to be serious. It's a way of stretching the truth and making people understand that I do think that what she does is extremely impressive and worth paying attention too.
As a side note I was very pleased and impressed to see that the women's soccer team came to watch Meghan Cunningham race at a track meet and support her along the way. They know she's a great athlete, you should too.
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