Coaches, family confirm McGettigan’s skill on field

Sitting on a stool inside the concession stand, Megan McGettigan easily answers questions about her team and the people who have helped her along the way. But questions about herself leave her at a loss.

She is asked what makes her good on the soccer field. After a brief moment of silence, assistant coach Tommy Abney chimes in, “The ability to score.”

A few moments later, McGettigan ponders what her life will be like once she’s done playing soccer.

This time, head coach Pete Dakis pipes up. “She’ll be a coach,” he says.

McGettigan, a senior on Hewitt-Trussville High School’s soccer team, waits for the rain to taper off before starting preparation for the night’s game. She receives the news that her future coach at the University of West Alabama will be in attendance at the game.

She inked her signature on a scholarship form to declare her intention to attend the college in Livingston.

“I already knew about it because my brother was there,” McGettigan said.

She admits she never gave attending UWA much thought, until Dakis urged her to visit the school.

“I said, ‘Why not?’ It would be a fun experience if anything. I ended up really liking it,” she said.

Soccer started young for the McGettigan siblings, as Megan and brother TJ -— a year older than her — would play against each other in the front yard as kids. Megan made one thing very clear from those times.

“I was always a lot better than him,” she said. “But we kind of evened out as the years went on.”

TJ played soccer at Hewitt-Trussville through his junior season, but chose to focus solely on football his senior season, where he served as the team’s placekicker.

He was committed to UAB, but when the football program was shut down in December 2014, he was forced to look elsewhere and landed at UWA.

Now that the program has been resurrected on the Southside of Birmingham, TJ jumped at the chance to go back and fulfill a dream.

“My goal all along was to go back to my roots and my city, and that’s Birmingham. That dream came true in the middle of February when I was officially asked to join the Blazer football program,” TJ said.

About his sister, TJ couldn’t pass up the opportunity to call her “one of a kind,” but had no trouble finding complimentary things to say.

“Her character is like none other; the set of morals and aspirations she’s set for herself is truly beyond her years,” he said. “She’s the type of soccer player that will knock you down on the pitch and immediately stop playing just to help you up.”

From the competition as kids, Megan has developed into a key cog of the Husky soccer program coming off a 2015 season that was arguably the best in school history. Hewitt-Trussville reached No. 1 in Class 7A for the first time.

“We just had a lot of talent last year,” she said. “We had a lot of people who really wanted to be good. This year, it’s the same way.”

Personally, she made some of her greatest strides as a player while helping teach the game to her optometrist’s 8-year-old daughter.

“I had to teach her different moves, and that’s actually helped me, even though she’s eight,” Megan said.

That role helped her visualize what she does when her own scoring opportunities arise during games.

“What goes through my mind is I have to go with speed, and then just make a move,” she said.

Megan has played with the Vestavia Hills Soccer Club for several years, and gotten the opportunity to play games in a multitude of places over time. She is grateful for the chances the game has given her, to help pay for college, and to play the sport she loves.

She does eventually offer up a thought as to why she’s become a soccer player fit enough to earn a college scholarship.

“I’m really good at working with my teammates and even if I haven’t played with them for a really long time, I feel like I can get the hang of them easily,” McGettigan said.

McGettigan plans to enter the medical field after her playing days are over. However, Dakis makes one final interjection, as he seems sure she’ll coach one day.

“There is no life after soccer.”