Multi-faceted senior Ashley Meath strives to balance school with art and sports. Meath has been an artist for as long as she can remember, and has been an athlete for almost just as long.
Meath started playing soccer when she was six, and as the years passed, she grew a passion for it—though she doesn’t know why exactly she started liking soccer.
¨My dad forced me into it,” Meath said. “I didn’t really care that much in the beginning but I like it now.”
Despite not playing on a club team at all in middle school, Meath made Huron Women’s Varsity soccer team as just a freshman. In fact, she was one of the two freshmen on the Varsity team. Making Varsity came as a complete surprise to her.
“I was wondering why I made varsity. Like what the heck?” Meath said.
Joining Huron soccer helped Meath make a lot of new friends. Starting club soccer at Crush during sophomore year brought even more friends into her life. Meath attends bi-weekly soccer practices with a smile on her face; not only does she get to play the sport she loves, but she gets to hang out with people she loves as well.
“I’ve made a lot of friends through soccer,” Meath said.
In addition to the club soccer practices, Meath also tries to find time to practice on her own. Having this extra practice time is not always possible though, so Meath’s practice schedule changes a lot depending on her circumstances.
“Sometimes I practice on my own if I have time for it,” Meath said. “But I didn’t have time last year so I didn’t.”
Though school workload and her overall busy-ness has increased since the beginning of junior year, Meath fortunately finds a natural balance between soccer and schoolwork.
“It’s not that hard [to balance school and soccer] because I feel like playing soccer wakes me up,” Meath said. “It gets me more energetic for studying.”
Meath’s interests extend beyond soccer and sports, as she has talent in the art field too. In fact, she believes that art may generally have an even bigger impact on her life than soccer does. She’s currently taking IB art at Huron, but most of the time she dedicates toward art is on her own.
“I do as much [art] as I can,” Meath said. “[I try to] fit in as much as I have energy for.”
Her dedication toward art is manifested by her current bedroom’s condition, which has a lot of art supplies all over the place. Her windows are open to rid the paint fumes, but they’re strong enough to the point where she prefers sleeping elsewhere instead.
“[My room] is a mess and I really need to clean it up,” Meath said. “It’s a hassle. It’s actually dangerous. Toxic environment.”
Again, as with her soccer schedule, Meath’s art schedule shifts a lot and depends on her workload and other activities. Meath likes to create various types of art, but her favorite is realism. She doesn’t have a common source of inspiration for her paintings.
“I just do whatever I feel like doing,” Meath said.
Being an athlete and an artist is no easy feat, and Meath doesn’t always engage in both activities equally. At times, she prioritizes soccer over art– especially during the Huron soccer season in the spring.
“I just do whatever is most important at the time,” Meath said. “Sometimes I’ll do a little less art. I’ll go days without doing it.”
Right now is one of those times where soccer is a higher priority for Meath than art. The fall club soccer season has her schedule filled.
