It’s unlikely Rachel Van Meir will have many college teammates who were key players for both their high school soccer and football teams.
Bayside’s Rachel Van Meir and Palm Bay’s Cheyenne Gross battle for control of the ball during a 2016 soccer match.
Van Meir signed on Wednesday to play next year for the Eastern Florida State College women’s soccer team. During her time at Bayside High, she has not only been key for the Bears girls soccer team, but she’s been vital to the football team.
In the spring of 2015, she approached Bayside football coach Mike Nahl and made an announcement.
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“I went up to him and said, ‘I’m Rachel Van Meir,’ ” she recalled. “I said, ‘I’m going to play on your football team.’ “
Nahl’s cautious reaction was not unexpected, but as he approaches his first spring practice season without her, he has a different opinion.
“We’re going to miss her a lot,” he said Monday. “She was money, especially on PATs.”
Van Meir made 18 of 19 extra point attempts, and her only miss was blocked. She also kicked field goals for the team, and her 29-yarder against Sebastian River this past fall made the Bears one of just two district opponents to score on the Sharks in 2016.
But before Van Meir won her kicking spot, Nahl wanted to test her. He lined up her prospective teammates on the field and had the then-10th-grader try a series of longer and longer field goals.
“Obviously I was nervous, but I made most of them,” Van Meir remembered. What she learned from her two seasons on the team has boosted her in an important area for any athlete.
Bayside High’s Rachel Van Meir kicks the extra point during a game held at Bayside.
“I’ve always been the type of person to have a lot of confidence, but being able to kick on the football team really build my confidence up even more,” she said. “
Nahl agreed.
“Her confidence is through the roof,” he said. “She was just like one of the guys.”
Van Meir, a soccer midfielder, said she was told by her future college coaches they liked her creativity and her technical ability with the ball. She also played a couple of years of high school tennis, and she was the district runner-up at her position each season.
It is her time on the football field, however, that has set her apart.
“My football career is over, but it was a really good experience,” she said. “I’m glad I did it.”
Contact McCallum at 321-242-3698 or bmccallum@floridatoday.com. Follow facebook.com/FLtoday.brianmccallum and @Brian_McCallum on Twitter.
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