A Tribute to Katie Meyer

The soccer community is devastated after hearing the news of the beloved goalie for the Stanford Women’s Soccer Team, Katie Meyer passing away on Tuesday, March 1st, 2022.

Meyer earned her fame after helping her team win the NCAA championship in December of 2019 after blocking 2 shots in a PK (Penalty Kick) shootout. Just a few short months away from graduation and had just started a project that she had been working on for a while called Be the Mentality, Meyer planned to talk about the good, the bad, and everything in between about daily life. She truly was an inspiration to the soccer community and continues to inspire thousands of young soccer players to play their very best all the time.

Katie Meyer’s love for soccer started young. She first played for AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) which is a recreational soccer organization mostly for young players to help them get the skills that they need to build their careers as soccer players. In addition to her school team, she played for club teams Real So Cal and Eagles Soccer Club, as well as the U16 girls’ national team. All of this helped her secure a spot on the Stanford Women’s soccer team but what most people may not know is that she also had an amazing academic transcript. Coming out of high school she had a 4.3 GPA. Stanford academically and as an athlete is no easy school to get into. With only a 5% acceptance rate into the actual school and with it being one of the best soccer teams in the country, this was no small accomplishment. Meyer’s desire to work hard truly is an inspiration to all of those who have big dreams.

Meyer seemed to have everything. She had a loving family and a wonderful group of people as her teammates. Unfortunately, we live in a broken world. Even though she had so much ahead of her life can be hard. Most people tend to forget that we are all human and we all feel pain and sorrow every day. Even the morning of her passing her parents spoke to her on the phone one last time before their worst nightmare’s was about to happen. “She was excited, and she had a lot on her plate, and she had a lot going on, but she was happy. She was in great spirits,” Gina Meyer said. Sometimes even when it seems like someone’s happy, they are usually carrying a lot of weight on their shoulders, and they are hurting more than we ever could realize. Eva Fields, goalie for the LHS girls soccer team, was very sad about about the passing of Katie Meyer. “She’ll always be remembered” she said.

Even one of Katie Meyer’s former teammates Sophia Smith who now plays for the USWNT tweeted just the other day ” A friendly reminder to all sports fans and spectators, athlete are human beings just trying their hardest to do their job.” It won’t always be perfect or exactly what you want to see, but at the end of the day, we are real people with real feelings. Our mental health is real and often not as strong as we may make it seem on the field. The things you yell at us during the game, we hear it. The things you comment on social media, we see it. We are strong, but we are people just like you, and sometimes I think people forget that.” she said.

It’s important to be kind because you never know who you are talking to. Words can hurt more than anyone realizes and even the people that seem the strongest in our eyes can be hurting just as bad as anyone else. No one should ever have to lose a daughter, sister, friend, teammate, and student to suicide. 22 years was not enough time, and no one should ever have to lose someone that soon.

Always remember to be kind.