Megan was born on Aug 9, 2003, the first child of Chad and Lara Lusher.  She was born in Fairfax, VA, in the summer- which if you have lived in Virginia, you know is incredibly hot and humid.  She was a ball of energy from the start – perfect in every way.  The first grandchild on both sides, she was not lacking for attention, and loved the limelight.

At only a few months old, Megan was constantly kicking – a foreshadowing of her future interest in soccer. A happier child, you could not find. She was so alert and smiled at everyone -family and strangers.  She loved her crib, her toys, her dog.   And an easier baby, you could not find. She slept through the night at 6 weeks, was always in perfect health, and hit every development milestone early. She was walking, or more accurately running, at 10 months and was incredibly coordinated. Her first word was “airplane”, a true testament to how much she traveled as an infant.

By age 1, she was a ball of energy.  She was constantly on the move, and extremely curious.  She had a 50 word vocabulary, which we credit to her time with her Bubbe, who is a big talker!  She added a little southern charm to that vocabulary when we moved down to Alabama just before her first birthday.  Her best friend was her dog Guinness and her favorite activity was swimming.  And she would go nowhere without her white stuffed kitty, which she still has.

After a year in the deep south, at the age of 2, Megan moved back to Virginia.  She made many friends and had amazing experiences with the Mom’s club group in which she and her mom participated.   With the group, she spent days in downtown DC at museums, national monuments, the zoo, and parks. She went to local kids music concerts at coffee shops, and had play dates almost every day. She became a big sister, and excitedly promised to “show her baby brother the ropes.”

When Megan was 3 years old,   she started   preschool, where they emphasized self confidence – something Megan already had plenty of!   There, she met more new friends and mastered her letters and numbers.  Her favorite activity was playing on the playground, where she was deemed “a true leader”!  She really liked Diego from “ Go Diego! Go!”  who she said was a real cutie!  She loved the pool and loved to climb trees, and she loved to sing along to the “Schoolhouse Rock” videos her mommy made her watch.

At age 4, Megan moved to North Ogden, Utah, where she started a Montessori preschool, began to read and learn simple math, and made lots of friends. Her dad was in the military and had to go to war, so he was away for 6 months. She was sad, but she learned about the country of Kuwait where her dad was deployed and she talked to him almost every day via Skype. Her mom would take her on long hikes in the beautiful mountains around their home, and she would go for miles with only an occasional complaint (thanks to backpacker ice cream!).   She started swimming and quickly moved through all the lessons.  She also started gymnastics, and played kickball.  In the winter, her mom taught her how to ski, and after just one day on the mountain, she asked, “When can I start racing!”  By the end of the season, she was carving beautiful turns down black diamond runs.

Megan’s 5th year was a big one! She turned 5 in August, and started kindergarten  in September. She began taking piano lessons, learning by the Suzuki method, and also took on tap and ballet, performing in two productions during the year. She continued tearing through swim lessons in the summer and skied her first black diamond powder run in the winter. She was unstoppable in athletics and also in the classroom where she excelled at both reading and math. Her dad was back from war, and he took her, along with the rest of the family, on many excursions all around the state of Utah. 5 was also the age when Megan started playing soccer. Her team was called the Orange Flowers and they dominated every game. Megan was such a natural soccer player, it was so much fun to watch her. She would glide down the field and effortlessly put the ball in the goal. Her joy at being on the field was evident to everyone, and it was clear that she had found a calling.

When Megan was six years old, she started in the Lower Elementary class at OVMS, the Montessori School she had attended since age 4, which she loved.  The highlight of her school year was the solo she performed at graduation, which she was rewarded because she was the only kid who memorized the states and capitals in the middle section of the US. She had so much fun with her Montessori friends, who she spent a ton of time with- hiking, swimming, skiing, playing and adventuring.  She continued her slew of sports including skiing, soccer, dance, swimming, and hiking, as well as her piano lessons.  

At seven, Megan started the second grade at the Maria Montessori School, where she made a whole new group of friends.  She also began gymnastics, ski racing,  and swimming on a team.  She loved racing on skis, and had a blast on the soccer field.  She competed in her first swim meet and also played her first piano concert.  In front of over 30 friends and family, Megan performed from memory all 17 pieces from the Suzuki Piano Book 1.  With poise and grace, she showed her mastery, achieved with over 2 years commitment and hard work.  

Eight was a year full of fun for Megan.  She continued her Montessori education, piano studies, and her wealth of sports.  She started playing competition soccer, and she was a star on the ski slopes picking up her first ski medal early in the season.  She went on great hikes with family and friends, tried her hand at rock climbing, and participated in simulated skydiving at IFly.  She went on trips to both Washington DC and Washington state as she did most years, but her year culminated with her first international trip – to Costa Rica.  She had a blast – seeing monkeys, sea turtles, sloths, iguanas, camen and more; horseback riding to waterfalls, playing in the pools at the Tabacon Hotsprings, touring a coffee plantation and a bat museum.  But by far, the favorite activity of this adventure seeking girl was the 17 platform zipline course over the cloud forest in Monteverde!  

Megan’s 9th birthday party was a camping trip with 9 of her good friends.  With a scavenger hunt, tubing on the Weber River, marshmallow roasting, and even a late night showing of ET in the woods, it kicked off her ninth year as a great one!  She finally moved to traditional school and started the 4th grade at Bates Elementary, a 10 minute walk from her house in North Ogden.  She excelled in the classroom, even winning the egg drop competition with her partner at the Math Science Olympiad.  She continued her piano studies and performed another graduation concert in front of a large audience, playing all of the Suzuki Book 2 Piano pieces from memory.   She did start to narrow down her sports  to soccer and skiing, although she spent a lot of time on the trails hiking with friends and family.  She even spent some time on the Park City trails, as her family began construction on their long awaited dream home.  

The summer of Megan’s 10 birthday found her splitting her time between Park City and playing soccer.  She spent a lot of time at her new home site, learning a bit about the construction trade.  When not in Park City, she was on the soccer field, having joined a premier team and upping her commitment to 3 practices a week.   She started the 5th grade in the fall, and loved her teacher and her class.   Her favorite part of 5th grade was JA Bustown, a simulated city where the kids were given adult jobs for the day.  Megan was the CFO of the TV station, and she enjoyed it so much, she thought it could be her future career (after her career as a profession soccer player of course!).  She won the Citizenship Award at JA Bustown, the only award that included a cash prize!   Soccer became her main sport although she still spent some time on the ski slopes and tried her hand at volleyball (she was good at it!).  Her increased soccer practice paid off as she  was selected for the Olympic Development Program (ODP)- a highly selective state run program for elite players.  Along with soccer tournament travel to Colorado and Vegas, she made it out to both Washington DC and Seattle, and took a great trip to Zion National Park, where she hiked/floated the Narrows in a dry suit.

At 11, Megan was a force to recon with on the soccer field!  She played on two teams, stepping up her commitment even more, now to 5 days a week of practice.  She again made ODP, and her 3 person team won the camp tournament.  She started the 1% club (which she has now been in for over 3 years), committing to a minimum of 20 minutes per day of independent soccer training, and achieved an amazing record of 606 juggles in a row after 2 months of practice!  In addition, she was a top student in her school.  In 6th grade, her last year of elementary, she was a real leader.  She was part of the student council, and at the end of the year, she received the prestigious “Hope of America” award.   She took first in the Set competition in the Math/Science Olympiad,  and got a 3rd place award in the district Science Fair.   She received a record 6 academic awards at the 6th grade graduation ceremony, but by far, the award she was most proud of was “Fastest Student in the School” – she held the record, both for boys and girls, of the fastest mile time!  Somehow, she still made time for piano and skiing, passing AIMs level 3 piano skills evaluation and skiing her first double black diamond chute – Lone Tree at Snowbasin.  It was a great last year of elementary school for Megan and a great last year in North Ogden, the town she had been in since she was 4 – the only one she really remembered.

Shortly after her 12th birthday, Megan moved to Park City.  She started Ecker Hill Middle School, where she continued to excel, getting straight “A”s and joining the National Junior Honor Society.  She met a great group of smart and athletic girls who became her friends.   She fit a few days of skiing in, rocking her new home mountain, Park City Ski Resort.  She continued to play for two soccer teams, forming close bonds with her teammates. She again made ODP, both the preliminary cut to travel to the Mesquite camp and the final cut to travel to Phoenix with the Utah team competing in Regionals. She got a chance to tour Stanford after a soccer tournament, and loved it!  She got braces, which she was very excited about… until they were on.   And she had some great local trips – zip lining in Vegas after a tournament, sightseeing at Dinosaur National Monument, white water rafting on the Green River, hiking at Arches National Park,  and driving ATVs in Moab.  

Due to her natural gifts and her hard work, Megan, at 13, became an amazing young woman.  She performed her Bat Mitzvah after 9 months of dedicated learning, and impressively conducted herself in front of over 100 people.  She maintained her straight A average in school and was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.  She got a volunteer job at the library, right in line with her love for reading.  She had to manage her time very wisely as she was also putting a tremendous amount of time into soccer.  She started playing in the Elite Clubs National League, and with her team, tied for first in their pool play.   She traveled almost every other weekend with the team in the winter and spring, forming lifelong bonds with her teammates.  She served as a team captain, and she learned valuable leadership skills.  She grew tremendously, both physically and mentally, but still kept her little girl sweetness – and her kitty!

Shortly after turning 14, Megan made her high school varsity soccer team …and got her braces off!  She began her freshman year of high school, taking on 5 honors classes, high school and club soccer, plus  volunteer work.  Despite her busy schedule, she excelled, again maintaining her straight A average and killing it on the soccer field.  She did a ton of travelling for soccer ,and got to visit a number of great colleges with her team.  She also got to visit Spain, where she saw a lot of churches and ate a ton of tapas!  And of course, Spain being a soccer mecca, she couldn’t miss the opportunity to tour both Bernabéu  and Camp Nou.  At Camp Nou,  she caught a Barcelona game which was nothing short of amazing!  Inspired by all the great soccer, she returned to the states and earned both a spot at ECNL id2  National Camp and a selection as an ECNL All-Conference Player.  

15 has been a great year for Megan so far. On her 15th birthday, she got her learners permit and is now driving whenever she can!  She started her sophomore year in high school and has continued to excel in the classroom. She has maintained her straight A average, and has found her academic calling – chemistry! After a 3 year break, she has resumed her piano studies and is currently playing fun tangos and ragtime pieces. She just finished her high school soccer season, where she scored 18 goals in 12 games and had a blast. She made the 1st team all region and was voted offensive player of the year by her teammates.  Megan is so excited for ECNL club soccer, as soccer continues to be her life passion!  She is actively looking at colleges, and planning for a fun, exciting, and productive future!