It”s hard to imagine Demi Menotti being quiet.
As far back as seventh grade, Menotti remembers not saying a lot and doing her best to earn the respect of her teammates.
A lot has changed in the past four years.
Not only has Menotti become more of a vocal leader, she also has matured into a mainstay in the center of the field for the New Hope High School girls soccer team.
In fact, Menotti”s play has helped her earn a few nicknames.
“She is the glue that holds the team together,” New Hope High coach Mary Nagy said. “I call her my game-changer.”
Menotti”s play as a central midfielder was an integral part of New Hope”s success this season. She had seven goals and nine assists and helped the Lady Trojans advance to the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State playoffs.
For her accomplishments, Menotti is The Dispatch”s Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
“I know I contribute, but everybody contributes to it,” Menotti said.
“I consider everybody the glue because there is no drama and we all stick together and it is all soccer on the field. We say soccer time when we get on the field.
“It really is just family. Everybody has to stick together through all of this, just like glue, and we all really do.”
Menotti wasn”t eligible to play with the New Hope High varsity team as a seventh-grader, so she served as the team”s ball girl. Even though Menotti didn”t play, she practiced with the team and continued to practice and to play with her Select team.
As the years progressed and the most improved player awards from her high school team stacked up, Menotti”s drive and passion for soccer never waned. She also started to talk more and learned how to use her
skills to help make the team better.
“I was just scared of everybody, I guess. I wasn”t scared to play soccer with them. I was just scared to talk,” Menotti said. “As the years go on, I just get louder, and louder and louder. I trust everybody and I have been around them for so long and I can say whatever I want to. Everybody just gets along.”
Nagy said she has been more impressed with Menotti”s ability to learn to play different roles and not to be a solitary figure who feels she has to do everything to help her team to win.
Initially, Menotti didn”t believe and was persistent in her desire to play up front so she could score goals. This season, though, Nagy said Menotti “bought in” to the coaches” strategy to have her play in the middle to facilitate the attack and to get others involved.
“She learned to be that team player in the middle, that glue that holds us together,” Nagy said. “Very rarely does Demi come out of the game. Sometimes she is out, she will sit down, grab some water, and be right back at the line before a minute is up. That is her job and her passion to be out there on the field.”
Nagy said Menotti worked well with her teammates to set them up and to work off the ball to get the ball back so she could score. But don”t think Menotti is a one-way player. Nagy said Menotti”s competitiveness won”t allow her to settle for less than the best.
“Fighting for a loose ball is what she lives for,” Nagy said. “Diving in the mud is what she lives for. Every day she asks, ”Can we do diving headers?” Every day she looks for a way to make herself better than she is.”
Menotti feels her passing has improved and she is learning to tackle better so she can stay on her feet and contain opponents. She also realizes the coaches have a reason for wanting her to play positions, so she is willing to play that role for as long as it takes if it helps the team.
Entering her senior season, Menotti wants to set the example that players have to earn what they get. Her example paid dividends the past few seasons for New Hopes, and she hopes it continues in 2011-12.
“I think our satisfaction as a team brought us so much closer,” Menotti said. “This year we”re going to fight to the end to get there because we have worked so hard. We have been trying so hard. Every player has gotten better.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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