Katelyn Hicks and Jessica Thompson proved Tuesday that experience and geography are only impediments to potential if they are allowed to be.
While Hicks has been only playing soccer for three years, Thompson has been immersed in it since she was 7 years old. The fact that both players are seniors at Columbus High School didn’t allow them to attract a lot of attention from college soccer coaches who often don’t take recruiting visits to programs that are building to become competitive at the state level.
None of that mattered Tuesday, though, as Hicks and Thompson realized opportunities to continue their soccer careers with the Northwest Mississippi Community College women’s team. Both players attended tryouts one week apart from each other and impressed NWCC women’s soccer coach Peter Jarjoura enough that they were invited to join the team as walk-ons.
Jarjoura, who last week signed Caledonia High senior Taylor Renth, led his team to a 5-8 record (2-6 MACJC) this past season. He said Tuesday that Hicks and Thompson are the first women’s soccer players from Columbus to play at NWCC.
“We saw their potential and we decided to go ahead and give them a spot on the team,” Jarjoura said.
Jarjoura said each player practiced with players on the NWCC team. He said he didn’t know a lot about the soccer tradition at Columbus High, but that he liked how each player followed instruction and their understanding of the games. He said it doesn’t matter that Hicks and Thompson aren’t coming from a program that has a little more tradition. He said it’s his job to bring the potential out of both players.
“The potential is there, and I feel like both of them will get to play this year,” Jarjoura said. “They will come, they will enjoy it, and, hopefully, they will be bigger assets the following year.”
Columbus High coach Ben Moore, who coaches the girls and boys teams at the school, said it is a sign of progress that seniors Sophia Timm, who will be a walk-on at Itawamba C.C., Hicks, and Thompson are going to get a chance to continue their soccer careers. He hopes younger players in the program will be motivated by the accomplishment of the three seniors and strive to follow in their footsteps.
“It’s humbling,” Moore said. “As a coach, you want to leave kind of a legacy. If there is any way to do that, the best way is for kids to go off and continue to play. I have been hoping and have had some talent in the past for kids to go off and play in the past couple of years and haven’t been able to get them anywhere. With Ricky (Hackler) signing (to play at ICC) and with the three senior girls signing, it is starting something. We have some upcoming talent, and, hopefully, they will see how great these kids are doing and how well they are progressing in life, through school, and through soccer, and they will aspire to do those same things.”
Moore said Hicks and Thompson were captains just about every night and gave 100 percent effort every match. He said the players remained positive throughout the ups and downs of the season, and is confident both players will be able to maximize their potential.
Thompson said it was difficult to remain confident as she first wondered why she wasn’t getting recruited and then didn’t get an offer following a tryout at another junior college in the state. She said she had an offer at another Mississippi junior college before NWCC called. She said she fell in love with the campus and thought she made an impression on Jarjoura at her tryout. Still, she admitted it was a surprise when he offered her a spot on the team.
“Soccer is really just everything to me,” Thompson said. “It is more than a sport. It has always been my life, and it always will be. I don’t plan on that stopping.”
Hicks, who gave soccer a chance three years ago after years as a cheerleader and a dancer, picked up soccer immediately and took the game’s aggressiveness. This past season, she teamed with Thompson on defense.
After a taste of soccer at the high school level, Hicks said she is anxious to keep learning the sport and honing her skills.
“At first, I thought (the tryout) was going to be more of a one-on-one thing with the coach,” Hicks said. “I was really nervous, but he made me feel really, really comfortable. … I felt good about the tryout. Afterward, he said, ‘I want you to be on the team.’ ”
Hicks didn’t know Thompson was going to try out at NWCC. She said having a teammate with her on the next step will make it even more special.
“I know I try my hardest because I want to keep playing,” Hicks said. “I know I have only played three years, so I have a little bit of a disadvantage compared to others, but I was excited.”
Hicks feels she has a lot of potential. She said her love for the game will help her overcome her lack of experience, as will he desire to push herself to be the best she can be.
Thompson shares that mind-set from a few more years of playing. She said it was difficult imagining the next step without soccer, so she is grateful for the opportunity to keep playing. Now that Thompson has it secured, she plans to make the most of the chance.
“You just have to keep going,” Thompson said. “No matter how hard you want to give up, it is your dream, you have done this for so long, you can’t give up and you have to keep going.
“It took hard work, and you have to realize your goals and what you want and work through it. You have to show your potential. You have to make others see it. It is one thing for you to believe it, but you have to show it to others, and you have to work hard at it.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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