Madison Thrasher couldn’t contain her enthusiasm.
After nearly two years of attending ID camps, sending emails and text messages to coaches, and filling out questionnaires online, Thrasher was talking on the telephone to a college coach who had watched her play against Caledonia.
The only thing that initially remained unclear was whether Northwest Mississippi Community College women’s soccer coach Levi Nunnally was going to offer the New Hope High School senior a scholarship.
Judging from Thrasher’s reaction to the conversation — a resounding “Yessss. Thank you.” — and it is easy to tell the offer was made and welcomed.
On Friday, Thrasher backed up her verbal affirmation of Nunnally’s offer by signing a National Letter of Intent to play soccer at Northwest Mississippi C.C. in Senatobia.
“I went on my visit during the summer and I pretty much knew that is where I wanted to go,” Thrasher said. “I had been on a lot of different visits to different schools, but you know when you are in the right place.”
Thrasher said she enjoyed the family feel of the soccer program and the campus. She said she received interest from several other junior colleges in the state of Mississippi, but she wasn’t sure if she was going to find the one that she thought suited her best.
Thrasher said she wasn’t convinced a college coach was going to recruit her because there always were players on her teams that overshadowed her, so she thought why would anyone want to recruit her? She said it took years of listening to coaches and teammates who believed in her to help her develop the confidence she needed to blossom into a college-level player.
“It was self-doubt because I am perfectionist,” Thrasher said. “I feel like if I mess up my whole team is going to hate me, or something like that. I feel like I have to have a perfect game. Coming into New Hope, I had to learn I am never going to have a perfect game, nothing is ever going to be perfect, and I have to accept that and grow with that.”
Thrasher said she stopped being so hard on herself and came to terms with that she had to learn to bounce back and put mistakes behind her.
New Hope High girls soccer coach Mary Nagy said Thrasher always had confidence but had to learn how to trust her ability. Once Thrasher did that, her skills attracted the attention of plenty of college coaches.
Nagy said Thrasher did a great job of promoting herself and getting her name out to as many as coaches as possible. She said Thrasher’s signing was the culmination of a road that started — at least in high school — in the seventh grade when she inserted the then-seventh-grader into a playoff game against Saltillo. Nagy said that appearance was Thrasher’s “come-out game.”
Since then, Thrasher has played a variety of roles for the Lady Trojans. This season, she has six goals and two assists and is one of the leaders Nagy looks to to help set the tone on a very young team.
Nagy said Thrasher is doing a great job as a leader on the field by asserting her size and strength. She said this is the first season she has seen Thrasher play to her physical ability.
“Coach Will (Taylor) has told her repeatedly if you have the ball at your feet, you body them off and no one will take that ball away from you,” Nagy said. “Put your head up and you know where to send that ball.
“While she believed it, because of the whistles she has gotten in the past (for fouls) — whether it was her fault of not or because of her size — she didn’t play to that physical ability. This year, she is playing to that physical ability. It has made a tremendous difference in her play and for us on the field. It also has built up her confidence.”
At 5-foot-9, Thrasher continues to be a force on the field. Voted team captain this season, Thrasher, one of five seniors on the team, is making her presence felt at outside midfielder. She feels she has made significant progress throughout her career and now believes in herself and has confidence she will be able to take the next step and make a similar impact at Northwest Mississippi C.C.
“I always knew I wanted to play college soccer,” Thrasher said, “but I didn’t know if it would ever be an option for me until I finally realized I am actually good enough to do it.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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