Lauren Meade '26 Recruiting Profile

My name is Lauren Meade and I am a forward from Tacoma, Washington. Growing up with two brothers who are now collegiate football players, I‘ve  always been held to a very high standard in athletics and academics. 

It was during COVID when I made the move to an ECNL club. After a little less than a year, that coach dual-rostered me because I wasn't performing how I should. After a summer of playing and training with our RCL team, he brought me back up. I still wasn't getting very many minutes on the pitch. That May, we got a new coach and he cut me fully. For the next year I played with our RCL team and received the best coaching I'd ever experienced. My confidence grew and my team went undefeated in our RCL season, losing one game from August '22- May '23. I made first team all league for my RCL division. This past May, the coach that had cut me fully offered me a spot on his ECNL team.

I've heard a lot of athletes say "If I get cut, I'm not playing. It's not worth it at that point." But I've always believed that nothing worth having comes easy. I wanted to prove those coaches wrong. I hated them thinking that they could put me down without a fight. So, I proved to the coaches that cut me (and many other coaches at my club) that I did deserve that spot and I was going to do whatever it took to get back on that team.

My mindset transfers to my schoolwork as well. My goal is to maintain my 4.0 while taking AP and other advanced courses. I love being in a classroom setting with people that I share common interests with. I have always held myself to a high standard with grades, never being content with anything less than a 95%. I am looking to pursue a health or medicine degree in college. 

I have a quote that I always keep in the back of my mind. "Don't downgrade your dream just to fit your reality, upgrade your conviction to match your destiny."