Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, Trey Meek: Trey magnifique
Barry Faulkner
Trey Meek’s road to soccer stardom has been paved with broken
glass. More specifically, broken china, broken vases and other disparate
debris, strewn throughout his household ever since, more than a decade
ago, his passion for flipping the ball about overwhelmed his parents’
protests.
“I was always breaking things and I guess my parents got used to it,”
said the junior forward, whose penchant for nestling leather into a nylon
net has prompted some to forecast a potential professional future.
“He’s got some stuff you can’t teach,” said Newport Harbor Coach Matt
West, who watched Meek muster three goals in Friday’s 4-2
regular-season-ending Sea View League triumph over Aliso Niguel.
The offensive explosion nearly doubled the Daily Pilot Athlete of the
Week’s goal total for the season (seven). But, West believes, the
prolific performance painted a better picture of Meek’s ability than his
relatively modest scoring stats might.
“Actually, I’m surprised it didn’t happen earlier in the season,” West
said of Meek’s hat trick. “Trey really makes our offense go, even though
he hasn’t been the one putting the ball in the goal. I’ve sensed he’s
been on the verge, about to break through. Hopefully, what he did against
Aliso will propel him and us as a team.”
Meek’s scoring frustrations had been exaggerated, since he came into the
season on the heels of his best club campaign ever.
“I scored about 30 goals in 10 games, with a couple five-goal games,”
Meek recalled. “I felt like I’d been playing the best soccer of my life.
Then, I came into the high school season and it was kind of a weird
transition.”
Meek, in his third varsity season, missed some preleague games due to a
vacation, and also battled some illness, which didn’t help.
He finished the eight-game league season with half the Sailors 12 goals
and he also added an assist against Sea View competition. Now, after
Friday’s firestorm, he appears locked and loaded for what the Tars (7-7-5
heading into Wednesday’s wild-card game with Anaheim) hope is a long
postseason run.
West said he gave Meek a pep talk before the Aliso game.
“I just wanted to pump him up a little bit,” West said. “I told him I
still had confidence in him and that I thought it was time for him to
show everyone else what he’s been showing us in practice all season.”
Meek, the cousin of U.S. national team member Joe-Max Moore, has
impressed many with his speed, quickness, skill level and scoring knack.
“He’s so explosive, at any given moment, he can beat a defense,” West
said. “He’s extremely quick, he’s elusive, and he has a striker’s
mentality. I like to call it a killer instinct.”
Meek believes scorers are born, not made.
“I think it’s more of a gift,” he said. “You can go out and practice
shots all day long, but it doesn’t always help you in game situations.
You’re either born with it, or you’re not.”
Meek may not have been born with his passion for the game, but it hit him
soon thereafter.
“Soccer is my whole life,” he said. “If I’m not playing soccer, I’m
kicking the ball around or watching games on TV. It’s just my favorite
thing to do. I love it. It never gets old.”
Meek loves it so much, he’s planning to venture to England this spring
(to visit Moore), and also explore an opportunity to try out for a
professional team in Holland next summer.
“I don’t really know how good I can be yet,” he said. “If I get in a
situation where the players around me are all at an extremely high level,
it should boost my skills. I don’t know if I can make it or not, but if I
do, I want to sign. It’s my dream to get paid to play soccer.”
If he does wind up playing in Europe, Meek will take correspondence
courses to obtain his high school diploma.
Until then, he’ll keep booting the ball at the net. Or, perhaps, just
down the hall.
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