Lacey Mey, the daughter of Hesperia Community Schools superintendent Bryan Mey, is set to make an impression as the team's kicker at the varsity level and a kicker-wide receiver for the junior varsity squad.
Mey will be a freshman this season for the Panthers.
“I just have always wanted to do it, honestly, I always thought that if a guy could do it then a girl could do it," Mey said. “And I just wanted to prove I can do it. I’ve always liked football."
Outside of her parents and coaches, her friends told her she could and should play high school football.
Lacey also said that her grandparents encouraged her.
And she also said that she doesn’t have a favorite football player, but she likes the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“I just like watching the way he plays,” Mey said, citing his energy and flashy play as her reasons.
About her role for the Panthers, Mey said, “Because I’m going to be the kicker on varsity and possibly going to be a receiver for the JV.”
In addition to football, Lacey has wrestled, played soccer, and ran track.
Mey said she plans on wrestling at the school as well as track.
She said she is looking to run the 100-meters and the 4x100 relay, and said she likes track.
Mey recently attended a wrestling camp put on by the University of Michgan and said she got to meet the new Paris Olympics Gold Medal winner Sarah Hildenbrandt, who won in freestyle wrestling.
The wrestling camp was for girls.
“I think it’s great; we love it," Bryan Mey, the school superintendent, said about his daughter being a kicker. “We’ve always encouraged Lacey to do anything she can set her mind to and she’s a pretty good kicker … she’s got a nice boot. Coach thinks she can be a receiver and a safety on the JV."
Bryan said that Lacey is a good athlete and her parents support her.
About why Lacey is being split between JV and Varsity, Bryan said, “She’s going to be a good enough kicker to kick for JV and varsity.”
“She’s got a varsity level leg, for sure, but she’s a good enough athlete that she can hold her own as a receiver and a safety on the JV.”
“So, if it was just kicking, I think she would probably just kick for both teams but being that she’s got the athleticism and she’s strong – she’s a wrestler – that she can play and she’s fast. Her 4x1 team relay set school records for the 4x1, so, being able to be a receiver and a safety.”
The record she and the rest of the 4x1 team set was at Hesperia Middle School.
Lacey’s mother, Miriam Mey, said she’s proud of her daughter and that it’s very exciting to see Lacey play.
“Just encouragement and just letting her have her own mind in what she wants to do and lots of car rides back and forth to practice," Miriam said.
Miriam also said that Lacey played in a traveling league soccer in Muskegon for a club team and she drove Lacey back and forth from Hesperia to Muskegon.
Panthers Head Coach Tyler Fehler said he's excited to have Lacey on the team.
“She’s a very good athlete – I know 100% she’s going to kick for varsity like field goals, extra points, kickoffs, all things like that," Fehler said. “And, since she’s only a freshman, and for JV football, she is big and strong and she is very athletic, good soccer player anyway and she wrestles for our school as well."
“So, she is going to be able to be used for more than just kicking.”
