Lacrosse, Soccer
Favorite athlete: Mallory Pugh
Favorite team: USWNT
Favorite memory competing in sports: Playing night games in the stadium
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I first started playing soccer, I shuffled back and forth on one line for the entire game because my coach placed me there and told me I couldn’t move.
Music on playlist: A little bit of everything!
Future plans: Study economics at UCLA
Words to live by: Don’t be afraid of trying new things
One goal before turning 30: Learn how to speak another language
One thing people don’t know about me: I cried the first time I tried to play lacrosse
By GORDON GLANTZ
It is one thing to claim to have words to live by, it is another to actually stay true to those words.
Abington senior two-sport athlete Mei Mei Cheng is a shining example of someone who tries her best to follow her North Star, as she remains unafraid to try new things.
It began when she started playing soccer at age 4 and gave up softball (which she played since she was 6 after beginning Tee-ball at age 4) to try lacrosse in third grade – and cried -- but stayed with it and grew to love the sport. She most recently went way outside the box with her college choice and decided to attend UCLA.
“It is a little bit out there, but everything just worked out,” said Cheng, who plans to major in economics. “I do have family in California, so it helps.
“I applied to a lot of schools, just all around, in general. There were some in other states. I didn’t really have any one top choice. I got my letters of acceptance and that was it. I mean, yes, it’s far but I do have support there.”
Although tuition for out-of-state students in California is steep, she feels like it’s the best fit.
“Of course, the weather is always nice,” she said, laughing. “I think the academic choices are good for me. Compared to the other schools, I just think it’s the best fit.”
As for majoring in economics, she is doing so without a specific career path in mind.
“No, not really,” she said. “I chose economics because it’s such a broad topic and I can go into anything after I decide what I want to do.”
Three Strike Rule
As for her inauspicious lacrosse debut, she credits both the support of her friends and teammates and her parents, Ingrid and Jon, who always taught her to keep on trying.
“They have this three-strike rule,” she explained. “I have to try stuff three times before I can give it up. It’s just that a lot of my friends had been playing it, and I was scared to be the worst one, which I obviously was.
“But, I went back and learned to play, and all my friends really helped me.”
Fast forward to the present and she is an invaluable senior tri-captain that coach Amalie Kreitman generally plays at midfield but moves to other positions as needed.
It has been a long, strange trip.
“I really don’t know how I got here,” she said. “I was always the little kid on the field. I don’t even know why I kept on playing. I was always a midfielder because I could run, but I was always the shortest one on the field. It was kind of an interesting journey, trying to get here.”
Cheng, who has since grown from being a head shorter than everyone else in grade school to a more moderate 5-4, is unable to identify any specific moment when it all clicked into place.
She is just glad that it did and that she kept on improving.
“I just think I realized that, if I work harder than anyone else, everything will really just come together,” she said. “I really don’t need to be the tallest or even the fastest. I can put in the work, and I can get those turnovers and those groundballs.”
Versatility
For a variety of reasons, ranging from game situations to injuries, Cheng has been moved from her midfield spot to forward and defense and back to midfield again.
Wherever she can help, she is ready to go.
“I have taken the draw, played on defense. I’ve really played all around,” said Cheng. “It’s been interesting. I think it has helped me with ‘game think’ and with how other positions work and with helping with the younger kids who play those positions.”
On the soccer pitch, Cheng is also a midfielder.
“She is one of the hardest working players I have ever had in all my years, and she’s a ridiculously good student,” said Abington coach Rick Tompkins, who has been at the helm 12 years. “She goes about her business very quietly and gets the job done, but the engine just doesn’t quit.”
A three-year varsity player, Cheng excelled for the Ghosts, whose season culminated with a trip to the district playoffs.
“She’s a great teammate – she’s great every which way,” Tompkins said. “Let’s say we’re stuck in a game, and we need someone to hold down the defense – I can move her back there, and she can handle it. And we played her up front.
“She took some free kicks for us. She has a very good shot, and my biggest criticism of her is she didn’t take it enough. I used to tease her about it and say, ‘Just shoot the ball’ because she brings it.”
Kreitman said Cheng’s athleticism and sixth sense carried over from the soccer pitch to the lacrosse field.
“She is an all-around fantastic player,” said Kreitman. “You can put her anywhere on the field and she is dynamite. You can put on attack, she scores goals. You put her on defense, she keeps people out. You put her in the circle, and she is going after that ground ball.
“She plays soccer as well, so she is super athletic.”
Winning Off the Field
Someone doesn’t get into school like UCLA, especially from out of state, with being a strong student.
Taking honors and advanced placement classes, she carries a weighted GPA of 4.7.
The juggling act, being a two-sport athlete, is not easy but she has made it work.
“It hasn’t been very difficult, but there have been a lot of late nights,” she said. “It’s really just about putting in the effort to get everything done.”
Cheng is unable to overextend herself with too many other extracurricular activities, but she does serve as the co-president of ASA (Asian Student Association) and was previously involved with the National Honor Society.
While these are all off-field activities and achievements, they do not go unnoticed within the team.
Said Kreitman: “Because of how true of a leader she is, they want to match her at where she is at. Other players look up to her. They look up to how well-rounded she is.”
A Milestone
As for being a lacrosse captain, Cheng takes the role seriously.
“I try to be both a vocal leader and a leader by example,” she said. “We’re kind of a young team this year. We lost a lot of our seniors. It’s about showing them how to do things.”
According to Kreitman, Cheng is a natural leader on a younger team.
“When you think of a definition of a captain, she is that true definition,” said Kreitman. “She is a leader on and off that field. She pumps people up when she sees that they need it. She is full of words of encouragement. She’s witty. She’s fun. She’s a good friend. You want to be around her.”
After recently hitting the milestone of 50 career goals in a recent tough loss against Wissahickon, the senior captain who once cried when she first played the sport couldn’t help but feel proud.
“It was exciting,” she said. “I didn’t score a lot last year because we had other permanent attackers on the field. This year, I knew I had to step it up.”
However, personal accolades are not what she is all about. She is team-first all the way.
Said Kreitman: “The biggest thing with Mei Mei is that she is so humble. If somebody else does something great, she is the first one to be right there to celebrate it. When you have someone really good, they sometimes want all the attention. She is not like that.”
Thankful
In the final analysis, Cheng is thankful for being raised to face and conquer fears and challenges.
“I would thank my parents for pushing me to not give up on anything,” she said. “They taught me how to push through the hard times and the difficult times and they really have supported me with whatever I wanted to do.”
She is equally thankful for the support of teammates through the years, with fellow captain Caroline Hughes topping the list.
“She has literally been with me through everything since my freshman year,” she said.
Cheng, who plans to play club or intramural sports at UCLA, is grateful to be close to wrapping it all up on the East Coast with no major injuries.
After playing soccer each fall and lacrosse each spring, she also played on club teams in both sports.
“I played a lot of sports while growing up, so I’m surprised that I haven’t really broken anything,” she admitted. “I did get stitches this year, but that was it. I am very thankful for that.”
Meanwhile, Kreitman is bracing for an interior injury -- a broken heart -- as Cheng will be sorely missed.
“We lean on her a ton,” said the coach. “The girls really look up to her. She is an overall great person who works her tail off. Personally, it will be very tough not to have her.”
