ROCKINGHAM — With the Richmond Senior High School Lady Raider soccer team’s preseason workouts slated to begin in early January, senior Tatum Hubbard was expecting it to be the last go around of her playing career.
But she was wrong — and now she’s glad that’s the case.
Last week, Hubbard sent in her Commitment Letter to play collegiate soccer at Methodist University, a Division III program in Fayetteville. She explained that the offer from head coach Brian Madej “literally fell into” her lap, and right center back said she’s excited to be getting the chance to spend the next four years suiting up for the Lady Monarchs.
She’s the first Lady Raider soccer player in the graduating class of 2019 to commit so far this school year.
Hubbard began looking at colleges over the summer, knowing all along that she wanted to pursue an undergraduate degree in kinesiology with the end goal of becoming a pediatric physical therapist.
“When I started looking at colleges, I was looking strictly at the physical therapy programs,” Hubbard explained. “At the time, I wasn’t thinking about playing college soccer. I didn’t think it was for me. My course of study is going to be really tough, so soccer really wasn’t an option until I visited Methodist.
“The opportunity to play college soccer presented itself, and before Methodist, I really thought my final high school game would be my last,” she added.
Along with her parents, Brian and Nicole Hubbard, the soon-to-be Lady Monarch made Methodist her first college visit in July. Following the trip to Fayetteville, Hubbard also toured several other universities across the state, before narrowing her decision down to Methodist and East Carolina University this fall.
But it was a text message she received just after the start of her senior year at Richmond that factored into her making her final decision.
“At the beginning of the boys soccer season, I was helping run the clock at a game with Coach (Bennie) Howard,” Hubbard said of the former 30-year head soccer coach at Richmond. “I got a text message from Coach Madej, which actually let me know that I had been accepted to the school. He asked me if I would come for a second visit and check out the soccer program.
“He (Madej) said that he’d seen on my application that I played soccer and told me that it wouldn’t be hard to make my schedule work with school and soccer,” she added.
Hubbard made her second visit, and first official soccer visit, to Methodist on Oct. 17. Aside from talking to Madej about the program, meeting with her admissions counselor and seeing campus for the second time and feeling “more educated about what kinds of questions to ask,” Hubbard also attended a Lady Monarchs soccer match.
Methodist defeated USA South Athletic Conference opponent North Carolina Wesleyan College 1-0 in overtime, and Hubbard noted she also got inside access to the team’s facilities and dorm life on campus.
“A friend of mine, Kiley Way, plays soccer for Methodist,” Hubbard shared of her former AC Sandhills teammate. “She showed me what an actual dorm was like and what it would like to be living there. I also got to go in the locker room before the game and see the pregame hype, and I really liked the close-knit community of the team.”
This fall, the Lady Monarchs finished with an 8-7-1 overall record, and made it to the second round of the USA South Conference tournament. Hubbard will join a program that has seen success over the past couple of seasons, and her freshman year will be Madej’s 10th year with the team.
One of the several leading factors that made Hubbard also select Methodist was its size. Tucked inside the northern part of Fayetteville’s city limits, Methodist’s undergraduate enrollment is roughly 2,000 students, which means she’ll be attending a college not much larger than her high school.
Hubbard shared that the small class sizes will help her reach her end goals academically and athletically. A native of Ellerbe, Hubbard attended small Christian schools before starting at RSHS as a sophomore. She added that what won her over was being the “bigger fish in a smaller pond,” something she’s been used to her entire academic and playing career.
“Visiting Methodist really surprised me — I wasn’t expecting too much,” Hubbard admitted. “What intrigued me the most was the close-knit community. And it’s really modern — they’re doing a lot of work on campus to make things better.
“I’m excited to experience the independence of college,” she added. “It was a huge relief when I decided to go there — I was so stressed and I couldn’t decided between ECU and Methodist. I even made a pros and cons list.”
While the next four years a mapped out for Hubbard, she’s not overlooking her senior campaign as a Lady Raider. She’s put in a lot of extra work this offseason, including running around Richmond’s campus and sprinting up the bleachers of Raider Stadium, all in preparation to make her final season a good one.
“I put in the extra work because when I’m on the field, I want to say that I played the best I could, I ran as hard and fast as I could, and that I gave all that I could possibly give do to do my part in the game,” Hubbard said. “The best way to do that is to get in shape before workouts in January.”
Hubbard and the Lady Raiders will look to build off of their program-best 17 wins from a season ago, this time under the direction of first-year head coach Chris Larsen.
Division III athletics don’t afford scholarship opportunities for student-athletes, but Hubbard said there’s a chance she’ll get academic scholarships to help her out.
“I want to thank my parents and all of my precious coaches,” Hubbard concluded. “If it weren’t for my parents, I would’t have been able to play for as long as I have. And my coaches have helped put me in the position for this opportunity.”
