As one season blends into another, Morgan Maiers tries to get a few steps ahead.
The rising sophomore at Latrobe played four sports in her first year of high school — with little to no down time between seasons — and will look to continue the crowded regimen.
Her schedule has become a chain-linked cluster of practices, games and training sessions, one after another with overlap, as she remains vigilant for the next season.
Maiers seems to use a mental compass to navigate the workload.
“There is no offseason between my sports,” Maiers said.
In the fall, the 6-foot outside hitter protects the net in volleyball. As the calendar turns to winter, she roams the post in basketball. And her spring becomes extra busy with a two-sport schedule that includes softball and flag football. She delivers extra-base hits as an all-state outfielder in the former and catches touchdown passes in the latter.
Don’t forget travel softball in the summer (she just returned from Colorado where she played in a tournament with Team Pennsylvania Hall/Madison).
“I would say the secret to playing four sports is my time management and discipline between all of them,” Maiers said. “I play four because I love playing basketball, volleyball, and flag football with my sister, Maggie, and I couldn’t just pick one sport, so I did all of them.”
Now, it’s become second nature to Morgan Maiers, who has one more year playing alongside her sister, a rising senior.
“Morgan is an incredible all-around athlete,” said Mackenzie Livingston, the head girls basketball and flag football coach at Latrobe. “Coaching her in two sports has been incredible to watch, let alone when I go watch her at softball and volleyball. Just her maturity and drive at such a young age is unmatched.”
Playing four sports is not for everyone, Maiers said. Especially in a time when athletes specialize as they begin to beat a path to the Name, Image, Likeness and flashing dollar signs of new world college sports.
“I think it takes someone who is dedicated, driven and passionate about the sports they are doing in order to be a great athlete,” Maiers said. “Not just being a good athlete when doing four sports. You also have to compete in every single game or practice.”
Livingston said Maiers is a fast learner who can make adjustments swiftly.
“I only have to tell her things once and she fixes it,” Livingston said. “She is going to be one of the best all-around athletes in the state for multiple sports.”
Maiers averaged 8.0 points and 13.2 rebounds a game as a freshman last basketball season, and had over 20 touchdowns to lead the Wildcats in flag’s first PIAA-sanctioned season.
Softball is her favorite of the four sports and the one she hopes to continue beyond high school.
She made a major impact in her first season in the WPIAL.
She had a team-best .586 batting average with six home runs and led the WPIAL with 39 RBIs.
“I said it before, she’s the next Toryn (Fulton),” Latrobe softball coach Bob Kovalcin said, referring to former Franklin Regional star hitter Toryn Fulton, now a rising sophomore at South Florida. “She’s in the top five freshmen I have coached. You have to be a tremendous athlete to do what she does. She is unselfish, too. She’ll do whatever we ask of her. I asked her to DP so we could get other players some time and she never complained.”
Maiers has actually thought about adding more sports to her workload.
“I would consider doing golf because I used to go to a bunch of camps when I was younger and I would golf a lot with my family,” she said. “I would also consider doing swimming because I was on the swim team for Latrobe from when I was 4 years old up until I was 10 and I loved it at the time.”
Bouncing from one sport to the next takes adjustment and planning.
The transition is gentle at first — foul shots and ball handling for basketball, tee work and throwing in softball — before a season ramps up.
The behind-the-scenes work is where Maiers really stays sharp.
The grind is year-round and she squeezes every second she can out of most days.
“I go to Rusnock Sports Performance a couple times a week when I can,” Maiers said. “I started volleyball workouts on June 2, where we go from 7-9 a.m., Tuesday through Friday. I started basketball workouts on June 1, where we go from 9-11 a.m., every Monday and Wednesday. We also have summer league basketball games at West Allegheny. Softball workouts typically start a month before the season starts. Flag football workouts start 5-6 weeks before season and we do conditioning, footwork and routes to be ready for games.”
Running routes from one activity to the next might be her super power.