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by Robert Preston Jr.
photography by Micki K Phototgraphy
Most of the athletes who grace the pages of magazines like In The Game have devoted their entire lives to their chosen sports. Athletics often defines most, if not everything, about their high school years. Morgan Dowd, a senior cross country runner and soccer player at Irwin County High, doesn’t exactly fit that description.
It’s not that Morgan isn’t an exceptional athlete. She’s an excellent soccer player and All-Region cross country runner. Sports have been an incredibly important part of her life, and over the years, she’s learned a number of valuable lessons from her involvement with athletics. She just refuses to let sports define who she is. “Athletics is fourth on my priority list. First is God, then family, school and sports,” she says.
Morgan doesn’t want anyone to get the impression that athletics isn’t important. She says she has thoroughly enjoyed competing and wouldn’t know what she would do if she couldn’t play something. She simply feels that she is a part of something much, much bigger, and there’s room in her life for a few activities that offer a little more eternal significance. We will talk more about that later; first, let’s take a look at her athletic career.
Morgan grew up playing soccer and cites futbol as her favorite sport. She started running cross country a few years ago to stay in soccer shape and quickly fell in love with running. But soccer remains her first athletic love; Morgan started playing when she was in the third grade and has never stopped.
She played on the inaugural Irwin County High soccer squad. “We didn’t get soccer at the high school until my freshman year. I was on that first team,” she recalls. Morgan remembers that the team didn’t do too badly, all things considered. They’ve steadily improved and finished second in the region last season. She plays several positions and says where she plays often depends on the Indians’ opponents. Sometimes she’s a center defender, and other times, she’s a striker. “I’d rather play up front, though,” she says.
Playing that first season was a humbling experience. She remembers in particular playing Berrien County. “They beat us in the dirt that first year,” she laughs. In her sophomore and junior years, Irwin County exacted a little revenge and defeated the Rebels twice in a row. Those two victories rank up there among her favorite moments on the pitch.
Soccer led Morgan to the cross country team as a way to stay active during the fall. Morgan, however, is a competitor, and she couldn’t run just for the sake of running. “I’m very competitive. I fell in love with running, and I really got into it,” she says. Morgan is one of the better runners in the region, finishing fourth this year, third as a junior and second as a sophomore.
Morgan has always paid very close attention to her grades. She knew she had to do well in the classroom in order to play sports and to achieve her career goals. Morgan plans to enter the medical field, and good grades are a must for such a career. She is in the top 10 in her class, and has motivated herself to excel academically. “My parents don’t say much to me. I get on myself if I’m not doing what I need to in school,” she says.
She had already been considering a medical career when the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself earlier this school year. Her father, Clayton Dowd, is a pastor at Ocilla Church of God. A group of people, including a few from his church, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, on a medical mission trip in September. Most of the group was made up of doctors and nurses, and Morgan thought the trip would be a great experience on a number of different levels – if she could get out of school and on the plane. Morgan decided that she wanted to go, but she had to get clearance from school officials in order to make the trip. It was a 10-day excursion, and in this day of AYP and No Child Left Behind, schools can be reluctant to grant a student that many absences. In Morgan’s case, school officials had no problem signing off on the trip. “Everyone – the teachers, principals and board of education – was very supportive. They knew I would make up the work,” she says. Morgan went to Nairobi, and everything she had thought about the medical field was solidified as a result. “I thought the trip would help me decide if that was what I really wanted to do,” she says. “And it did.”
The mission trip was the chance for Morgan to not only learn about the career she has chosen, but also to help others. As the daughter of a pastor, she has spent her entire life in church. She’s grown up in church, and she’s grown in her faith. “I know that without God, I wouldn’t be where I am. I’ve been picked on some for being a preacher’s kid, but in the end, it’s been worth it,” she says.
Her trip to Africa was a valuable experience on a number of levels. She now knows exactly what she wants to do in the future, and she has gained a new perspective on her own life through that trip. She also didn’t disappoint her teachers with regards to her grades. She came back from her trip on a Monday, and grades had to be in on Thursday. “There were a few late nights,” she chuckles. Morgan completed all of her assignments and had them in on time. And she came out with all A’s.
All of these experiences have molded Morgan into a very mature, goal-oriented young lady. She understands the meaning of hard work and dedication, and she is genuinely concerned about other people. She demands the best out of herself, and she is willing to make sacrifices to help others. Morgan is committed to her family, her God, her community and her church. Athletics have played a big role in helping her grow into such a well-rounded individual. “I’ve learned a lot from playing sports. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is it takes a team to succeed. If you play as a team, things go a whole lot easier. You win more games, and you are more successful. If you trust other people, you will go a whole lot farther,” she says. •
Favorite:
- TV Show - One Tree Hill
- Band - Third Day
- Song to sing - “Let Me Tell You Who Jesus Is”
- Food - Steak
- Place to visit - Africa
- Person to meet - Brad Pitt
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