Every year on Feb. 6, many top student athletes commit to play college sports.

This year, on “National Signing Day,” Decatur celebrated five players going across the country to continue their athletic careers. Closest to home, Maddie Myers is committed to play lacrosse at Berry College, around two hours from Atlanta. Several states away, Football players Marcus Hood, Andre Carter, and Chris Stephens will play for University of the Cumberlands, in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and Madison Myles will play soccer for Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Madison Myles isn’t the first senior Varsity girls Soccer Coach Stephen Gathany has watched grow and develop to a college level player.

“It is always a great feeling because I know that our soccer program played a part in that development,” he said. “Within our own soccer program we are trying to help guide [Madison Myles] and her teammates to play so that no matter the adversity, she and her teammates are up for the challenge.”

In addition to watching his own player commit at the signing celebration, Gathany had the opportunity to watch lacrosse player Maddie Myers sign as an incoming freshman to his alma mater: Berry College.

Myers has been playing lacrosse for eight seasons now, and is excited about what college play holds for her.

“As far as the team dynamic goes for college, I think it will definitely introduce a new level of intensity and competition within the team,” she said.

Although Myers is excited to attend Berry College now, she was still struggling to find her perfect fit at the beginning of the year.

“Earlier this year I was looking at a school outside of D.C., because I thought I wanted to go far from Decatur,” Myers said. “I loved it. Once I realized how far away it really is, how much I would be away from home, and how cold it gets, I kind of started to acknowledge offers closer to home, and Berry was what I liked best.”

Myers advises others who are thinking about playing in college, to “really think it through and be sure about loving the game, but also get excited because the process is a lot of fun and you get to meet and talk to a lot of people with different perspectives.”

Photos Courtesy of Darius Thompson