Steggell, confidence and swagger help USU Eastern soccer player

This archived article was written by: Michaella Crooks

Gary Matthew Steggell is one of the men on the first USU Eastern soccer team. Steggell says he, “hails from the ghettoes of north Orem.” He comes from a family of “13 brothers and sisters: six brothers and seven sisters.”
In two words Steggell describes himself as, “sexy and happy.” He said, “It’s an incredible feeling to know that I’m part of a new tradition of soccer here at USU Eastern. Steggell is six foot, two inches and plays center defense and defensive center mid.
In five years, Steggell “plans on being a massive success and plans on being a millionaire by age 22.” He said, “There are lots of things that interest me and its up in the air” on how he is going to become a millionaire.
His favorite color is, “red, it’s the color of confidence, passion and love” and his favorite food is, “popcorn and chocolate milk, not in that order or together.”
The best advice Steggell has ever been given is to, “Just follow your heart because that’s what I always do.” Some of his greatest accomplishments as an athlete are, “playing college soccer, making it to the finals, my high school table tennis tournament and region-church-ball champion.”
The craziest play was, “I started acting weird in one of my games and played center defense which is the farthest back position. Randomly I started playing forward and no one knew what was going on or what was happening. I started to black out in my game and I asked my coach for a sub and then before they subbed me off, this kid was talking crap. The game was tied 1-1 so I walked up and said, score board to the kid and he said we are tied and I said shut up. And then I shoved him, which is something I would never do. I just walked off the field right after.
“They thought that I had a concussion and it wasn’t. Then they thought I had a brain tumor and it wasn’t a brain tumor and it just kind of went away.”
Steggell’s biggest fans are “four of my main best friends that I hang out with every day back home. They are the reason why I still play college soccer because I had a bad experience last year so they are the ones that keep me going and cheering me on.”
The hardest thing about soccer is, “Running, we never stop running.” Outside of soccer, Steggell likes to, hang out with his friends, play ping pong and help my friends.
What helps him keep his passion in soccer is he is, “obsessed with improvement and that’s one thing that you can always improve on. And for me, practice is a big deal. I always come in really hard for practice because I am obsessed with getting better.”
One of Steggell’s worst injuries was when he, “left high school practice early my junior year because we had the region semifinal for church ball and I stole a ball from someone and was a lot faster than him, so I beat him to the basket. I go up for a lay-up and he shoves me. I came down on my ankle and sustained cartilage damage. Then I played on it for eight months because the doctor thought it was just a sprained ankle, but then I had to have surgery.”
Steggell’s hero is, “coming from a sports standpoint, it’s Muhammad Ali because he’s the greatest there ever was and he was cocky and I enjoy that because I think that if you are good, you can flaunt it.”