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joyed and loved the sport. You've got to do it for
yourself; he was a big proponent of that."
Sandy Meuer was of the same belief. "She's been
a real trooper," Keegan said of his mom. "She'd drive
me and all my buddies down to Chicago once or
twice a month for travel hockey.
"Now little brother Kaeden is playing football
and hockey. She has just been very supportive in
running us around."
Overall, he said his parents have done a "great
balancing act between running the business (State
Street Brats) while supporting all the kids and getting us all to where we needed to go."
Having such a support system has been priceless
to everyone. McKenna will usually hear from Molly
or Katy or both after soccer matches, which allows
them to catch up on what they're doing.
"They love it," she said, "because they always say
that they get to re-live their college soccer days
whenever they talk to me about it."
It works both ways.
"I was blessed with a family that went through
the same things that I'm going through (as a student-athlete)," McKenna said. "I feel like I could go
to any one of them for anything."
On campus, Keegan is her go-to family member.
//
VARSITY October 10, 2013
"The biggest influence obviously is him being my
big brother ― looking out for me, having me over
for dinner, stuff like that," McKenna said.
"It's not only nice to just see a friendly face but
you actually have family on the same campus with
you. It makes campus feel like home.
"It's also nice to have someone who's going
through the same process and the same things as
you. He has practice every day like I do. He has
struggles on the ice just like I do on the field.
"Being a fifth-year senior, he can kind of coach me
and talk me through things when I need it. He's my
big brother and I love him and we have a great time
when we hang out."
It was not always that way. "We definitely used
to get under each other's skin a lot when we were
younger," she said.
That would be the norm for most families and
among the unwritten rules of siblings.
"It was kind of a tradition in our family ― the
older sibling picked on the younger one," Keegan
Meuer observed. "I got the brunt from my older sister Katy.
"When it was my turn to be the older brother, the
Alpha male, I could pick on her (McKenna). For me,
now, it's cool that I have the opportunity to experi-
