Photo credit: Courtney Ryder | The Breeze
Taryn Mayer was born into a legacy.
The JMU freshman is a defender and midfielder for JMU field hockey. But while her collegiate career is just getting started, field hockey has been part of her life since the day she was born.
“One of my earliest memories is being a toddler and … being in a little wagon with my two older sisters, watching [the high school team her mother coached],” Taryn said. “I could not even walk, but she would just be carrying me around — she’d be coaching drills, and I’d just be on her arm.”
Taryn is the youngest of three daughters to Kurt and Shawn Mayer. Taryn’s mother, Shawn, played Division I field hockey at Penn State and turned to coaching after graduation. Like her daughters, Shawn got involved in the sport at a young age.
“A [junior varsity] coach from the high school worked at [my] elementary school, and she would do an intramural program for fourth, fifth and sixth graders,” Shawn said. “That was my first introduction to field hockey, and I was hooked.”
Field hockey is a family affair for the Mayers — both of Taryn’s older sisters also grew up playing the sport. Taryn was in second grade when she joined her first club team and has been coached by her mother and sister multiple times throughout her career. Taryn said there was a whiteboard hanging in the family’s kitchen that they gathered around as a family after games.
“It was incredible, and it was such a fun experience to have that connection and come back from games and talk about field hockey nonstop,” Taryn said.
Corey Mayer, the oldest of Taryn’s sisters, played for JMU from 2015-18. She stayed at JMU to earn her master’s degree in elementary education and joined head coach Christy Morgan’s staff as the student assistant coach in 2019 and volunteer assistant coach during the modified spring 2020 season.
“I am so grateful that I got to play under Coach Morgan for four years and have the experience of a lifetime,” Corey said. “It was hands down the best four years of my life, and I will always cherish the time that I got both on and off the field.”
Taryn’s other older sister, Jamie, is a senior Division III field hockey player at Ursinus College in Philadelphia. Taryn and Jamie were high school teammates their freshman and senior seasons, respectively.
All three sisters grew up on the field together, practicing skills and pushing each other to improve. Taryn said watching her sisters play provided her with close-to-home role models and pushed her growth forward at an accelerated pace.
"The sport was never pushed on nay of us, it was always just something that we chose to do," Corey said. "The three of us being the competitors that we are, it was always like a positive, competitive environment where we [were] always looking to push out the best in each other."
Taryn said she originally didn’t consider JMU because she wanted to forge her own path from her sister, but she found herself comparing other programs to JMU. A three-day training camp sealed the deal, Taryn said, and she knew JMU was the perfect match.
“[Corey’s] experiences, her dedication and all the core values that she was living with here were in my mind,” Taryn, a sixth grader during Corey’s freshman year at JMU, said. “I didn’t even realize it but once I started going through the recruiting process, I was looking for those things in other schools thinking … if every other school would have these components.”
What stood out most to Taryn about JMU’s field hockey program, she said, was the culture. Taryn said that unlike other programs she considered, she never felt scared or uncomfortable during camps or scrimmages because the team was so welcoming.
“I think the biggest thing is if you love the culture, you see it and you want a piece of it, then you probably are it,” Morgan said. “When you find somebody like Taryn who sees it and says, ‘I want to be a part of that because that’s who I am,’ then you know it’s a good fit.”
Morgan — JMU field hockey’s head coach from 1991-04 and 2015-present — coached Corey and worked alongside her as a coach. During Corey’s time at JMU, Morgan got to know the Mayer family, including Taryn.
“[The Mayers are] a really committed family,” Morgan said. “We saw Taryn around a lot [at Corey’s games] and she was just a little sponge, just so eager.”
Taryn had a highly successful high school career by the books. She was a three-year captain and is her high school’s all-time leading scorer — holding the freshman, sophomore, junior and single-season records.
Taryn reached her goal of 100 career goals before the end of her junior year, telling Pa. Prep Live writer Ed Morlock that she accomplished the feat by constantly pushing herself and remembering what she was working toward. All of this was done under the leadership of her head coach — Shawn, her mother.
“I didn’t want to be a head coach with my kids on the team … but it worked out,” Shawn said. “Taryn has a strong personality and she’s very knowledgeable of the game, so it wasn’t that hard to coach her.”
Although Taryn is focused on creating her own story and legacy at JMU separate from her sister, she took a step to honor both Corey and their mother. Taryn wears No. 27, the same number worn by Corey at JMU and their mother at Penn State — Corey said it makes her "so happy" to see Taryn continuing the tradition.
“I wanted to honor Corey in a way,” Taryn said. “She left such a great legacy; [I want to] show that I can do the same.”
Coming to JMU, Taryn said she wants to be able to look back and say she left an impact on the program — leaving it better than when she joined. She also said she’s excited to learn and grow as a player and help her teammates do the same.
“The best thing about Taryn is her desire,” Morgan said. “What I look for Taryn to do is grow 1% every day, and I see Taryn having a bright, bright future here at James Madison and being an impact player.”
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