“On the dotted line” is a new series spotlighting local athletes and their journeys to signing National Letters of Intent. If you know of an athlete who’s already signed or will be and should be featured, please email bwalton@journalnet.com.
Kalista May had a lot to live up to.
All five of her siblings are former multiple all-state and all-conference athletes. But the Marsh Valley High senior defender has something on all of them now.
She’ll be the first in the family to play college athletics. May signed her National Letter of Intent with the Western Wyoming Community College women’s soccer team on Jan. 29.
“I’m definitely beaming with pride, not just as her coach, but as her sister,” Marsh Valley High School girls soccer coach Jacinta Johnson said. “To see her now sign those papers and get to live that dream out, there’s almost no words for it. I feel like she deserves every piece of this journey. She worked so hard to get there. I’m just happy that I got to be a little piece of it as her coach and her sister.”
Brothers Drake, Jarik and Caden May were all-state selections for football and baseball. Caden was even the 3A South East Idaho Conference Player of the Year in football. He also placed sixth at state in wrestling. Jarik May took second at state in his one and only year wrestling.
Sisters Johnson and Dassia Butler were both all-state soccer players themselves. They were coached by Rachelle Vernon, who was at the helm when May came in freshman year trying to fill their big shoes.
“I remember being like, ‘Wow, she’s gonna think I’m just so bad compared to them,” May said. “I’ve always felt like I’m the black sheep of the family. All my siblings were always super fit and gorgeous and it made me mad. They all played like six sports each I swear and all I did was soccer. I didn’t feel like I was good at it even.”
But her play proved otherwise.
May was one of only a few freshmen to see time on varsity that season. She played in all but one game to help the Eagles take third at state for the third time in four years. Better yet, May got to share that honor with her sisters who were the assistant coaches at the time.
Johnson has been coaching her since the sixth grade. Prior to that, it was her mom Sarah May, who Kalista May said is still one of her biggest supporters today. So she has always had at least one family member coach her in some capacity since first starting in the sport at 6-years-old.
“I definitely got picked on a lot more than the other girls, but it’s only made me stronger. And of course, it’s always nice to have a ride to everything,” May said with a laugh. “But I’ve enjoyed having my family as my coaches, especially my sisters. Because I got to watch them when I was growing up. That’s how I came to know what soccer was. That’s why it became my sport.”
May had another great year by becoming a full-fledged starter and helping Marsh Valley win a ninth consecutive Class 3A District V championship the following season. But it was an entirely different story off the pitch.
Her mental health and grades started slipping.
“After the soccer season ended, I just plummeted emotionally,” May said.
It was triggered a little bit by her mother remarrying.
Her father Chris May died of a sudden heart attack when she was just 11.
He had just attended a soccer game of hers hours earlier. Chris May watched as his youngest child lined up for a penalty kick. A goal would send her team to the championship game.
She missed it.
“I lost it for the whole team and I was so sad,” Kalista May said.
So while they were both walking off the field, he suddenly grabbed the soccer ball out of her hands. Chris May then tried to dribble the ball past her by kicking it in between her legs. But she accidentally kicked him in the shins causing him to fall on top of her. A tickle fight quickly ensued.
“I was happy for the rest of the night. Well, until my mom got me in the car and started yelling at me,” Kalista May said with a laugh. “I just remember that even after I lost that game, he still loved me. He always treated me like his little princess and would never want to see me cry.
“That moment for me is one I think about a lot, especially when I’m having a hard time.”
Last year was another one of those times.
The Eagles missed state for the first time in nearly a decade by having their nine-year reign as district champion come to an end. They ended up finishing 8-7 with only one win in their last five games.
“I don’t want to say embarrassing, but it was tough knowing that the program had gone to state so many years in a row and we were that team that broke it,” Johnson said. “I knew that I needed to make some changes.”
She wasn’t the only one.
May was already playing soccer year-round with her indoor and club soccer teams. But she decided to add a fitness program on top of it. May worked with nearby FitRight Athletics once a week to work on her speed and agility.
It paid off.
She first got the attention of some schools at an Idaho State camp over the summer with a highlight-reel goal. It was also there that a college coach told Johnson that May could play at the next level if she wanted to.
“When she told me that I was like, ‘Really? What?,” May said. “I did not think that I would ever be going to college for soccer. I never thought I was good enough because my siblings didn’t. So how could I?”
But she still went ahead and set up an online recruiting account. Within days, May had messages and offers from schools in New York, California, Washington, Montana and New Jersey.
And the interest only amplified with a banner senior season.
May, who Johnson said was one of fastest players on the team, helped get Marsh Valley back to the postseason with a 10th district title in the last 11 years. And it was there where May really showed why she was also a team captain.
She hyperextended her left knee during the second half against Kimberly in the semifinals. The game was tied at 1-1 when May had to be carried off the field. She went back into the game only to hyperextend it again.
So May watched helplessly from the sidelines as the Eagles’ dreams of a first-ever state championship were dashed in a 4-1 defeat.
“They told me I was not allowed to go back in,” May said. “I was bawling the entire time.”
But May wasn’t about to miss her final game in a Columbia blue uniform.
She strapped on a matching knee brace and played the entire 80 minutes during Marsh Valley’s 2-1 win over Coeur d’Alene Charter in the third-place game.
“If she was off the field, you could tell,” Johnson said. “I do believe that comes from just the work she put in. She never missed anything. Part of that might have been because she knew I’d give her a lot of crap if she did. But really, I think a lot of it was her love for the sport.
“She was definitely my most reliable and consistent player.”
The other coaches thought so too.
May finally joined her sisters as an all-state player by being a second-team selection.
So between that and being a future college athlete, she’s the new standard in the family now.
“Knowing Kali, she’ll definitely use it against us and brag a little,” Johnson said with a laugh. “We’re the old dogs now. She can probably kick all our butts.”
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