When ITG Next Georgia readers selected Madi McMahan as our Athlete of the Month in April 2022, it was obvious then that the word was beginning to spread about this incredible multisport junior at McIntosh County Academy in Darien.
But for the people who have known her best, there was no surprise about the things she was capable of on the soccer pitch … or the track … or the basketball court … or the football field on Friday nights.
Forget what you thought you knew about multisport student-athletes. Madi McMahan is more like an “every sport” athlete. Try to follow along:
- Madi is the starting kicker for the McIntosh County Academy football team.
- She is McIntosh County Academy’s flag football starting quarterback, a two-time First Team All-Area selection, and a two-time team MVP.
- She’s a two-time region champion and four-time state qualifier in cross country.
- She was the Buccaneers’ soccer MVP in 2021, the Region 3A Offensive Player of the Year, a First Team All-Region pick, and the 912 Sports Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
- As a member of the Buccaneers track squad, she has won three region championships and qualified for state three times.
- She is a two-year starting guard for the McIntosh basketball team.
According to McIntosh County Academy head football coach and athletic director Bradley Warren, Madi is on pace to have 20 high school letters by the end of spring of this year: four in track, four in soccer, four in cross country, four in basketball, two in flag football, and two in varsity football. Warren says he can’t confirm whether the 20 letters are a state record.
“The closest we have been able to find is 16 letters so far,” Warren says.
Whatever the case, Madi’s achievements are rare.
“I’ve never seen or heard anything like this – it’s just amazing,” says Warren.
Warren says his first memory of Madi was watching her run and noticing her speed and stamina.
“I have a daughter [Taylor], who ran in high school and college, so I have a good understanding of competitive times for a runner, and Madi’s times were not bad for a young runner,” Warren says.
Madi’s father is Jamey McMahan, who serves as the school’s head soccer coach and assistant head football coach. He was a competitive runner himself, including running marathons. But he says it was Taylor Warren who was inspired Madi more as a runner.
“Madi really looked up to Coach Warren’s daughter,” he says.
As much as Madi liked running, her father says it was another sport that she initially became drawn to.
“The first sport that she really took to was soccer, at age seven,” he says.
But that didn’t come without a little bit of doubt.
“Madi hated soccer at first,” he remembers.
But McMahan says he encouraged her to stick with it, and like every other sport she played, she got better and better at it.
“She played and saw how good she was and fell in love with it, and she began to excel at it pretty quickly,” he says.
McMahan says just as Madi had drawn inspiration from coach Warren’s daughter for her running abilities, it was Alex Morgan, starting forward for the U.S. women’s national soccer team, who she looked up to for her drive to succeed in soccer.
“Once Madi started to really like soccer is when she became influenced by Alex Morgan,” he says. “I think that Alex was kind of a hero for Madi.”
Included in our Athlete of the Month story on Madi is the following line, which underscores the success she has enjoyed at MCA: Madi “leads her team with 41 goals and 87 points … she also led her team last season with 24 goals, which set the school record at that time for most goals in a season.”
While soccer became her first love, Madi turned her affection for running into yet another sport: cross country.
“Madi started running in the sixth grade and had immediate success there,” her father says.
Indeed, Madi would go on to a successful stint in cross country, becoming a two-time region champion and a four-time state qualifier.
Armed with the momentum of success she gained in her sixth-grade year, Madi decided to play basketball for the first time.
But there was no need to stop there. So what was next for the talented lady Buccaneer?
That would be football. She joined the Buccaneers as place kicker, as well as the school’s newly formed flag football team as quarterback. Holding spots on both of the school’s football teams made her a member of an exclusive club of one.
Jamey McMahan says that Madi’s combined love for running and soccer was the foundation for the making her such a great multisport athlete at McIntosh County Academy.
“As a parent and as her coach, it has been amazing watching her grow into such a great athlete,” he says. “She is the hardest-working person I know.”
That hard work is paying off, too.
“Madi has an offer from Brenau University for soccer and track,” McMahan says. “She has an offer from ABAC for soccer, and she has an offer from Brewton Parker for soccer.”
He adds that Madi has a few other verbal offers from smaller schools as well.
As great as Madi has shown she can be on the court, pitch, field, and probably on a patch of dirt somewhere, it’s the combination of smarts and athletic ability that her dad truly appreciates.
“Probably the greatest thing about Madi is that she will graduate with 20 athletic letters while having a 4.2 GPA and being ranked second in her class,” says the proud father and coach. “She has inspired me.”
You and a lot of others, Dad.
