A New Playing Field

Megan’s POV

“Our next guest left the country with dreams of being a gold medalist. When she returned to America, that’s exactly what she had become. Please welcome Megan Gibson!” I walked out in front of the audience and the crowd started cheering. I hugged Regis and Kelly and sat down in my chair.

“Welcome to our show! You’re a first timer,” Regis said.

“Yes, thank you! I am very excited to be here!”

“You’re originally from this area right?” Kelly asked.

“Yeah. I was born and raised in Somerset County, which is northern central New Jersey. Then when I was accepted onto the national team roster a little over a year ago, my family moved out to L.A. because that’s where the national team is stationed. My mom is also a fashion designer so she opened up a store in L.A. Our whole family loves it out there, but we do miss the East Coast.”

“That’s great. How many siblings do you have?” Regis asked.

“Three. Kristen is 21, Mike is 19, and Colin is 15. We’re a really tight family. I love my sister and brothers.”

“And exactly how old are you?” Regis asked.

“I turned 17 in July.”

“17 years old and already an Olympic gold medalist. You have a lot ahead of you!”

“I know. Life gets a little crazy at times, but I love it! I brought something that I think you guys might be interested in seeing.” I stood up and pulled my gold medal out of my back pocket. I handed it to Regis. The crowd cheered.

“Wow! This is great.” The camera man got a close up of it before he passed it to Kelly.

“These are heavier than they look on TV!” The crowd laughed. She handed it back to me and I put it around my neck.

“Yeah. I look at this everyday and think about how lucky I am.”

“You worked really hard to get it. Congratulations again,” Regis said.

“Thank you very much.”

“You truly are a role model to young kids who are following their dreams. My daughter and her friends look up to you. How does that make you feel?” Kelly asked.

“When I hear things like that, it just makes me happy. Growing up, I definitely had a few people that I really looked up to. So to be one of the people that kids these days are looking up feels almost surreal.”

“Alright Megan. Now it’s time for some girl talk.” Kelly leaned in closer to me. I knew exactly what question was coming. “Do you date?”

“Haha, I find some time to, but not much, especially not before China. We were so busy then.”

“Well you are a gorgeous young girl with fantastic style. You look adorable right now, by the way. You know what? You and that Jonas Brother would be adorable! The youngest one…Nick! Have you met him? He’s a cutie.”

I smiled. Inside, I was cracking up and absolutely stunned that Kelly was saying this. It's like she is reading my thoughts.

“I have met him,” I said laughing. “I’ll keep your suggestion in mind.”

“We love the Jonas Brothers,” Regis said.

“I met them at the Teen Choice Awards. They are all very sweet guys.”

“You won a Teen Choice Award, is that correct?” Kelly asked.

“I did! I won Best Female Athlete. It was crazy. I wasn’t really expecting to win but when my name was called, I was so excited!”

“So Megan, I’ve been wondering this. Before a game, what do you do to, you know, get in the mood to play?” Regis asked.

“I have a playlist on my iPod with songs that psych me up so I listen to that to get focused. Then we usually have a team dance party.”

“A dance party,” Regis repeated.

“Haha yeah. It shakes out the nerves and it’s a way for the whole team to get excited together.”

“We actually have some footage of the dance party before the Japan game during the Olympics.”

“Oh no! Do you really?!”

“Yes. Let’s roll it!” I watched intensely because I hadn’t seen this before. Natasha and I were laughing and dancing. I was doing pretty well, if you ask me. By the time the clip ended, I was cracking up.

“I’m impressed!” Kelly added. “Can you teach me that?” Kelly stood up and tried to imitate on of my moves. She was doing it wrong, so I got up and showed her how it should be done. The crowd started screaming and clapping.

“You’re good!” Regis said. “I see a second career forming as a dancer.”

“Haha I don’t think I’ll become a competitive dancer anytime soon. Natasha is the best dancer on the team, hands down. She says I’m second best. Looking at the moves she has, she obviously knows what she is talking about, so I believe her. That clip was funny, I haven’t seen that before.”

“We have one more clip to show. Let’s roll that one.” It was my goal and celebration in the Brazil game.

“That was a great goal. How’d you feel after that?” Regis asked.

“I can’t even describe what I was feeling. It was such an adrenaline rush.”

“I bet,” Kelly said.

“And that was before you knew it was the game winning goal,” Regis added.

“Yeah, the goal felt even better after the game than it did during the game.”

“Well, thank you so much for coming. It was great to meet you. Congratulations again on the medal you got there. We hope you come back to see us soon,” Regis said.

“Thank you so much for having me. I hope to come back soon too.”

“We’ll be back after this with a performance from Jesse McCartney!”

Jesse performed How Do You Sleep. I love that song so it was awesome to hear it live. After the show, I took pictures with Jesse, Will, Regis, Kelly, and Gelman.

Kristen and I took a cab back to the hotel. I called Nick and told him we were in our room. When Nick, Joe, and Kevin came over, we headed out to do some New York site seeing. It was an all around great day, until Kristen and I had to leave.