For numerous high school seniors, the prospect of playing college athletics is daunting and highly unlikely. Only a handful of Coppell student athletes each year are lucky and privileged enough to play at one of the highest levels of organized sports in the nation. 

Senior soccer captain Alyssa Diggs is one of the lucky few who have worked hard enough to earn a scholarship at the next level, which for her will be at the University of Missouri.  Diggs’ recruiting process started in high school around the beginning of her junior year.  Baylor and Texas were in the early running for Diggs, but she had other ideas about schools.

“Initially I wanted to go to school outside of Texas,” Diggs said. “I just wanted to get out at first but now I sometimes wish I was a little closer to home.”

Diggs may have wished she could attend a closer to home university but Missouri is definitely going to be her new home. 

“I was really impressed by their great facilities, they are really state of the art,” Diggs said. “I really liked the team and the coaching staff and because of that, I was sold on Missouri.”

Ever since she was a child, Diggs has shown interest in playing soccer.  Playing some form of organized soccer since she was 5, Diggs learned early on she had the talent to be one of the best soccer players in Coppell.

“I really enjoyed soccer because it was lots of fun,” Diggs said. “Now there is more pressure on me and it has become more cut throat than it was when I was younger.”

Senior Haley Powers played with Diggs in second grade on the Shooting Stars indoor soccer team and almost immediately noticed Diggs had raw talent.

“Even in second grade she was a forward minded player that knew how to get the ball up the field in a creative way,” Powers said. “Now her skills have developed to the point that her style of play is always effective.”

Diggs started her club soccer career off on a team called Triumph Futbol Club in the Lake Highlands Girls Classic League Division II.  From there, she moved to FC Dallas for two years.  This is the point where Diggs started developing into a top notch player. 

“On FC Dallas I started developing my skills for each part of my game,” Diggs said. “I had a really good coach who specialized in teaching soccer skills.”

After two years with FC Dallas, Diggs’ parents facilitated a switch of clubs from FC Dallas to the Dallas Texans.  The Texans are regarded as one of the top club teams in all of Texas, and is always a contender at Nationals each year.  It took time for Diggs to get used to more commitment and diligence at Texans; this was a major piece of adversity Diggs needed to overcome to get where she wanted.

“I would cry many times at home because I didn’t like the coaching style and I just wasn’t used to the intensity,” Diggs said. “My parents pushed me to join Texans and kept stressing that I couldn’t back out of a commitment and now I’m thankful they helped me through everything.”

As a member on the Texans, Diggs has led her team to every single Champions League title and regional championship in the last four years as a member. In addition, the Texans won the State Cup every year besides this year, and even won Nationals in 2008, where she was awarded the golden boot award for most goals in the tournament.

Diggs’ greatest accomplishments could be ones that were voted on by her peers.  Diggs won Homecoming queen, was name Most Athletic in the class, was nominated for prom queen, and was also nominated for Miss CHS.

“Alyssa is a good student while she juggles club sports and school sports while having a good social life,” senior Olivia Hayden said. “She has won many awards this year along with being nominated for Miss CHS, which is the most prestigious award for a Coppell senior.”

Diggs is often soft-spoken about all of her accomplishments and very humble when praised.

“With all of these different things being presented to me I feel flattered that people think so highly of me,” Diggs said. “Either way if I win or lose at least I was nominated and I’m happy for the people who won.”

One competition that Diggs has left is the Miss CHS award, which will be announced May 25.  Diggs isn’t too concerned with winning the award but would still like to finish the year strong.

“If I do win Miss CHS then it would be icing on the cake for high school,” Diggs said. “However, just being nominated is fine with me.”