Maria was born to Bruce McKay Perry and VeLoy Whiting Perry on December 21, 1981. She was the last child in her family of three older sisters. Her father named her. He chose Maria for a couple different reasons. First, his mom's name was Mary - and Maria is another form, obviously. And second, it was also near Christmastime - a good reason to be named Mary. Her middle name, VeLoy, is her mother's name. We don't know where her mom's parents came up with it ... but it suits Maria well. She seems to be most like her mom out of her sisters.
(about two weeks old)
By the time she came around her mom had pretty much given up on having a little girl that wanted to run and play sports. VeLoy had grown up on a farm. Running, riding horses and playing softball was what she loved to do. So at 36 (almost 37) when she had Maria, she had decided she really wouldn't even bring it up. Can you guess who was her tomboy daughter? You guessed it. The one named after her.
(around 16 months)
Maria grew up in a little town in Utah called Willard. It was/is beautiful there. The prettiest thing is the Mountains. They are so gorgeous. Then, there is Willard Bay right there to go boating. A good place for a kid to grow up.
(22 months)
Maria's mom was a working mom. She doesn't remember much of Annette (her oldest sister) when she was young. But she does remember having Debbie (her second oldest sister) coming home from High School and taking care of her until their Mom came home. Debbie would cook and clean up for her. Maria has a memory of Debbie sitting on the bed talking to her while she sat on the floor. She doesn't really remember what they talked about - but just that she loved being around her older sister.
(5 years old)
Maria was a little pesterer. Malinda (the third child), was the one who got to see it the most. For some reason, Maria thought she was invincible and could do anything. Like, let's say, beat up on her older sister. So, she would bug and bug and bug Malinda until Malinda had had it and would go chasing after Maria, sit on her, and punch her in the arm with her "bony" knuckles. Malinda wasn't a fighter. She would usually just punch once. But she got so good at it, that she could "target" Maria's bone in her arm and hit it everytime. Maria would go off bawling and then about five minutes later come back to "win" this time. It was no surprise that in about five minutes, Maria would be off bawling again holding her hand on her dead-arm.
(3rd grade)
When Maria was about seven, her parents divorced. It was hard on her because she was the youngest and wanted a "male" role-model in her life. She remembers talking to her first grade teacher, Ms. Reese about her parents splitting up. She would stay in to talk during recess instead of going out to play.
(6th grade)
Maria loved to run! She was ALWAYS outside and ALWAYS running. She had a group of friends at Willard Elementary that would get together and play rugby. I don't think they really knew the rules, but they tried. It was so much fun. They (Maria and her friends) would tackle the guys. At first, the boys weren't expecting it, but they quickly learned, they were serious girls with a mission.
One time in fifth grade, there was a boy named Darwin (who was in sixth grade) who had a crush on Maria. He wrote her a note saying she was the "cutest gril" (couldn't spell) he'd ever seen. She decided she'd play a trick on him. She asked her teacher, Mr. Baird (who had Darwin as a student the year before) if he could run fast. Mr. Baird, said "no." So, one day after Darwin had bugged Maria about being his girlfriend she said, "ok, Darwin - I will be your girlfriend if you can outrun me." All of his friends said "you could beat a girl." So, the race was on. Needless to say, in the end, I was laughing with my friends and "single." While Darwin was getting made fun of by his friends because he had "lost to a girl ... and single."
Running is also how Maria, broke her front right tooth. She was racing her friend Kasey. Whoever touched the flagpole first, won. Kasey wanted a head start. They took off and Maria was running towards the flagpole. She didn't take into account that there was snow and ice on the ground and slid right into the pole with her face. She didn't start bawling OR looking for her tooth until she had declared, "I won!
Maria also had the opportunity to go the 1994 World Cup in San Jose, California. Her team ended up taking fourth place out of about 70 teams. Pretty good for a team that had only been together about six months before. They might have had the opportunity to take third place, but the game was on a Sunday and the team "opted" to not play. So, they just forfeited and took fourth instead. They did however get the "sportsmanship" award out of all of the 70 teams.
(10th grade)
Maria's mom got re-married to her step-dad, Greg, when Maria was 14. Maria had prayed about her mom finding someone. She just didn't take into account that it had just been her and her mom for quite a while. I guess you could say that Maria was VERY jealous that she had to share her mom. It took a few years, but now Greg considered "dad" by Maria and very grateful to have him in her life.
(Senior year)
Maria played High School soccer as a freshmen. She was one of the first of four players (all her age) who had "lettered" their freshmen year. It was also that year that Maria started having really bad back problems. She went to the doctor and found out that she had a back disease called, Scheuermann's Disease. Basically, the upper posterior corner of every single vertebrae in her back has cracked off. It leads to your muscles spasming to try and work extra hard for the support in your back that isn't there. (Maria has since had a baby and says that sometimes those spasms feel just as strong as labor contractions - only in your back.) The doctor told Maria it probably wasn't the best idea to continue soccer. When her senior year came around her old teammates said, "you have to come play!" She was a little rusty and wasn't too sure. Finally, the coach had heard that she wasn't going to try out so he called her and said, "Maria, you have a sure spot on the team. Just show up! I can't put you on the team if you don't even try out." So, she did. She became one of the two team captains and led the team to their first ever state-playoffs.
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