It starts with the smile. That’s what you notice first. Before the footwork, before the vision, before the audacity of a nine-year-old pulling off things kids twice her age haven’t even thought about yet. Maggie Jones plays with a grin stretched wide across her face, as if soccer is some inside joke between her and the game itself.
She plays because she loves it. It’s that simple. It always has been.
The game found her young—three, maybe four—on some sideline in the Salt Lake Valley, tagging along to her older sisters’ games. She wasn’t a spectator for long. By the time she was old enough to play, she was already playing up—first with girls three years older, then eventually with boys. Her parents fudged her birthdate just to get her into leagues that could challenge her. It didn’t take long for the whispers to start—who’s that kid? The one who’s smaller than everyone but dribbles through entire teams like they’re standing still. That kid is Maggie Jones.
Now, she’s something else entirely.
The prodigy label gets thrown around too much these days, but there’s no denying she’s different. She plays two years up with the girls at Avalanche Soccer Club and trains with the boys at Utah United, waiting for their girls’ team to be built. She likes it that way. The boys are physical, fast, relentless. They push her, make her think quicker, play sharper. She doesn't just keep up—she thrives. And when a last-minute girls’ team was thrown together for a tournament in Arizona recently, she didn’t just blend in—she helped them win the cup.
"I don’t need to rush myself to get to where I need to be," she says, her voice carrying the weight of someone who already understands the long road ahead. "I need to work hard, try hard, and when I’m done with that, I’ll get there."
Maggie speaks like she plays—straightforward, confident, measured. She's got her idols: Ronaldinho, Megan Rapinoe, Sophia Smith. Not just for their skill, but because they play with a smile and intense passion. They play with an edge. That’s what she wants—to play hard, to chase greatness, and to never let it stop being fun.
She plays the No. 10 role, the heartbeat of the attack, the one who sees things before they happen. Her vision is uncanny—she threads perfectly weighted through balls that split defenses wide open, setting up teammates as if she’s reading the game a step ahead. And when the moment calls for it, she’s just as ruthless in front of goal, finding the back of the net with precision and confidence beyond her years.
She’s already sacrificed for the game. Maggie is homeschooled, not because she has to be, but because she wants to be. It means finishing schoolwork faster, training longer. It means extra sessions with her dad in the gym, or creative sessions in a parking structure close to her home. It means solo workouts, racquetball courts for tight-space touches, or just playing on her back patio, experimenting, trying things. That’s how Ronaldinho did it. That’s how street players did it. And that’s how Maggie does it, too.
The game has already started pulling her forward. She watches the U.S. Women’s National Team with the quiet reverence of someone who fully expects to be there one day. Maybe she’ll play for San Diego Wave, or Arsenal, or her ultimate - Barcelona. Maybe she’ll be the role model she once looked up to—the one who inspires kids like her to go outside, work harder, and play like it’s still a backyard game with friends.
And through it all, the smile never fades.
Follow America's 9 yr old phenom Maggie Jones on her IG and show her some love.