Meg Jarvis is back at Bridgwater United.
Her goalscoring form for Bristol Rovers this season has been sensational, with 17 goals in her 19 games.
And she’s got off to a brilliant start at her new team as well, with two goals in her first match, against Worthing United in the FA Women’s National League Division One South West last weekend.
“Everyone’s made it quite easy to settle in,” she tells SheKicks.net. “The people have been really welcoming towards me – players and staff.
“Their ambitions are the same as mine. It’s a right fit, so hopefully we can achieve it together.”
And that includes a step up to Tier 3. Jarvis began her career as part of the Bristol City academy, and enjoyed collegiate football in the USA as well as spending time at Swindon Town. It means she has seen first-hand how the standards have been rising all the way down the pyramid in recent years.
“It’s really good to see that it is growing, and there’s more people getting involved and the quality is getting high. As a club, we know the standards and know what we need to achieve that, and from what I’ve seen so far, it’s heading in the right direction.”
Jarvis: Young players need help to move into senior football
Despite still being a young player herself – only 23 – she says that she feels the last few years have helped her to understand the standards that are needed on and off the pitch in senior football.
“I’ve matured in that way and now it’s my turn to start helping some of the younger players,” she says.
Jarvis says she made that transition herself in her first spell with Bridgwater in 2023, after her return from university.
“It was a little bit daunting, and I wasn’t the youngest, but I found it quite difficult to transition and get used to the standard or the speed or just being around older people in general.”
And she reflects on the “big jump” from junior to senior football: “not just in terms of the quality, on the ball or your physicality, I would say it’s more of a mental game as well, especially when you’re going from youth football into adults’ football. You might hold back a little bit or it might take you a while to transition.
“It’s not all about the quality – it’s more about the people and the person you are, fitting in. Some people might slot right in, but other people it might take a bit longer to transition.”
Meg Jarvis: I’m on a flow
Jarvis seems to have found an additional edge this season, and she wonders if that might come from an unusual source – HYROX, the indoor fitness competition.
“I like to keep myself pretty busy and that’s the way I like to be busy – in the gym!” she says.
It means a lot of 5am starts alongside her job as a teaching assistant in a special needs school in Bath.
But it’s working. She believes she’s in the best form of her footballing life at the moment.
“A big thing for me is the mental side. I just feel like I can just go and do it. Sometimes there’s obviously little setbacks, but I just feel now I’m on a flow that it just keeps coming.
“I feel a lot fitter than I did before. I feel stronger than I did before and I just feel technically better – so hopefully it keeps going.”
