The earliest memory Emma Kate Uithoven has of soccer is kicking a soccer ball in her back yard with her father, Will.

“It was fun, and he said he would be my coach, so that’s what started it,” Uithoven recalled.

The Lamar School girls soccer team is certainly better off for it. Now a sophomore, Uithoven had a productive week, scoring three goals against Copiah Academy Sept. 18, two goals against East Rankin Academy Sept. 20 and one goal against Copiah Academy Monday in only approximately 15 minutes of playing time. All three games were Lady Raider wins, and it was announced Wednesday that Uithoven was selected as the MaxPreps/United Soccer Coaches High School Soccer Player of the Week from Mississippi. Due to her success, Uithoven has been named The Meridian Star’s Athlete of the Week.

“It’s an honor, because there are a lot of good athletes in Meridian,” Uithoven said.

Uithoven has been starting for the Lady Raiders since she was a seventh grader, the result of a lot of time put into the sport beginning at age 4. Will Uithoven recalls the day her daughter was signed up to play in the Meridian Youth Soccer Organization and what a shock it was to him.

“In the beginning, I really thought it was crazy she was getting involved in soccer, because she was 4 years old,” Will Uithoven said. “My wife came home and said she signed her up for soccer, and I was like, ‘Are you kidding? She’s 4; that’s too young.’”

Will Uithoven explained that when he was a student at Meridian High School, the school wanted to form a soccer team but wasn’t able to until the year after he graduated.

“It wasn’t big in Meridian back then,” Will Uithoven said. “I didn’t know the game or anything about it.”

After beginning in the MYSO, Emma Kate Uithoven eventually moved up to playing select soccer. For the past several years, she’s been a member of the Birmingham United Soccer Association, which competes in the Elite Clubs National League, a U.S. Club Soccer-sanctioned league focused on developing female youth soccer players.

Balancing schoolwork, Lamar soccer and BUSA isn’t the easiest thing to do, but Emma Kate Uithoven currently has a 3.9 grade-point average, which impresses her father considering his daughter is having to go to Birmingham, Alabama, twice a week.

“We carpool with three other girls from Meridian, so you’re not in a controlled environment that’s conductive to studying, and usually on the ride home they’re eating and decompressing,” Will Uithoven said. “There are a lot of times we don’t get home until 11, then we’re up doing it the next day. It’s very difficult for her to juggle Lamar and Birmingham at the same time and keep the grades up. It amazes me how she does it.”

Emma Kate Uithoven said she joined BUSA because she wants to play soccer in college one day, and the ECNL gives her both tougher competition and greater exposure. At the Christmas showcase, for example, she said more than 50 Division I colleges are there scouting players.

“I love the game, and I want to compete at the next level,” Emma Kate Uithoven explained. “I feel overwhelmed a lot, but whenever I play soccer, it calms me down. It’s easy to play (on both teams) because both coaches are understanding, and my teachers help me out with my work if I need it.”

When his daughter first told him she wanted to play college soccer, Will Uithoven said in no uncertain terms it would require her to go above and beyond what a typical soccer player is willing to do in terms of dedicating time to their craft.

“I told her I would do whatever I could to help her get there, but I can only do so much,” Will Uithoven said. “The rest is up to her. We’ve gone through some rough times, because at the end of the day, she’s a teenage girl, and she wants to do things that teenage girls want to do, but she knows where her focus is. It’s been tough, but right now, she’s probably more focused than she’s ever been, and she’s really developed a lot.”

Being a part of Lamar’s team has been a blessing, Emma Kate Uithoven said, not just because of the championships, but also because of the camaraderie.

“It’s so much fun,” she said. “I love it, and I get to play with all my friends, and we have a good coach who I like.”

Lamar soccer coach Leon Powell is known as a tough coach who won’t sugar-coat things with his players, but Emma Kate Uithoven said she prefers playing for someone like that.

“He pushes us to be the best,” Emma Kate Uithoven said. “He always gives us a choice. He tells us, ‘If you don’t think you can run anymore, then you can go sit,’ but it’s like a game. If you get tired, you can’t just give up on the team. He’s a cool guy. You can’t take (his tough love) personally, because he’s trying to get you to go harder, and we can go to him with our problems outside of practice.”

And if she’s not getting coaching tips from Powell or from her BUSA coach, she’s getting it from her father.

“We’re very close,” Emma Kate Uithoven said. “I see him as my dad and my best friend. He always pushes me to be the best I can be. He gets onto me sometimes, but he’s also really supportive.”

Will Uithoven said he couldn’t be more proud of what his daughter has accomplished up to this point.

“She’s the type of kid that’s very humble, and she has her head on her shoulders the right way,” he said. “She listens a lot, and she doesn’t talk a lot. To take that humble little girl kicking a ball in the back yard at age 4 and take her to this level and stay this focused as a 15-year-old, it’s pretty impressive to me.”

Emma Kate Uithoven is also the daughter of Sheila Uithoven.