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As I sat down at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex last Sunday, I started to look at the rosters in the college recruiting book handed out to every college coach in attendance. If you’ve never seen this book, it’s basically the Yellow Pages for every team and player in attendance for the ever-growing, first-class event.
Nevertheless, I came across the under-16 Eclipse Select roster and almost passed out when I saw the name Katie Uyenishi. The Uyenishi last name is somewhat of a household name when it comes to girls soccer in the Chicagoland area. I can speak for Sarah and Molly, both of whom starred for Lake Zurich High School and Eclipse Select. Sarah went on to play at Marquette, while Molly is still pounding people at Colorado College.
I’ll never forget an April weekday a few years back when Lake Zurich and St. Viator played a rescheduled girls game from the St. Viator Tournament. Sarah was a senior, Molly was a freshman and Rory Dames was still barking from the St. Viator sidelines. There was a little girl with a great personality running circles around people with a soccer ball.
Dames turned to me and said, “She is going to be the best one of the bunch.”
Who was that little girl – Katie Uyenishi.
"She has the same pace and runs just like her sisters, doesn’t she,” one college coach said as we stood there watching the teams warm up.
When I saw her name on the roster, it reminded me how much times have changed. Odds are, Katie will never wear the Lake Zurich uniform and experience playing in the state tournament like Sarah, Molly or Dames did. But to Katie and many other players of her age and younger, it really doesn’t matter. To them, it’s all about the National League and countless other showcases.
In a way, it’s sort of sad because Katie has the perfect personality and talent the IHSA needs to represent its ever-declining sport.
But there will always be that April weekday, the closest Katie ever came to playing a high school game.
And you know something?
I’ll bet she probably would have run circles around someone during the game back then, too.
- Joe Trost
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Yay Katie. Even all grows up she still has great personality. :)