Hello and welcome back to Let's Talk Choctaws with Meeby and Kienna!
This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Emily McNair, a senior midfielder on the Lady Choctaws Soccer Team from Ridgeland, MS. Last year she started in all 18 matches of the season. She has an adventurous spirit and has a love for the great outdoors. She is passionate about helping others and is loyal to those around her.
Emily is a senior nursing major. Typically in MC's nursing program, students do two years of undergrad and two years of nursing school. However, Emily chose to keep playing soccer and push back nursing school because she didn't want to be overwhelmed with the high demands of sports and nursing school. "I knew nursing school would always be there, so I chose to do an interdisciplinary study. My two minors are Kinesiology, and psychology." Emily will go to nursing school this spring semester. "It's going to be a bit difficult to do my senior season of soccer and nursing school, but the coaches and teachers are willing to work with me," she said. After she begins working as a nurse, she's hoping to continue to train and eventually become a nurse practitioner, "but I'm also open to seeing what opportunities arise," she told us.
Another part of Emily's life where she finds fellowship and community is with her church family at Pinelake Church. She started attending her freshman year, and has loved it ever since. She goes together with three of her friends every week. "I really love going to Pinelake and what they are all about, I feel like they can relate a lot to college students. It's really great for people our age to have those connections," said Emily. She also is able to share her faith with her teammates. They typically have a team Bible study, but because of the Covid-19 restrictions, they can't gather in the same room all at once.
Some things have remained the same, however, including the team's intensive training schedule. The Lady Choctaws soccer team starts their workouts at 5:30 am on Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays. Because of the early morning workouts and late afternoon practices, the girls have to be careful to keep up their energy throughout the day and rest when needed in order to give it their all on the field. Practice has been challenging for the team as they have sixteen new freshmen coming in this season, and only four seniors this year. They have worked hard to find a balance. "We are trying to show the girls what we are all about," smiled Emily, "The freshmen girls have really stepped up and have gotten more confident, and the older girls have done really well at helping out. We scrimmage on Saturdays, so [the freshmen] have seen us in a game situation. That has been helpful." The coaches have prepared the team well and they are excited for their upcoming season. "Everyone has done a good job and it's been really competitive out on the field," she said.
Emily's favorite part of being on the team is the great relationships she has with her teammates. "I wasn't sure about playing college soccer," she said, "but when I came to visit [Mississippi College], Katie Taylor (MC legend and winner of the 2019 GSC Commissioner's Trophy) and Sam Carson (MC British legend and 2018 graduate) walked around campus with me and had a conversation with me." Emily told us that it was because of those conversations that she decided to play soccer at MC. "All the girls are so awesome, we all get along," she shared with us, "we are leaders on this campus, and I think people look up to us. We do a good job of representing MC." She said that she owes it to the players who came before her who welcomed her into the team and were excellent mentors for her as she came up through the ranks.
Part of the team chemistry comes from being able to have fun together off the field. "Over the years, we've always done karaoke on the bus," Emily said, "It's absolutely hilarious watching people get out of their comfort zones and sing in front of the whole team." Of course, this year they had to make some adjustments, so instead of karaoke on the bus, they went to the park to do it. "That definitely broke the ice at the beginning of the year," she laughed.
Emily has been a part of a team for almost as long as she can remember- she began playing soccer when she was only five years old. "My parents wanted me to be able to choose what I wanted to do," she explained, "so they put in all different sports [throughout my childhood]. I'm really thankful for that." As a kid she was involved in basketball, ballet, and even did some one mile "fun-runs." However, soccer was her passion, and she played select soccer throughout junior high and high school. She had some doubts about continuing to play in college, but a recruiter from MC spotted her talent at her final soccer game of her senior season. "I was so grateful that he saw me that day," Emily said, "I think [coming to MC] was one of the best decisions I could have ever made."
We look forward to seeing Emily dominate the field during the Lady Choctaws' upcoming spring season!
Be sure to check back on Monday to hear from our next guest.
